WPF ListView Inactive Selection Color

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I'm creating a WPF application where several ListView selections are made in a row (similar to the iTunes browser). The problem is that the default inactive selection color is too light. (see below)

How can I change this color so my inactive listview looks like this? (see below) Inactive and active selection colors the same

Solution

Override the default SystemColor with a Style like so:

<Style TargetType="ListViewItem">
    <Style.Resources>
        <SolidColorBrush x:Key="{x:Static SystemColors.ControlBrushKey}" Color="{x:Static SystemColors.HighlightColor}"/>
    </Style.Resources>
</Style>

Hexagon answered 19/12, 2008 at 19:43 Comment(0)

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The ListBox template uses a system color called ControlBrush to set the inactive highlight color. Therefore, you can just override that color:

<ListBox>
    <ListBox.Resources>
        <SolidColorBrush x:Key="{x:Static SystemColors.ControlBrushKey}">Red</SolidColorBrush>
    </ListBox.Resources>
</ListBox>

Stockjobber answered 19/12, 2008 at 20:43 Comment(10)

There issues with doing it this way. It doesn't allow you to skin the app, and if you go and change the system colors by changing your Windows Theme, it will revert back – Fourhanded 19/12, 2008 at 20:45

Doesn't allow you to skin the app? How so? Just look up a resource for the color instead of hard-coding as red. And I just tested changing the theme with a test harness running, and it worked perfectly. Please clarify. – Stockjobber 19/12, 2008 at 20:52

That's suprising. What happens if you put other listboxes on a form that you don't want styled that way? – Fourhanded 19/12, 2008 at 21:29

The resource is defined at the ListBox level, so it only affects that ListBox. – Stockjobber 19/12, 2008 at 21:37

What's actually happening is you are overriding the style key for all objects that use it. – Fourhanded 19/12, 2008 at 21:39

It's a resource so subject to the normal rules of resource lookup. Micah, try it yourself. Put two ListBoxes in a Window - one with the resource override and one without. The color change only affects the one with the resource override. – Stockjobber 19/12, 2008 at 22:27

Thanks for the comments, both of you. I agree that there are potential issues with this solution (variable Windows Themes, etc.), but in this case I want the inactive highlighting to be the same color as the active highlighting, so this solution is exactly what I'm looking for. – Hexagon 19/12, 2008 at 23:54

I have exactly same problem. But my font color needs to be white. At moment it is set to white, but it's gets override by this resource to black. Any ideas how to change that? Thank You. – Busra 27/4, 2009 at 11:5

For .NET 4.5, it looks like they changed the key -- see @Recreate answer below. – Monopetalous 21/6, 2013 at 21:1

This is a BAD idea -- DO NOT DO THIS -- for users with visual effects turned off, this will mess up a lot of things -- the scroll bars and buttons will change to become the current highlight color (this is blue by default -- so your inner buttons and ListView scrollbars turn blue, very bad!). [To see what I mean, try this hack out on the "Windows Classic" theme, since it has all the visual effects disabled.] Please see the popular answer here for the CORRECT way to do this: #1462732 – Matamoros 28/8, 2014 at 4:31

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Changing SystemColors.ControlBrushKey did not work for me, I had to change SystemColors.InactiveSelectionHighlightBrushKey

So instead of:

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="{x:Static SystemColors.ControlBrushKey}" Color="Red" />

I had to use:

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="{x:Static SystemColors.InactiveSelectionHighlightBrushKey}" Color="Red"/>

Recreate answered 16/2, 2013 at 16:42 Comment(6)

I also had to change this value, the ControlBrushKey was not changing the color. However the color I enter is still getting a another color applied on top of it, so my Blue is looking more purple. Did this happen to you? – Gabrielgabriela 6/3, 2013 at 1:19

I wish I could upvote this answer more than once, as I've tried to resolve this issue a number of times . I am also using .NET 4.5 and have tried all the other answers without success. – Yearround 8/5, 2013 at 14:45

This is what I used before I had to work on a .NET 4 project... I had to implement a style similar to the Solution answer for .NET 4 for my DataGridRow so that it would be easier to work with data (knowing easily what was selected). – Sostenuto 31/12, 2013 at 2:5

in .net 4.5 FrameworkCompatibilityPreferences.AreInactiveSelectionHighlightBrushKeysSupported field controls which color is used for the highlight. – Ashmead 9/1, 2014 at 4:36

SystemColors.ControlBrushKey Worked for me, Thank You. – Mauve 9/12, 2021 at 15:32

WPF on net6, had to use SystemColors.InactiveSelectionHighlightBrushKey and SystemColors.InactiveSelectionHighlightTextBrushKey – Telegram 14/2, 2023 at 9:51

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60

The ListBox template uses a system color called ControlBrush to set the inactive highlight color. Therefore, you can just override that color:

<ListBox>
    <ListBox.Resources>
        <SolidColorBrush x:Key="{x:Static SystemColors.ControlBrushKey}">Red</SolidColorBrush>
    </ListBox.Resources>
</ListBox>