ListView.ColumnClick Event

Definition

Occurs when the user clicks a column header within the list view control.

C#
public event System.Windows.Forms.ColumnClickEventHandler ColumnClick;
C#
public event System.Windows.Forms.ColumnClickEventHandler? ColumnClick;

Event Type

Examples

The following code example creates a form that contains a ListView control that manually sorts items when a column in the ListView control is clicked. The example defines a class called ListViewItemComparer that implements the System.Collections.IComparer interface that performs the ListViewItem comparison. The example creates an instance of ListViewItemComparer and uses it to set the ListViewItemSorter property of the ListView control. The Sort method call in the ColumnClick event handler uses the methods defined in ListViewItemComparer to perform the sort of items, based on the column that is clicked.

C#
using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Collections;

namespace ListViewSortFormNamespace
{

    public class ListViewSortForm : Form
    {
        private ListView listView1;
       
        public ListViewSortForm()
        {
            // Create ListView items to add to the control.
            ListViewItem listViewItem1 = new ListViewItem(new string[] {"Banana","a","b","c"}, -1, Color.Empty, Color.Yellow, null);
            ListViewItem listViewItem2 = new ListViewItem(new string[] {"Cherry","v","g","t"}, -1, Color.Empty, Color.Red, new Font("Microsoft Sans Serif", 8.25F, FontStyle.Regular, GraphicsUnit.Point, ((System.Byte)(0))));
            ListViewItem listViewItem3 = new ListViewItem(new string[] {"Apple","h","j","n"}, -1, Color.Empty, Color.Lime, null);
            ListViewItem listViewItem4 = new ListViewItem(new string[] {"Pear","y","u","i"}, -1, Color.Empty, Color.FromArgb(((System.Byte)(192)), ((System.Byte)(128)), ((System.Byte)(156))), null);
     
            //Initialize the ListView control and add columns to it.
            this.listView1 = new ListView();

            // Set the initial sorting type for the ListView.
            this.listView1.Sorting = SortOrder.None;
            // Disable automatic sorting to enable manual sorting.
            this.listView1.View = View.Details;
            // Add columns and set their text.
            this.listView1.Columns.Add(new ColumnHeader());
            this.listView1.Columns[0].Text = "Column 1";
            this.listView1.Columns[0].Width = 100;
            listView1.Columns.Add(new ColumnHeader());
            listView1.Columns[1].Text = "Column 2";
            listView1.Columns.Add(new ColumnHeader());
            listView1.Columns[2].Text = "Column 3";
            listView1.Columns.Add(new ColumnHeader());
            listView1.Columns[3].Text = "Column 4";
            // Suspend control logic until form is done configuring form.
            this.SuspendLayout();
            // Add Items to the ListView control.
            this.listView1.Items.AddRange(new ListViewItem[] {listViewItem1,
                listViewItem2,
                listViewItem3,
                listViewItem4});
            // Set the location and size of the ListView control.
            this.listView1.Location = new Point(10, 10);
            this.listView1.Name = "listView1";
            this.listView1.Size = new Size(300, 100);
            this.listView1.TabIndex = 0;
            // Enable editing of the items in the ListView.
            this.listView1.LabelEdit = true;
            // Connect the ListView.ColumnClick event to the ColumnClick event handler.
            this.listView1.ColumnClick += new ColumnClickEventHandler(ColumnClick);
            
            // Initialize the form.
            this.ClientSize = new Size(400, 400);
            this.Controls.AddRange(new Control[] {this.listView1});
            this.Name = "ListViewSortForm";
            this.Text = "Sorted ListView Control";
            // Resume layout of the form.
            this.ResumeLayout(false);
        }

        // ColumnClick event handler.
        private void ColumnClick(object o, ColumnClickEventArgs e)
        {
            // Set the ListViewItemSorter property to a new ListViewItemComparer 
            // object. Setting this property immediately sorts the 
            // ListView using the ListViewItemComparer object.
            this.listView1.ListViewItemSorter = new ListViewItemComparer(e.Column);
        }

        [System.STAThreadAttribute()]
        public static void Main()
        {
            Application.Run(new ListViewSortForm());
        }
    }

    // Implements the manual sorting of items by columns.
    class ListViewItemComparer : IComparer
    {
        private int col;
        public ListViewItemComparer()
        {
            col = 0;
        }
        public ListViewItemComparer(int column)
        {
            col = column;
        }
        public int Compare(object x, object y)
        {
            return String.Compare(((ListViewItem)x).SubItems[col].Text, ((ListViewItem)y).SubItems[col].Text);
        }
    }
}

Remarks

The ColumnClick event occurs when the user clicks one of the column headers in a details view of the items in a ListView control (when the View property is set to Details). The ColumnClick event is typically handled to sort the items in the ListView using the clicked column as the column to sort by.

For more information about handling events, see Handling and Raising Events.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
Windows Desktop 3.0, 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

See also