How can I get ScrollViewer to work inside a StackPanel?

Question

In the following WPF XAML the ScrollViewer does not work (it displays a scroll bar but you cannot scroll and the contents go off the window to the bottom).

I can change the outer StackPanel to a Grid and it will work.

However, in my application from which I reproduced the following code, I need to have an outer StackPanel. What do I have to do to the StackPanel to make the ScrollViewer show a usable scrollbar? e.g. VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Height="Auto" don't work.

 <StackPanel>
        <ScrollViewer>
            <StackPanel>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            </StackPanel>
        </ScrollViewer>
 </StackPanel>

score 67 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 08 '10 at 10:53

67

This was bugging me for a while too, the trick is to put your stackpanel within a scrollviewer.

Also, you need to ensure that you set the CanContentScroll property of the scroll viewer to True, here's an example:

  <ScrollViewer Grid.Row="1" Margin="299,12,34,54" Name="ScrollViewer1" VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" Height="195" CanContentScroll="True">
        <StackPanel Name="StackPanel1" OverridesDefaultStyle="False"  Height="193" Width="376" VerticalAlignment="Top" HorizontalAlignment="Left"></StackPanel>
  </ScrollViewer>

answered Jul 08 '10 at 10:53

Rob

3,488
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Where is the CanContentScroll property? See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.controls.scrollviewer_properties(v=VS.95).aspx – gideon Nov 24 '10 at 18:54
3

Giddy> Please see this link:- http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms612683.aspx – Kushal Waikar Nov 26 '10 at 10:08
3

"You need to ensure that you set the CanContentScroll property of the scroll viewer to True" --- I still can't believe that this is not the default for a control named "ScrollViewer". – Andrea Antonangeli Aug 29 '17 at 15:06
1

@AndreaAntonangeli I don't think '[CanContentScroll](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.windows.controls.scrollviewer.cancontentscroll?view=netframework-4.7.2)' means what you think it means. When 'true' scrolling is done per item (or piece of content), when 'false' scrolling still occurs but at a pixel level – mcalex Mar 06 '19 at 02:24
Why set `CanContentScroll`? – Lyndon Gingerich Dec 13 '22 at 19:03
Here is a more specific documentation link, by the way: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.windows.controls.scrollviewer.cancontentscroll – Lyndon Gingerich Dec 13 '22 at 19:04

score 64 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 27 '11 at 15:12

64

You can't without fixing the height of the StackPanel. It's designed to grow indefinitely in one direction. I'd advise using a different Panel. Why do you "need" to have an outer StackPanel?

edited Sep 27 '11 at 15:12

answered Apr 29 '09 at 15:13

Kent Boogaart

175,602
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14

wanted to stack things and using the Grid you have to manually manage all the rows and columns, but DockPanel works nicely so I'll switch to that, thanks. – Edward Tanguay Apr 29 '09 at 15:19
1

I agree with Edward. In my experience, wrapping my DataGrids in a DockPanel then setting DockPanel.Dock="Top" for each DataGrid worked great. – BitsAndBytes Sep 07 '15 at 16:04
2

Which alternative control should I use in UWP? There isn't DockPanel. Thank you. – Jan Chalupa Mar 05 '16 at 18:20
1

For UWP you can use RelativePanel – xmashallax Apr 04 '16 at 20:38
2

Damn stackpanel, I always have to replace it with a grid on UWP, they should change its behavior it's the only panel that works this way – Alberto Rivelli Apr 23 '16 at 15:17
fixing the height of inner stackpanel will do it, cause then the scrollviewer will take it's height from it's child element but incase if inner stack panel height will grow so will the scrollviewer. In short until when ScrollViewer height is NaN, it will take size according to it's content. On the other hand if the height of ScrollViewer is set then it will not expand will it's content. So most likely that's better option. – Kylo Ren Jun 06 '16 at 12:38

score 10 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 15 '13 at 12:50

Notice that sometimes you might have a StackPanel without realizing it. In my case I had this code

<ScrollViewer>
  <ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Pages}"/>
</ScrollViewer>

which worked fine. The "Pages" referenced by the binding was really different, complex UserControls, and I wanted to have only scrollbars on some of them. So I removed the scrollviewer:

 <ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Pages}"/>

And then I put the ScrollViewer as the top element on those of the usercontrols where I wanted them. However, this did not work. The content just flowed off the page. At first i didn't think this question/answer could help me, but the I realized that the default ItemPanel of an ItemsControl is the StackPanel. So I solved my problem by specifying an ItemsPanel that was not the StackPanel:

<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Pages}">
    <ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
        <ItemsPanelTemplate>
            <Grid/>
        </ItemsPanelTemplate>
    </ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
</ItemsControl>

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 13 '13 at 09:50

Indeed, the way I solved that dileman was to remove the outer stack panel and instead set the scrollviewer in the position I wanted inside the main grid.

