Alternative To Treeview Control

[WJA]

I'm looking at building an application that needs to display 4 levels
of hierarchical data. Initially the obvious choice for this would seem
to be the treeview control. After searching this newsgroup I've found
that there is a lot of opinion that says to stay away from the treeview
if at all possible due to lack of documentation and distribution
problems. Added to this, I've never used it before and don't need a new
learning curve at the moment.

Are there user friendly alternatives to the treeview using native
Access controls? For instance, a series of list boxes or combo boxes.
Without actually trying it, I think that this could be made to work.
I'm not sure just how user friendly it would be though.

Has anyone implemented this type of alternative to the treeview? I
would be grateful to hear of any experiences or opinions.

Thanks in advance.

[Rick Brandt]

WJA wrote:

I'm looking at building an application that needs to display 4 levels
of hierarchical data. Initially the obvious choice for this would seem
to be the treeview control. After searching this newsgroup I've found
that there is a lot of opinion that says to stay away from the
treeview if at all possible due to lack of documentation and
distribution problems. Added to this, I've never used it before and
don't need a new learning curve at the moment.

Are there user friendly alternatives to the treeview using native
Access controls? For instance, a series of list boxes or combo boxes.
Without actually trying it, I think that this could be made to work.
I'm not sure just how user friendly it would be though.

Has anyone implemented this type of alternative to the treeview? I
would be grateful to hear of any experiences or opinions.

Thanks in advance.

While not quite as "sexy" as the Treeview control, I use the MSOutline control
for hierachal display. Other than including the ocx file with my app I have
never had any issues with it.

Only problem is I think I got that as part of the 97 ODE so I don't klnow if
it's generally available if you don't have that.

--
I don't check the Email account attached
to this message. Send instead to...
RBrandt at Hunter dot com

[WJA]

Thanks for the feedback Rick. No, I don't have the outline control and
would like to avoid using any external controls if possible.

Regards.

[Scott McDaniel]

I doubt you'd be able to simulate a treeview control using native Access
controls ... I use the Mabry control in my Access 2000/2002 projects with
absolutely no trouble (www.mabry.com).

--
Scott McDaniel
InfoTrakker Software

"WJA" <WJ****@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:11*********************@g43g2000cwa.googlegro ups.com...

Thanks for the feedback Rick. No, I don't have the outline control and
would like to avoid using any external controls if possible.

Regards.

[Tom van Stiphout]

On 17 Aug 2005 15:48:55 -0700, "WJA" <WJ****@hotmail.com> wrote:

Well, a subform can embed another subform, but only to a max of 3
levels deep. Personally I'm adverse to syntax like
forms!frmMyForm.mysubfrm.form!my2subform.form!my3s ubform.form.mycontrol.
Perhaps you can stomach this?

HTML comes to mind: perhaps you could use a Webbrowser control and
simulate the entire thing in HTML. There are server-side controls
available for HTML; we used one in a web project. Worked nicely.

Distribution of an OCX difficult? Deal with it. Or hire the folks
from SageKey to do it for you. We did that in a project. Sweet.

-Tom.

I'm looking at building an application that needs to display 4 levels
of hierarchical data. Initially the obvious choice for this would seem
to be the treeview control. After searching this newsgroup I've found
that there is a lot of opinion that says to stay away from the treeview
if at all possible due to lack of documentation and distribution
problems. Added to this, I've never used it before and don't need a new
learning curve at the moment.

Are there user friendly alternatives to the treeview using native
Access controls? For instance, a series of list boxes or combo boxes.
Without actually trying it, I think that this could be made to work.
I'm not sure just how user friendly it would be though.

Has anyone implemented this type of alternative to the treeview? I
would be grateful to hear of any experiences or opinions.

Thanks in advance.

[WJA]

Thanks folks. The Mabry control looks like it might do the job.

