VirtualScroll
[virtualScroll]
[virtualScroll]
Virtual Scroll displays a virtual, "infinite" list. An array of records is passed to the virtual scroll containing the data to create templates for. The template created for each record, referred to as a cell, can consist of items, headers, and footers.
For performance reasons, not every record in the list is rendered at once; instead a small subset of records (enough to fill the viewport) are rendered and reused as the user scrolls.
The Basics
The array of records should be passed to the virtualScroll
property.
The data given to the virtualScroll
property must be an array. An item
template with the *virtualItem
property is required in the virtualScroll
.
The virtualScroll
and *virtualItem
properties can be added to any element.
<ion-list [virtualScroll]="items">
<ion-item *virtualItem="let item">
{{ item }}
</ion-item>
</ion-list>
Section Headers and Footers
Section headers and footers are optional. They can be dynamically created
from developer-defined functions. For example, a large list of contacts
usually has a divider for each letter in the alphabet. Developers provide
their own custom function to be called on each record. The logic in the
custom function should determine whether to create the section template
and what data to provide to the template. The custom function should
return null
if a template shouldn't be created.
<ion-list [virtualScroll]="items" [headerFn]="myHeaderFn">
<ion-item-divider *virtualHeader="let header">
Header: {{ header }}
</ion-item-divider>
<ion-item *virtualItem="let item">
Item: {{ item }}
</ion-item>
</ion-list>
Below is an example of a custom function called on every record. It
gets passed the individual record, the record's index number,
and the entire array of records. In this example, after every 20
records a header will be inserted. So between the 19th and 20th records,
between the 39th and 40th, and so on, a <ion-item-divider>
will
be created and the template's data will come from the function's
returned data.
myHeaderFn(record, recordIndex, records) {
if (recordIndex % 20 === 0) {
return 'Header ' + recordIndex;
}
return null;
}
Approximate Widths and Heights
If the height of items in the virtual scroll are not close to the default size of 40px, it is extremely important to provide an value for approxItemHeight height. An exact pixel-perfect size is not necessary, but without an estimate the virtual scroll will not render correctly.
The approximate width and height of each template is used to help determine how many cells should be created, and to help calculate the height of the scrollable area. Note that the actual rendered size of each cell comes from the app's CSS, whereas this approximation is only used to help calculate initial dimensions.
It's also important to know that Ionic's default item sizes have slightly different heights between platforms, which is perfectly fine.
Images Within Virtual Scroll
HTTP requests, image decoding, and image rendering can cause jank while
scrolling. In order to better control images, Ionic provides <ion-img>
to manage HTTP requests and image rendering. While scrolling through items
quickly, <ion-img>
knows when and when not to make requests, when and
when not to render images, and only loads the images that are viewable
after scrolling. Read more about ion-img
.
It's also important for app developers to ensure image sizes are locked in, and after images have fully loaded they do not change size and affect any other element sizes. Simply put, to ensure rendering bugs are not introduced, it's vital that elements within a virtual item does not dynamically change.
For virtual scrolling, the natural effects of the <img>
are not desirable
features. We recommend using the <ion-img>
component over the native
<img>
element because when an <img>
element is added to the DOM, it
immediately makes a HTTP request for the image file. Additionally, <img>
renders whenever it wants which could be while the user is scrolling. However,
<ion-img>
is governed by the containing ion-content
and does not render
images while scrolling quickly.
<ion-list [virtualScroll]="items">
<ion-item *virtualItem="let item">
<ion-avatar item-left>
<ion-img [src]="item.avatarUrl"></ion-img>
</ion-avatar>
{{ item.firstName }} {{ item.lastName }}
</ion-item>
</ion-list>
Custom Components
If a custom component is going to be used within Virtual Scroll, it's best
to wrap it with a good old <div>
to ensure the component is rendered
correctly. Since each custom component's implementation and internals can be
quite different, wrapping within a <div>
is a safe way to make sure
dimensions are measured correctly.
<ion-list [virtualScroll]="items">
<div *virtualItem="let item">
<my-custom-item [item]="item">
{{ item }}
</my-custom-item>
</div>
</ion-list>
Virtual Scroll Performance Tips
iOS Cordova WKWebView
When deploying to iOS with Cordova, it's highly recommended to use the WKWebView plugin in order to take advantage of iOS's higher performimg webview. Additionally, WKWebView is superior at scrolling efficiently in comparision to the older UIWebView.
Lock in element dimensions and locations
In order for virtual scroll to efficiently size and locate every item, it's very important every element within each virtual item does not dynamically change its dimensions or location. The best way to ensure size and location does not change, it's recommended each virtual item has locked in its size via CSS.
Use ion-img
for images
When including images within Virtual Scroll, be sure to use
ion-img
rather than the standard <img>
HTML element.
With ion-img
, images are lazy loaded so only the viewable ones are
rendered, and HTTP requests are efficiently controlled while scrolling.
Set Approximate Widths and Heights
As mentioned above, all elements should lock in their dimensions. However,
virtual scroll isn't aware of the dimensions until after they have been
rendered. For the initial render, virtual scroll still needs to set
how many items should be built. With "approx" property inputs, such as
approxItemHeight
, we're able to give virtual sroll an approximate size,
therefore allowing virtual scroll to decide how many items should be
created.
Changing dataset should use virtualTrackBy
It is possible for the identities of elements in the iterator to change while the data does not. This can happen, for example, if the iterator produced from an RPC to the server, and that RPC is re-run. Even if the "data" hasn't changed, the second response will produce objects with different identities, and Ionic will tear down the entire DOM and rebuild it. This is an expensive operation and should be avoided if possible.
Efficient headers and footer functions
Each virtual item must stay extremely efficient, but one way to really kill its performance is to perform any DOM operations within section header and footer functions. These functions are called for every record in the dataset, so please make sure they're performant.
Instance Members
readUpdate()
writeUpdate()
Input Properties
Attr | Type | Details |
---|---|---|
approxFooterHeight | string |
The approximate height of each footer template's cell.
This dimension is used to help determine how many cells should
be created when initialized, and to help calculate the height of
the scrollable area. This height value can only use |
approxFooterWidth | string |
The approximate width of each footer template's cell.
This dimension is used to help determine how many cells should
be created when initialized, and to help calculate the height of
the scrollable area. This value can use either |
approxHeaderHeight | string |
The approximate height of each header template's cell.
This dimension is used to help determine how many cells should
be created when initialized, and to help calculate the height of
the scrollable area. This height value can only use |
approxHeaderWidth | string |
The approximate width of each header template's cell.
This dimension is used to help determine how many cells should
be created when initialized, and to help calculate the height of
the scrollable area. This value can use either |
approxItemHeight | string |
It is important to provide this
if virtual item height will be significantly larger than the default
The approximate height of each virtual item template's cell.
This dimension is used to help determine how many cells should
be created when initialized, and to help calculate the height of
the scrollable area. This height value can only use |
approxItemWidth | string |
The approximate width of each item template's cell.
This dimension is used to help determine how many cells should
be created when initialized, and to help calculate the height of
the scrollable area. This value can use either |
bufferRatio | number |
The buffer ratio is used to decide how many cells
should get created when initially rendered. The number is a
multiplier against the viewable area's height. For example, if it
takes |
footerFn | function |
Section footers and the data used within its given
template can be dynamically created by passing a function to |
headerFn | function |
Section headers and the data used within its given
template can be dynamically created by passing a function to |
virtualScroll | array |
The data that builds the templates within the virtual scroll.
This is the same data that you'd pass to |
virtualTrackBy | function |
Same as |