WPF - How to have certain ListView items span columns?

Question

I have a set of data that I'd like to present via a WPF ListView in this way:

Column1   Column2   Column3
--GroupName1--
Item1     part2     part3
Item2     part2     part3
--GroupName2--
Item3     part2     part3
Item4     long_text_in_both_columns
Item5     part2     part3
--GroupName1--
Item6     part2     part3
Item7     long_text_in_both_columns
--GroupName3--
Item8     part2     part3

I am starting by working with this basic sample: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms771309(VS.90).aspx

Item4 and Item7 above have long text that I would like to span the remaining columns (ignoring what the original column headings were for). How can I do this?

I already have some XAML setup with a DataTrigger to replace the default GridViewRowPresenter with a custom TextBlock, but this isn't quite what I'm looking for. I need the data in column 1 to be displayed normally and the width of the first column recognized.

Answer 1

I think for this, you use ListBox instead of ListView and use its ItemTemplate to split each columns.

<ListBox>
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
 <DataTemplate>
  <StackPanel>
    <TextBlock Text="{Binding Text1}"/>
    <TextBlock Text="{Binding Text2}" />
  </StackPanel>
 </DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>

In this way you will have chance to put Trigger in or based on some data, you could make one control invisible and show the long text.

:)