GridDropDownColumn with treeview

[Safa Amini]

I am working with GridDropDownColumn and I need to show a treeview inside the combobox or at least be able to add some icons to each entry. I know that a good way would be to use a template column and handle everything  manually, and that is what I am trying to avoid, because it's so easy to use a dropdownColumn and rest assured that db operations as well as grouping and sorting would be taken care of automatically.

I have tried the following code:

    Private Sub grdOrderable_ItemDataBound(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As Telerik.Web.UI.GridItemEventArgs) Handles grdOrderable.ItemDataBound

        If e.Item.IsInEditMode And TypeOf (e.Item) Is GridEditableItem Then
            Dim item As GridEditableItem = e.Item

            Dim catEditor As GridDropDownListColumnEditor = item.EditManager.GetColumnEditor("OrderableCatCode")
            For Each i As RadComboBoxItem In catEditor.ComboBoxControl.Items
                i.ImageUrl = GetCatIcon(i.Value)''query the db to get the type and choose an icon
                i.Text = GetCatStartString(i.Value) & i.Text''insert some '-' characters
            Next

        End If
    End Sub

and the result can be seen in the attached picture and it does not look very elegant. (because it is not a treeview)
Should I go for the template column solution or do you suggest a better one?

Thank you very much.
Safa

[Pavlina]

Hello Safa,

I followed your scenario and prepared a simple runnable application that demonstrates the needed functionality. Please examine it and let me know if it works as expected or if I am leaving something important out.

I hope this gets you started properly.

Best wishes,
Pavlina
the Telerik team

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[Safa Amini]

Hi Pavlina
Thanks for the detailed code.
I reviewed the source you had developed (though I could not run it because of the db version problem, (mine is 2005), but I could understand it nonetheless.) and I can see that you have used the template solution (which seems to be the only solution). I am a big fan of templates myself, but since GridDropdownColumn is so easy to use, one tends to avoid a template as much as possible. (using a template is like turning the auto-pilot off: you have to do everything yourself!)

Thanks again,
Safa