[Bob Quintal]

"WJA" <WJ****@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:11**********************@g44g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com:

I'm looking at building an application that needs to display 4
levels of hierarchical data. Initially the obvious choice for
this would seem to be the treeview control. After searching
this newsgroup I've found that there is a lot of opinion that
says to stay away from the treeview if at all possible due to
lack of documentation and distribution problems. Added to
this, I've never used it before and don't need a new learning
curve at the moment.

Are there user friendly alternatives to the treeview using
native Access controls? For instance, a series of list boxes
or combo boxes. Without actually trying it, I think that this
could be made to work. I'm not sure just how user friendly it
would be though.

Has anyone implemented this type of alternative to the
treeview? I would be grateful to hear of any experiences or
opinions.

Thanks in advance.

Actually, you can simulate a treeview with a form in datasheet
view and some code to manipulate the form's filter.

You have to pre-compute the row number and store it in the
table, and also the level number.

table structure
ROW, LEVEL, text2display
--- ----- ------------
1 1 aaaa
2 2 bbbb
3 3 cccc
4 4 dddd
5 3 xxxx
6 2 yyyy
7 1 fsdf
8 2 sdfs
9 3
to expand a node, you get its row number, as rowfrom, the number
of the next row as rowto at the same or lower level and level +1
as newlevel and add a filter condition that adds
Where ((rownumber BETWEEN RowFrom AND RowTo -1) AND level =
newlevel).
String a bunch of these together with OR and you have a
treeview.

Example Where (([ROW] between 1 and 6) AND level <= 1) OR
(([ROW] between 2 and 5) AND level <= 2) OR (([ROW] between 3
and 4) AND level <= 4)

store each set of to, from and level in an array and you got a
good start.
--
Bob Quintal

PA is y I've altered my email address.

[David W. Fenton]

"WJA" <WJ****@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:11**********************@g44g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com:

Are there user friendly alternatives to the treeview using native
Access controls? For instance, a series of list boxes or combo
boxes. Without actually trying it, I think that this could be made
to work. I'm not sure just how user friendly it would be though.

I've implemented something like that with a listbox, using
indentation to indicate the levels. Here's an example:

http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/examples/Tree.gif

--
David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton
dfenton at bway dot net http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc

[WJA]

Thanks for the replies Bob and David. I will experiment with your
suggestions.

[John Winterbottom]

You can fake a treeview by using a union query and a little VBA code.
You
don't get all the nice features of the .ocx like programmatic access to

nodes, you would have to implement those classes on your own, but it
may be
of use to you or give you some ideas:-

http://www.assaynet.com/downloads/access/treeview.mdb

I've done this in other applications up to four levels deep, with new /
edit
/ delete buttons for record manipulation, and although it takes a bit
of
work it pays off in not having to worry about ActiveX controls.

[Mike Gramelspacher]

I looked at the alternatives to a treeview control, but I prefer a real
treeview. Three weeks ago I did not have a clue about treeviews, but you
are welcome to the sample at
http://www.psci.net/gramelsp/TreeviewSample.zip

Basically it is just code I copied from a message by Robert Kirchner. My
programs are only applicable to my standalone computer, so I need not
address the problem that others computers may not have the control
installed.

Mike Gramelspacher

"WJA" <WJ****@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:11**********************@g44g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...

I'm looking at building an application that needs to display 4 levels
of hierarchical data. Initially the obvious choice for this would seem
to be the treeview control. After searching this newsgroup I've found
that there is a lot of opinion that says to stay away from the treeview
if at all possible due to lack of documentation and distribution
problems. Added to this, I've never used it before and don't need a new
learning curve at the moment.

Are there user friendly alternatives to the treeview using native
Access controls? For instance, a series of list boxes or combo boxes.
Without actually trying it, I think that this could be made to work.
I'm not sure just how user friendly it would be though.

Has anyone implemented this type of alternative to the treeview? I
would be grateful to hear of any experiences or opinions.

Thanks in advance.