Place to store data in a treeview.

[Jeff Bradshaw]

Is the only place to store data in a tree view in the tag field? I need to know info about a node when a person clicks on it. I guess I could make the tag an array of objects and then process them accordingly.

TIA - Jeff.

[Richard Slade]

Hi, 

This is a typical area to store a piece of data. We are also using the tag object to store some information, and yes, as it's an object, you can store anything in it. 

[erwin]

Another option might be to derive your own Node class from RadTreeNode and add whatever additional Properties you need.
I used to use the Tag Property quite a lot in the past but IMHO deriving your own Node Types leads to cleaner code.
You have to cast back from SelectedNode to your Class but the remaining code that works with your app specific data is quite typesafe.

Regards
Erwin

[Richard Slade]

Hi Erwin,

That's an interesting way to do it too. May I ask what type of thing you are storing? For most people's needs I'd still probably stick with the tag. It's a fairly obvious place IMO and can of course store anything, though I'd be really interested to know more about what you store in a custm node.
Thanks
Richard

[Julian Benkov]

Hello Jeff Bradshaw,

You can use the Tag property to store a reference to your custom object. Another solution is to implement a custom treeview node with your properties and methods. Here is a small example:

public partial class Form3 : Form
{
    public class MyNode : RadTreeNode
    {
        private string myStringField;

        public string MyStringField
        {
            get { return myStringField; }
            set
            {
                myStringField = value;
                this.Text = value;
            }
        }
    }

    public Form3()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    private void Form3_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        MyNode node = new MyNode();
        node.MyStringField = "Test1";
        this.radTreeView2.Nodes.Add(node);
    }
}

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Julian Benkov
the Telerik team

[erwin]

One of the reasons I sometimes prefer the custom treeNode over the .Tag property is that it lets you encapsulate dependent Properties.

Using the .Tag, you often end up with code like this:

RadTreeNode node = new RadTreeNode()
node.Tag=myObject;
node.Text=myObject.Text
node.Value=myObject.ID

(or more complex depending on how the .Text is related to the object you are representing).

With a derived class you simply write
MyTreeNode node = new MyTreeNode(myObject);

Erwin

[Richard Slade]

Hi Erwin,

Yes, I agree, this would make the code more readable in many situations.
Thanks
Richard