        <Grid Style="{StaticResource LayoutRootStyle}">
    <Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <RowDefinition Height="160"/>
        <RowDefinition Height="*"/>
    </Grid.RowDefinitions>        

    <!-- Vertical scrolling grid used in most view states -->    

        <ScrollViewer Grid.Row="1" HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Auto">
            <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
                <GridView>
                ...
                </GridView>
            </StackPanel>
        </ScrollViewer>

Putting the ScrollView in a Grid on a row with Height = "*" solved the problem for me. — Mc_Topaz, Nov 11 '21 at 12:53

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 09 '16 at 13:16

This is how it works:

<Window x:Class="TabControl.MainWindow"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"        
    xmlns:local="clr-namespace:TabControl"
    Title="MainWindow"    Height="300"   
    DataContext="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}}"         
    >    
<StackPanel>
    <ScrollViewer Height="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Mode=FindAncestor,AncestorType={x:Type Border}},Path=ActualHeight}" >
        <StackPanel >
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
        </StackPanel>
    </ScrollViewer>
</StackPanel>

By binding the ScrollViewer's Height to Window's Inner Height.

The logic of re-sizing is we need to give any element fix height or design the view to use render height.

Output:

It's kinda close, but not quite. Some control that is ancestor to the ScrollViewer, but is between Border and the ScrollViewer, might have a margin (mine does), and the binding to the ActualHeight value won't catch that. — Alan McBee, Jun 04 '16 at 03:21
@AlanMcBee yes, there can be many possible cases where it will not work perfectly, but this being the most basic case for a control hierarchy I've given the solution. But considering the logic all you need to do in most cases the change the ancestor type in your binding and it should work perfectly again. The crux of the fix was there was an UI element in hierarchy that could help us to depend on a height(not necessarily a Border), the logic can remain same as long as you can find a reliable height. Hope it make sense, else post your problem as a question, I'll try to help. :) — Kylo Ren, Jun 04 '16 at 08:26
@Bigeyes x:Type is native WPF syntax, there must be a problem with your designer or compiler .. — Kylo Ren, Dec 22 '16 at 07:41
@KyloRen. You are right. I tried to use it in Silverlight project woth telerik child window. But I haven't got a clue so far. :-) — Bigeyes, Dec 22 '16 at 12:20

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 22 '19 at 03:00

Here's how I would do it if your stack panel is inside a grid:

<ScrollViewer Grid.Row="1" VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto">
    <StackPanel MaxHeight="{Binding Path=Height,RelativeSource={RelativeSource 
              AncestorType=Grid}}">
    </StackPanel>
</ScrollViewer>

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 11 '14 at 08:43

Moving Grid.Row="1" from StackPanel to ScrollViewer completely solved it for me.

I had a long list of some 40 items to show in a StackPanel, but only the first 20 were showing.

    <ScrollViewer Grid.Row="1" VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto">
        <StackPanel x:Name="ContentPanel" Margin="12,0,12,0">
        <TextBlock Text="{Binding Line1}" Margin="9,-7,0,0" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextTitle1Style}"/>
        <TextBlock Text="" Margin="10,-2,10,0" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextNormalStyle}" />
        ...
        </StackPanel>
    </ScrollViewer>

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 19 '22 at 16:06

<WrapPanel Orientation="Vertical">
        <ScrollViewer>
            <WrapPanel Orientation="Vertical">
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
                <TextBlock Text="This is a test"/>
            </WrapPanel>
        </ScrollViewer>
    </WrapPanel>

As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). — Community, Jan 19 '22 at 19:11

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Feb 17 '23 at 10:40

I had this exact problem on WinUI 3, .Net6 (where StackPanel is still not able to natively accommodate a ScrollViewer child).

This fix should work in WPF as well, and allows you to keep the parent of your ScrollViewer as StackPanel:

Identify an Element* on your xaml window/page with these characteristics:

it has the height you want for your ScrollViewer to have.
it has a fixed Height or is the Child of a Grid with its assigned RowDefinition Height="*"
it is an element external to your ScrollViewer.
it can be an ancestor of your ScrollViewer or not.
it is not a StackPanel

Ensure the Element* you found has a name set:

something like x:Name="myControlName"

Set your ScrollViewer's 'Height' to inherit the 'Height' or 'ActualHeight' of that Element*:

<ScrollViewer Height="{Binding ActualHeight, ElementName=myControlName}"/>

Profit !

How can I get ScrollViewer to work inside a StackPanel?

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