---
id: using-a-listview
title: Using List Views
layout: docs
category: The Basics
permalink: docs/using-a-listview.html
next: network
previous: using-a-scrollview
---

React Native provides a suite of components for presenting lists of data. Generally, you'll want to use either [FlatList](docs/flatlist.html) or [SectionList](docs/sectionlist.html).

The `FlatList` component displays a scrolling list of changing, but similarly structured, data. `FlatList` works well for long lists of data, where the number of items might change over time. Unlike the more generic [`ScrollView`](docs/using-a-scrollview.html), the `FlatList` only renders elements that are currently showing on the screen, not all the elements at once.

The `FlatList` component requires two props: `data` and `renderItem`. `data` is the source of information for the list. `renderItem` takes one item from the source and returns a formatted component to render.

This example creates a simple `FlatList` of hardcoded data. Each item in the `data` props is rendered as a `Text` component. The `FlatListBasics` component then renders the `FlatList` and all `Text` components.

```SnackPlayer?name=FlatList%20Basics
import React, { Component } from 'react';
import { AppRegistry, FlatList, StyleSheet, Text, View } from 'react-native';

export default class FlatListBasics extends Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <View style={styles.container}>
        <FlatList
          data={[
            {key: 'Devin'},
            {key: 'Jackson'},
            {key: 'James'},
            {key: 'Joel'},
            {key: 'John'},
            {key: 'Jillian'},
            {key: 'Jimmy'},
            {key: 'Julie'},
          ]}
          renderItem={({item}) => <Text style={styles.item}>{item.key}</Text>}
        />
      </View>
    );
  }
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
   flex: 1,
   paddingTop: 22
  },
  item: {
    padding: 10,
    fontSize: 18,
    height: 44,
  },
})

// skip this line if using Create React Native App
AppRegistry.registerComponent('AwesomeProject', () => FlatListBasics);
```

If you want to render a set of data broken into logical sections, maybe with section headers, similar to `UITableView`s on iOS, then a [SectionList](docs/sectionlist.html) is the way to go.

```SnackPlayer?name=SectionList%20Basics
import React, { Component } from 'react';
import { AppRegistry, SectionList, StyleSheet, Text, View } from 'react-native';

export default class SectionListBasics extends Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <View style={styles.container}>
        <SectionList
          sections={[
            {title: 'D', data: ['Devin']},
            {title: 'J', data: ['Jackson', 'James', 'Jillian', 'Jimmy', 'Joel', 'John', 'Julie']},
          ]}
          renderItem={({item}) => <Text style={styles.item}>{item}</Text>}
          renderSectionHeader={({section}) => <Text style={styles.sectionHeader}>{section.title}</Text>}
        />
      </View>
    );
  }
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
   flex: 1,
   paddingTop: 22
  },
  sectionHeader: {
    paddingTop: 2,
    paddingLeft: 10,
    paddingRight: 10,
    paddingBottom: 2,
    fontSize: 14,
    fontWeight: 'bold',
    backgroundColor: 'rgba(247,247,247,1.0)',
  },
  item: {
    padding: 10,
    fontSize: 18,
    height: 44,
  },
})

// skip this line if using Create React Native App
AppRegistry.registerComponent('AwesomeProject', () => SectionListBasics);
```

One of the most common uses for a list view is displaying data that you fetch from a server. To do that, you will need to [learn about networking in React Native](docs/network.html).