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Fix issue 14198: [Dark Mode] Improve visual contrast of the Group Headers in ListView control in dark #14406

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Fix issue 14198: [Dark Mode] Improve visual contrast of the Group Headers in ListView control in dark #14406

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418a4fb
Fix issue 14198: [Dark Mode] Improve visual contrast of the Group Hea…
Mar 18, 2026
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Mar 19, 2026
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Adjust codes
Mar 26, 2026
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Add mask layer effect
Mar 26, 2026
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Add Hover effect
Mar 26, 2026
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May 14, 2026
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May 19, 2026
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245 changes: 239 additions & 6 deletions src/System.Windows.Forms/System/Windows/Forms/Controls/ListView/ListView.cs
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -96,6 +96,184 @@ public partial class ListView : Control
private const int LVLABELEDITTIMER = 0x2A;
private const int LVTOOLTIPTRACKING = 0x30;
private const int MAXTILECOLUMNS = 20;
private const uint LVM_SETGROUPMETRICS = PInvoke.LVM_FIRST + 155;
private const uint LVGMF_TEXTCOLOR = 0x00000004;

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct LVGROUPMETRICS
{
public uint cbSize;
public uint mask;
public uint Left;
public uint Top;
public uint Right;
public uint Bottom;
public COLORREF crLeft;
public COLORREF crTop;
public COLORREF crRight;
public COLORREF crBottom;
public COLORREF crHeader;
public COLORREF crFooter;
}

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private unsafe bool TryGetGroupRect(int groupId, uint rectType, out Rectangle rect)
{
RECT nativeRect = default;
nativeRect.top = (int)rectType;

if (PInvokeCore.SendMessage(this, PInvoke.LVM_GETGROUPRECT, (WPARAM)groupId, ref nativeRect) == 0)
{
rect = Rectangle.Empty;
return false;
}

rect = (Rectangle)nativeRect;
return true;
}

private void DrawDarkModeGroupSubtitleAndFooterOverlay()
{
if (!Application.IsDarkModeEnabled || !GroupsEnabled || OwnerDraw || !IsHandleCreated)
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{
return;
}

using Graphics g = CreateGraphicsInternal();
Color textColor = ForeColor;
Color headerColor = Color.FromArgb(120, 180, 255);
Color chevronColor = Color.FromArgb(80, 170, 255);
using Font headerFont = new(Font, FontStyle.Bold);

for (int i = 0; i < Groups.Count; i++)
{
ListViewGroup group = Groups[i];
bool collapsed = group.GetNativeCollapsedState() == ListViewGroupCollapsedState.Collapsed;

if (!TryGetGroupRect(group.ID, PInvoke.LVGGR_HEADER, out Rectangle headerRect)
|| !TryGetGroupRect(group.ID, PInvoke.LVGGR_GROUP, out Rectangle groupRect))
{
continue;
}

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Rectangle headerRectText = new(
headerRect.Left + 8,
headerRect.Top,
Math.Max(0, headerRect.Width - 32),
headerFont.Height + 6);

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if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(group.Header))
{

using (Brush backBrush = new SolidBrush(BackColor))
{
g.FillRectangle(backBrush, headerRectText);
}

TextRenderer.DrawText(g, group.Header, headerFont, headerRectText, headerColor, TextFormatFlags.Left | TextFormatFlags.NoPrefix | TextFormatFlags.EndEllipsis);
}

DrawDarkModeGroupChevron(g, headerRect, headerRectText, group.Header, headerFont, collapsed, headerColor, chevronColor, BackColor);

if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(group.Subtitle))
{
Rectangle subtitleRect = new(
headerRect.Left + 8,
headerRect.Top + Font.Height + 2,
Math.Max(0, groupRect.Width - 32),
Font.Height + 6);

TextRenderer.DrawText(g, group.Subtitle, Font, subtitleRect, textColor, TextFormatFlags.Left | TextFormatFlags.NoPrefix | TextFormatFlags.EndEllipsis);
}

if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(group.Footer))
{
int footerY;

if (!collapsed && group.Items.Count > 0)
{
Rectangle lastItemBounds = group.Items[^1].Bounds;
footerY = lastItemBounds.Bottom + 2;
}
else
{
int subtitleOffset = string.IsNullOrEmpty(group.Subtitle) ? 1 : 2;
footerY = headerRect.Top + (Font.Height * subtitleOffset) + 4;
}

