RadTreeView supports binding to various types of data sources, including declarative
datasources.
Some of the declarative data sources are inherently hierarchical. These include
SiteMapDataSource and XmlDataSource. When data-bound
to these types of data sources, RadTreeView automatically creates the node hierarchy.
There is no need to use the DataFieldID and DataFieldParentID
properties.
The AccessDataSource is a table-based DataSource component. It
can be used to bind the treeview declaratively at design time. As with binding to
a DataSet, DataTable, or DataView, you can use the ID-ParentID
relation to establish a hierarchy among the nodes.
RadTreeView supports binding to an ObjectDataSource as well. In
addition to the standard Node properties (Text, Value, Navigate Url, etc.) that
can be bound to the underlying business objects, the DataFieldID
and DataFieldParentID properties can be specified, too. In this
way, RadTreeView can create a hierarchy of Nodes.
Still, the business objects should provide the data needed for the RadTreeView to
build the hierarchy. If the ParentID property of the business objects are of nullable
or reference type, then null values denote root Nodes. In case, the ParentID property
is of value type (Integer, Guid, etc.), '0'/'Guid.Empty' values denote the root
Nodes.
For more details on the aforementioned algorithm, please read the documentation
topic -
Binding to Array, ArrayList and Generic List.