Create hierarchy of data and pass

Question

I'm trying to build a hierarchy of data and I have the following code:

public class TreeData
{
    public string parent { get; set; }
    public string child { get; set; }
    public List<TreeData> thisTree { get; set; }

    public void Add(string parent, string child)
    {
        this.parent = parent;
        this.child = child;
    }

    public void Add(List<TreeData> myList)
    {
        this.thisTree = myList;
    }

}

I also have this to use it:

TreeData myTree = new TreeData();
myTree.Add("Alan", "Dan");

TreeData myTree1 = new TreeData();
myTree1.Add("Dan", "Heidi");
myTree1.Add(myTree);

However I can't pass myTree to my Add method as it is not a List, what do I need to do to be able to pass myTree back to my class?

Thanks, Dan

Answer 1

For a tree-like class, I suggest using the following structure :

public class TreeData
{
    public TreeData Parent { get; private set; }
    public string ID { get; private set; }
    public List<TreeData> Child { get; private set; }

    //Constructor for root objects
    public TreeData(string id) : this(null, id)
    {
    }

    //Constructor for child objects
    public TreeData(TreeData parent, string id)
    {
        this.ID = id;
        this.Parent = parent;
        this.Child = new List<TreeData>();
    }

    public TreeData Add(string childID)
    {
        TreeData child = new TreeData(this, childID);
        this.Child.Add(child);
        return child;
    }

}

This way each node has access to parent and childs

TreeData alanNode = new TreeData("Alan");
TreeData danNode = alanNode.Add("Dan");
danNode.Add("Heidi");

Answer 2

Why don't you change the signature of

public void Add(string parent, string child)

to

public void Add(TreeData parent, TreeData child)

Answer 3

I guess all you need to do is something like this:

public class TreeData
{
    private TreeData _child;

    public string Name { get; set; }
    public TreeData Next
    {
        get { return _child; }
        set { _child = value; }
    }
}


TreeData myTree = new TreeData("root");
TreeData child1 = new TreeData("child1");
TreeData child2 = new TreeData("child2");
myTree.Next = child1;
child1.Next = child2;

If you want one TreeData might have more than one child you could extend this class like this:

public class TreeData
{
    private TreeData _parent;
    private List<TreeData> childs = new List<TreeData>(); 
    public TreeData(string name)
    {
        Name = name;
    }

    public void AddChild(TreeData child)
    {
        child.Parent = this;
        childs.Add(child);
    }

    public string Name { get; set; }
    public TreeData Parent
    {
        get { return _parent; }
        set { _parent = value; }
    }


    public List<TreeData> Childs
    {
        get { return childs; }
    } 
}

Then:

TreeData myTree = new TreeData("root);
TreeData child1 = new TreeData("child1");
TreeData child2 = new TreeData("child2");

myTree.AddChild(child1);
myTree.AddChild(child2);