Rectangle footerRect = new(
headerRect.Left + 8,
footerY,
Math.Max(0, groupRect.Width - 32),
Font.Height + 6);

TextRenderer.DrawText(g, group.Footer, Font, footerRect, textColor, TextFormatFlags.Left | TextFormatFlags.NoPrefix | TextFormatFlags.EndEllipsis);
}
}
}

private static void DrawDarkModeGroupChevron(
Graphics g,
Rectangle headerRect,
Rectangle headerTextRect,
string headerText,
Font headerFont,
bool collapsed,
Color lineColor,
Color chevronColor,
Color backgroundColor)
{
int centerX = headerRect.Right - 9;
int centerY = headerTextRect.Top + (headerTextRect.Height / 2) + 1;

Rectangle nativeChevronRect = new(
headerRect.Right - 24,
headerTextRect.Top - 3,
24,
headerTextRect.Height + 8);
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using (Brush backgroundBrush = new SolidBrush(backgroundColor))
{
g.FillRectangle(backgroundBrush, nativeChevronRect);
}

Point[] points = collapsed
? [new Point(centerX - 3, centerY - 5), new Point(centerX + 2, centerY), new Point(centerX - 3, centerY + 5)]
: [new Point(centerX - 5, centerY - 2), new Point(centerX, centerY + 3), new Point(centerX + 5, centerY - 2)];

using Pen chevronPen = new(chevronColor, 2.6f)
{
StartCap = Drawing.Drawing2D.LineCap.Round,
EndCap = Drawing.Drawing2D.LineCap.Round,
LineJoin = Drawing.Drawing2D.LineJoin.Round
};
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g.DrawLines(chevronPen, points);

int lineY = centerY;
int lineStartX = headerRect.Left + 8;
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(headerText))
{
int measuredHeaderWidth = TextRenderer.MeasureText(
g,
headerText,
headerFont,
Size.Empty,
TextFormatFlags.SingleLine | TextFormatFlags.NoPrefix | TextFormatFlags.NoPadding).Width;

lineStartX += measuredHeaderWidth + 8;
}

int lineEndX = centerX - 10;
if (lineEndX > lineStartX)
{
using Pen linePen = new(lineColor, 1f)
{
StartCap = Drawing.Drawing2D.LineCap.Round,
EndCap = Drawing.Drawing2D.LineCap.Round
};
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g.DrawLine(linePen, lineStartX, lineY, lineEndX, lineY);
}
}

// PERF: take all the bools and put them into a state variable
private Collections.Specialized.BitVector32 _listViewState; // see LISTVIEWSTATE_ constants above
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -2600,15 +2778,22 @@ private unsafe void CustomDraw(ref Message m)
return;
}

// We want custom draw for this paint cycle
m.ResultInternal = (LRESULT)(nint)(PInvoke.CDRF_NOTIFYSUBITEMDRAW | PInvoke.CDRF_NEWFONT);
// We want custom draw for this paint cycle.
// CDRF_NOTIFYITEMDRAW is required for group items (LVCDI_GROUP) so that
// CDDS_ITEMPREPAINT notifications are raised for group header/subtitle/footer.
m.ResultInternal = (LRESULT)(nint)(PInvoke.CDRF_NOTIFYITEMDRAW | PInvoke.CDRF_NOTIFYSUBITEMDRAW | PInvoke.CDRF_NEWFONT);

// refresh the cache of the current color & font settings for this paint cycle
_odCacheBackColor = BackColor;
_odCacheForeColor = ForeColor;
_odCacheFont = Font;
_odCacheFontHandle = FontHandle;

if (Application.IsDarkModeEnabled && !nmcd->nmcd.hdc.IsNull)
{
PInvokeCore.SetTextColor(nmcd->nmcd.hdc, (COLORREF)ColorTranslator.ToWin32(ForeColor));
}

