The <apex:dataList> component is used to display items from a collection (like a list or set) using simple HTML tags like <ul>, <ol>, or custom tags. It’s a lightweight option for rendering lists compared to tables.
Key Features
- Binds directly to a list of data.
- Repeats a block of markup for each item.
- Flexible with any HTML structure.
Syntax
xmlCopyEdit<apex:dataList value="{!myList}" var="item" type="ul">
<li>{!item}</li>
</apex:dataList>
value: The list of items (from controller).var: The variable representing each item.type: The HTML tag to wrap the list (ul,ol, or custom).
Example: Display a List of Courses
xmlCopyEdit<apex:page controller="DataListDemo">
<apex:form>
<apex:dataList value="{!courses}" var="course" type="ul">
<li>{!course}</li>
</apex:dataList>
</apex:form>
</apex:page>
Apex Controller:
apexCopyEditpublic class DataListDemo {
public List<String> getCourses() {
return new List<String>{'Sales Cloud', 'Service Cloud', 'Marketing Cloud'};
}
}
Use Cases
- Bullet or numbered lists
- Quick item previews
- Simple menus or tags
When to Use
- Use
<apex:dataList>for basic, linear lists. - For tabular data, prefer
<apex:dataTable>.