Xamarin Forms Differences between ListView and CollectionView Step by step Implementation and Top 10 Questions and Answers

Last Update: April 01, 2025 17 mins read Difficulty-Level: beginner

Xamarin.Forms: Differences Between ListView and CollectionView

Xamarin.Forms, a powerful framework for developing cross-platform mobile applications, offers several options for displaying data collections in a list format. Among these, ListView and CollectionView are two of the most commonly used controls. While both serve the purpose of displaying list data, they have distinct differences in terms of functionality, performance, and adaptability. This article delves into these differences in detail, highlighting important information to help developers choose the right control based on their specific needs.

1. Basic Structure and Functionality

ListView:

ListView is a versatile control that allows users to display a list of data items, either in plain text or with complex layouts.
It supports data bindings, enabling direct linking of data sources to UI components.
ListView provides features like headers, footers, grouping, and item selection.

CollectionView:

Introduced in Xamarin.Forms 4.0, CollectionView is a more modern alternative to ListView.
It is built on the same architecture as ItemsView and shares some core similarities, offering enhanced performance and functionality.
CollectionView supports features such as headers, footers, grouping, and selection modes, but with improved flexibility and support for complex layouts.

2. Performance

ListView:

ListView is well-suited for relatively small data sets.
It may experience performance issues when dealing with large datasets or complex item templates.
Memory management is more manual, requiring developers to handle item recycling manually.

CollectionView:

CollectionView is designed to optimize performance, especially with large datasets.
It automatically handles item recycling, reducing memory usage and improving scrolling performance.
Its efficient implementation makes it a better choice for performance-critical applications.

3. Adaptive and Responsive Layouts

ListView:

While ListView supports data templates and can be customized, it offers limited support for adaptive layouts.
Custom layouts require more manual adjustments and can be complex to implement.

CollectionView:

CollectionView provides robust support for adaptive and responsive layouts.
It integrates well with the DataTemplateSelector and ItemTemplate properties, allowing dynamic item layouts.
Features like horizontal layouts, grid layouts, and more complex configurations are easier to achieve with CollectionView.

4. Grouping and Filtering

ListView:

ListView supports grouping through the IsGroupingEnabled property.
Grouping in ListView can be straightforward, but filtering and dynamic updates can be more complex.

CollectionView:

CollectionView also supports grouping, leveraging the GroupHeaderTemplate and GroupFooterTemplate properties.
It provides more intuitive handling of grouping and filtering. Features like dynamic updates and filtering are more straightforward and efficient in CollectionView.

5. Selection and Interaction

ListView:

ListView has basic support for item selection. It supports single and multiple selection through the SelectionMode property.
Event handling is done through built-in events like ItemTapped.

CollectionView:

CollectionView offers enhanced selection capabilities, including support for none, single, multiple, and single with re-selection selection modes.
It also provides better event handling through its SelectionChanged event, which is more flexible and detailed.

6. Customization and Styling

ListView:

ListView can be customized using templates and styles, but it requires more manual coding and configuration.
Customizing complex layouts and styles can be challenging and time-consuming.

CollectionView:

CollectionView offers more flexibility and ease of customization through improved templating and styling features.
It also simplifies the process of applying different styles and layouts to individual items or groups, providing a more polished user experience.

7. Accessibility and ARIA Support

ListView:

ListView provides basic accessibility features, making it usable by people with disabilities.
It supports ARIA attributes for better screen reader integration, but the support is more limited.

CollectionView:

CollectionView enhances accessibility features and supports ARIA attributes more comprehensively.
This ensures a more inclusive user experience by providing better support for screen readers and assistive technologies.

Conclusion

While both ListView and CollectionView serve the purpose of displaying data in a list format, they have distinct differences in performance, functionality, and adaptability. ListView is a well-established control with a wealth of features, but CollectionView offers improved performance and enhanced capabilities that make it a more suitable choice for modern applications.

Choosing between ListView and CollectionView depends on the specific requirements of your project. If you need a simple solution with basic functionality and are dealing with small data sets, ListView might be sufficient. However, for applications that require better performance, adaptive layouts, and enhanced features, CollectionView provides a more robust and flexible option. Understanding the differences between these controls will help you make an informed decision and build more efficient, performant, and user-friendly mobile applications.

By leveraging the strengths of CollectionView, developers can take advantage of modern UI capabilities, improved performance, and enhanced user experience features, making it a valuable component in the toolkit of any Xamarin.Forms application developer.

Xamarin.Forms: Differences Between ListView and CollectionView – An Example-Driven Guide

Xamarin.Forms is a powerful tool that enables developers to create cross-platform mobile applications using C#. One of the most important aspects in mobile app development is displaying lists of data. Two main controls in Xamarin.Forms that facilitate this are ListView and CollectionView. While both controls share the ability to display a list of data items, they vary in their features and performance, which can significantly impact the design and functionality of your application.

In this guide, we will dive into the differences between ListView and CollectionView and illustrate them through a practical example. We will set a route, create views using these controls, and showcase the data flow step-by-step.

Setting Up a New Project

Open Visual Studio: Launch Visual Studio and create a new Xamarin.Forms project. Choose the Blank template for simplicity.
Configure Project Settings: Give your project a relevant name, for instance, ListViewVsCollectionView. Make sure to check the boxes for creating a shared project and adding a .NET Standard code-sharing strategy.
Set Up NuGet Packages: Ensure the project includes the necessary Xamarin.Forms NuGet package. You can update it via the NuGet Package Manager if required.