// If preparing to paint a group item, make sure its bolded.
if (nmcd->dwItemType == NMLVCUSTOMDRAW_ITEM_TYPE.LVCDI_GROUP)
{
Expand All @@ -2618,7 +2803,7 @@ private unsafe void CustomDraw(ref Message m)
_odCacheFontHandleWrapper = new FontHandleWrapper(_odCacheFont);
_odCacheFontHandle = _odCacheFontHandleWrapper.Handle;
PInvokeCore.SelectObject(nmcd->nmcd.hdc, _odCacheFontHandleWrapper.Handle);
m.ResultInternal = (LRESULT)(nint)PInvoke.CDRF_NEWFONT;
m.ResultInternal = (LRESULT)(nint)(PInvoke.CDRF_NOTIFYITEMDRAW | PInvoke.CDRF_NOTIFYSUBITEMDRAW | PInvoke.CDRF_NEWFONT);
}

return;
Expand All @@ -2630,6 +2815,25 @@ private unsafe void CustomDraw(ref Message m)

case NMCUSTOMDRAW_DRAW_STAGE.CDDS_ITEMPREPAINT:

if (Application.IsDarkModeEnabled
&& !OwnerDraw
&& nmcd->dwItemType == NMLVCUSTOMDRAW_ITEM_TYPE.LVCDI_GROUP)
{
COLORREF textColor = (COLORREF)ColorTranslator.ToWin32(BackColor);
COLORREF textBackColor = (COLORREF)ColorTranslator.ToWin32(BackColor);
nmcd->clrText = textColor;
nmcd->clrTextBk = textBackColor;

if (!nmcd->nmcd.hdc.IsNull)
{
PInvokeCore.SetTextColor(nmcd->nmcd.hdc, textColor);
PInvokeCore.SetBkColor(nmcd->nmcd.hdc, textBackColor);
}

m.ResultInternal = (LRESULT)(nint)PInvoke.CDRF_NEWFONT;
return;
}

int itemIndex = (int)nmcd->nmcd.dwItemSpec;
// The following call silently returns Rectangle.Empty if no corresponding
// item was found. We do this because the native listview, under some circumstances, seems
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -4688,7 +4892,7 @@ private void ApplyDarkModeOnDemand()
// Apply dark mode theme to the ListView
_ = PInvoke.SetWindowTheme(
HWND,
$"{DarkModeIdentifier}_{ExplorerThemeIdentifier}",
$"{DarkModeIdentifier}_{ItemsViewThemeIdentifier}",
null);

// Get the ListView's ColumnHeader handle:
Expand All @@ -4703,7 +4907,29 @@ private void ApplyDarkModeOnDemand()
columnHeaderHandle,
$"{DarkModeIdentifier}_{ItemsViewThemeIdentifier}",
null);

UpdateDarkModeGroupTextColors();
}
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}

private unsafe void UpdateDarkModeGroupTextColors()
{
if (!IsHandleCreated || !GroupsEnabled)
{
return;
}

COLORREF textColor = (COLORREF)ColorTranslator.ToWin32(ForeColor);
COLORREF headerColor = (COLORREF)ColorTranslator.ToWin32(BackColor);
LVGROUPMETRICS groupMetrics = new()
{
cbSize = (uint)sizeof(LVGROUPMETRICS),
mask = LVGMF_TEXTCOLOR,
crHeader = headerColor,
crFooter = textColor
};

PInvokeCore.SendMessage(this, LVM_SETGROUPMETRICS, (WPARAM)0, ref groupMetrics);
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}

protected override void OnHandleDestroyed(EventArgs e)
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -6018,8 +6244,11 @@ private unsafe bool WmNotify(ref Message m)
}
else if (nmlvcd->nmcd.dwDrawStage == NMCUSTOMDRAW_DRAW_STAGE.CDDS_ITEMPREPAINT)
{
// Setting the current ForeColor to the text color.
PInvokeCore.SetTextColor(nmlvcd->nmcd.hdc, ForeColor);
Color textColor = nmlvcd->dwItemType == NMLVCUSTOMDRAW_ITEM_TYPE.LVCDI_GROUP
? BackColor
: ForeColor;

PInvokeCore.SetTextColor(nmlvcd->nmcd.hdc, textColor);
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// and the rest remains the same.
m.ResultInternal = (LRESULT)(nint)PInvoke.CDRF_DODEFAULT;
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -7081,6 +7310,7 @@ protected override void WndProc(ref Message m)

Capture = false;
base.WndProc(ref m);

break;
case PInvokeCore.WM_MOUSEHOVER:
if (HoverSelection)
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -7126,11 +7356,14 @@ protected override void WndProc(ref Message m)
// ItemHovered events should be raised.
_prevHoveredItem = null;
base.WndProc(ref m);

break;

case PInvokeCore.WM_PAINT:
base.WndProc(ref m);

DrawDarkModeGroupSubtitleAndFooterOverlay();

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// win32 ListView
BeginInvoke(new MethodInvoker(CleanPreviousBackgroundImageFiles));
break;
Expand Down
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