ScrollBar

A ScrollBar allows you to view content outside the current viewing area by sliding the Thumb to make the content visible. Content within a user interface is often larger than a computer screen's display area, and ScrollBar provides the fundamental scrolling mechanism used throughout Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) applications.

There are two predefined elements that enable scrolling in WPF applications: ScrollBar and ScrollViewer. The ScrollViewer control encapsulates horizontal and vertical ScrollBar elements and a content container (such as a Panel element) to display other visible elements in a scrollable area. You must build a custom object to use the ScrollBar element for content scrolling. However, you can use the ScrollViewer element by itself because it's a composite control that encapsulates ScrollBar functionality.

Key concepts

Physical vs. logical scrolling

Physical scrolling is used to scroll content by a predetermined physical increment, typically by a value that's declared in pixels. Logical scrolling is used to scroll to the next item in the logical tree. Physical scrolling is the default scroll behavior for most Panel elements. WPF supports both types of scrolling.

The IScrollInfo interface represents the main scrolling region within a ScrollViewer or derived control. The interface defines scrolling properties and methods that can be implemented by Panel elements that require scrolling by logical unit, rather than by a physical increment. Casting an instance of IScrollInfo to a derived Panel and then using its scrolling methods provides a useful way to scroll to the next logical unit in a child collection, rather than by pixel increment.

StackPanel and VirtualizingStackPanel both implement IScrollInfo and natively support logical scrolling. For layout controls that natively support logical scrolling, you can still achieve physical scrolling by wrapping the host Panel element in a ScrollViewer and setting the CanContentScroll property to false.

Examples

Using IScrollInfo for content scrolling

The following code example demonstrates how to cast an instance of IScrollInfo to a StackPanel and use content scrolling methods (LineUp and LineDown) defined by the interface.

private void spLineUp(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    ((IScrollInfo)sp1).LineUp();
}
private void spLineDown(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    ((IScrollInfo)sp1).LineDown();
}

Private Sub spLineUp(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal args As RoutedEventArgs)

    CType(sp1, IScrollInfo).LineUp()
End Sub
Private Sub spLineDown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal args As RoutedEventArgs)

    CType(sp1, IScrollInfo).LineDown()
End Sub

Creating a ScrollViewer with ScrollBar elements

The following example creates a ScrollViewer in a window that contains some text and a rectangle. ScrollBar elements appear only when they're necessary. When you resize the window, the ScrollBar elements appear and disappear, due to updated values of the ComputedHorizontalScrollBarVisibility and ComputedVerticalScrollBarVisibility properties.

// Create the application's main window
mainWindow = gcnew System::Windows::Window();
mainWindow->Title = "ScrollViewer Sample";

// Define a ScrollViewer
myScrollViewer = gcnew ScrollViewer();
myScrollViewer->HorizontalScrollBarVisibility = ScrollBarVisibility::Auto;

// Add Layout control
myStackPanel = gcnew StackPanel();
myStackPanel->HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment::Left;
myStackPanel->VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment::Top;

TextBlock^ myTextBlock = gcnew TextBlock();
myTextBlock->TextWrapping = TextWrapping::Wrap;
myTextBlock->Margin = System::Windows::Thickness(0, 0, 0, 20);
myTextBlock->Text = "Scrolling is enabled when it is necessary. Resize the Window, making it larger and smaller.";

Rectangle^ myRectangle = gcnew Rectangle();
myRectangle->Fill = Brushes::Red;
myRectangle->Width = 500;
myRectangle->Height = 500;

// Add child elements to the parent StackPanel
myStackPanel->Children->Add(myTextBlock);
myStackPanel->Children->Add(myRectangle);

// Add the StackPanel as the lone child of the ScrollViewer
myScrollViewer->Content = myStackPanel;

// Add the ScrollViewer as the Content of the parent Window object
mainWindow->Content = myScrollViewer;
mainWindow->Show();

// Create the application's main window
mainWindow = new Window ();
mainWindow.Title = "ScrollViewer Sample";

// Define a ScrollViewer
myScrollViewer = new ScrollViewer();
myScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollBarVisibility = ScrollBarVisibility.Auto;

// Add Layout control
myStackPanel = new StackPanel();
myStackPanel.HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left;
myStackPanel.VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Top;

TextBlock myTextBlock = new TextBlock();
myTextBlock.TextWrapping = TextWrapping.Wrap;
myTextBlock.Margin = new Thickness(0, 0, 0, 20);
myTextBlock.Text = "Scrolling is enabled when it is necessary. Resize the Window, making it larger and smaller.";

Rectangle myRectangle = new Rectangle();
myRectangle.Fill = Brushes.Red;
myRectangle.Width = 500;
myRectangle.Height = 500;

// Add child elements to the parent StackPanel
myStackPanel.Children.Add(myTextBlock);
myStackPanel.Children.Add(myRectangle);

// Add the StackPanel as the lone child of the ScrollViewer
myScrollViewer.Content = myStackPanel;

// Add the ScrollViewer as the Content of the parent Window object
mainWindow.Content = myScrollViewer;
mainWindow.Show ();

'Define a ScrollViewer.
Dim myScrollViewer As New ScrollViewer
myScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollBarVisibility = ScrollBarVisibility.Auto

'Add Layout control.
Dim myStackPanel As New StackPanel
myStackPanel.HorizontalAlignment = System.Windows.HorizontalAlignment.Left
myStackPanel.VerticalAlignment = System.Windows.VerticalAlignment.Top

Dim myTextBlock As New TextBlock
myTextBlock.TextWrapping = TextWrapping.Wrap
myTextBlock.Margin = New Thickness(0, 0, 0, 20)
myTextBlock.Text = "Scrolling is enabled when it is necessary. Resize the Window, making it larger and smaller."

Dim myRectangle As New Rectangle
myRectangle.Fill = Brushes.Red
myRectangle.Width = 500
myRectangle.Height = 500

'Add child elements to the parent StackPanel.
myStackPanel.Children.Add(myTextBlock)
myStackPanel.Children.Add(myRectangle)

'Add the StackPanel as the lone child of the ScrollViewer
myScrollViewer.Content = myStackPanel

'Add the ScrollViewer as the Content of the parent Window object
Me.Content = myScrollViewer

<Page xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
      xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
      WindowTitle="ScrollViewer Sample">
  <ScrollViewer HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Auto">
    <StackPanel VerticalAlignment="Top" HorizontalAlignment="Left">
      <TextBlock TextWrapping="Wrap" Margin="0,0,0,20">Scrolling is enabled when it is necessary. 
      Resize the window, making it larger and smaller.</TextBlock>
      <Rectangle Fill="Red" Width="500" Height="500"></Rectangle>
    </StackPanel>
  </ScrollViewer>
</Page>

Styles and templates

This section describes the styles and templates for the ScrollBar control. You can modify the default ControlTemplate to give the control a unique appearance. For more information, see What are styles and templates? and How to create a template for a control.

Content property

This control doesn't define a content property.

Parts

The following table lists the named parts for the ScrollBar control.

Visual states

The following table lists the visual states for the ScrollBar control.

See also

• DocumentViewer
• FlowDocumentPageViewer
• IScrollInfo
• ScrollBar
• Thumb
• Track
• ScrollViewer
• StackPanel
• VirtualizingStackPanel
• Documents in WPF
• How to: Create a Scroll Viewer
• ScrollBar Styles and Templates