Project Structure

Your project should resemble the following structure:

ListViewVsCollectionView (Shared)
|
|-- MainPage.xaml
|-- MainPage.xaml.cs
|-- App.xaml
|-- App.xaml.cs
|-- ViewModels/
|   |-- MainViewModel.cs
|-- Models/
|   |-- ItemModel.cs

Creating the Data Model

Create a simple data model that will be displayed in the lists. Add an ItemModel.cs file in the Models folder:

namespace ListViewVsCollectionView.Models
{
    public class ItemModel
    {
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public string Description { get; set; }

        public ItemModel(string name, string description)
        {
            Name = name;
            Description = description;
        }
    }
}

ViewModels: Setting Up Data Flow

Let’s now create a ViewModel that will provide the data to our UI elements. Add a MainViewModel.cs file in the ViewModels folder:

using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using ListViewVsCollectionView.Models;

namespace ListViewVsCollectionView.ViewModels
{
    public class MainViewModel
    {
        public ObservableCollection<ItemModel> Items { get; set; }

        public MainViewModel()
        {
            Items = new ObservableCollection<ItemModel>
            {
                new ItemModel("Item 1", "Description for Item 1"),
                new ItemModel("Item 2", "Description for Item 2"),
                new ItemModel("Item 3", "Description for Item 3"),
                new ItemModel("Item 4", "Description for Item 4"),
                new ItemModel("Item 5", "Description for Item 5"),
            };
        }
    }
}

Main Page

Now, let’s create the UI and utilize both ListView and CollectionView on the same page for comparison.

MainPage.xaml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<ContentPage xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/dotnet/2021/maui"
             xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml"
             x:Class="ListViewVsCollectionView.MainPage"
             Title="ListView vs CollectionView">
    <ContentPage.BindingContext>
        <viewModels:MainViewModel/>
    </ContentPage.BindingContext>
    
    <StackLayout Padding="10">
        <Label Text="ListView Example" FontSize="Large" Margin="0,0,0,10" />
        <ListView ItemsSource="{Binding Items}" HasUnevenRows="True">
            <ListView.ItemTemplate>
                <DataTemplate>
                    <TextCell Text="{Binding Name}" Detail="{Binding Description}" />
                </DataTemplate>
            </ListView.ItemTemplate>
        </ListView>

        <Label Text="CollectionView Example" FontSize="Large" Margin="0,30,0,10" />
        <CollectionView ItemsSource="{Binding Items}">
            <CollectionView.ItemTemplate>
                <DataTemplate>
                    <Grid Padding="10">
                        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
                            <RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
                            <RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
                        </Grid.RowDefinitions>
                        <Label Grid.Row="0" Text="{Binding Name}" FontSize="Medium" FontAttributes="Bold" />
                        <Label Grid.Row="1" Text="{Binding Description}" FontSize="Small" />
                    </Grid>
                </DataTemplate>
            </CollectionView.ItemTemplate>
        </CollectionView>
    </StackLayout>
</ContentPage>

MainPage.xaml.cs:

using ListViewVsCollectionView.ViewModels;

namespace ListViewVsCollectionView
{
    public partial class MainPage : ContentPage
    {
        public MainPage()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
    }
}

Running the Application

Build and Run: Compile the project and run it on your preferred simulator or device.
View the UI: Once the app launches, you will see two sections on the main page: one with a ListView and one with a CollectionView.
Data Representation: Both controls will display the same set of items, but there are differences in their layout and features.

Data Flow Summary

Setup: Both controls bind to the same data source provided by the MainViewModel.
View Model: A single ObservableCollection holds ItemModel objects, allowing for dynamic updates to the data.
Item Layout:
- ListView: Uses TextCell where each row contains Text and Detail.
- CollectionView: Utilizes a more flexible Grid layout that allows for more customized row designs.

Differences: ListView vs CollectionView

Customization:
- ListView: Limited to predefined cell structures (TextCell, ImageCell).
- CollectionView: Offers extensive customization abilities with custom layouts.
Performance:
- ListView: Generally performs slower in scenarios involving complex layouts and large datasets.
- CollectionView: Optimized for better performance, especially with virtualization and advanced layout features.
Item Selection:
- ListView: Simplified single or multiple selection.
- CollectionView: Supports more advanced selection modes and commands.
Header and Footer Support:
- ListView: Simple header/footer support.
- CollectionView: Offers richer support for headers, footers, and group headers.
Grouping:
- ListView: Requires manual management for grouped data.
- CollectionView: Built-in support for grouping data easily.
Reusability:
- ListView: Reusable cell templates (e.g., DataTemplate).
- CollectionView: Enhances reusability with DataTemplates and additional features like ItemsUpdatingScrollMode.

Conclusion

In this step-by-step tutorial, we explored the differences between the ListView and CollectionView controls in Xamarin.Forms. While ListView is simpler and has been available for a longer time, CollectionView provides a more modern and flexible approach to displaying lists of data.

By using the example provided, you can see the practical implications of each control. The choice between ListView and CollectionView depends on your specific requirements, such as data complexity, layout needs, and performance considerations. As a best practice, evaluate your application’s needs and choose the control that best suits your use case.