Building a TreeView in ASP.NET MVC and Core

Summary:
This tutorial walks through building a TreeView in ASP.NET Core using ViewModel binding and JSON serialization. The TreeView is rendered on the client side using a simple recursive HTML structure. The backend constructs the hierarchy from a static or database source and passes it to the view. The data is structured using parent-child relationships, and the final JSON is passed to the view for rendering. No third-party libraries are used, making it a lightweight and transparent solution.

Key Steps:

• Define a hierarchical ViewModel with recursive child collections.
• Populate the ViewModel with data (manually or from a database).
• Serialize the structure into JSON.
• Render the TreeView in a Razor view using JavaScript.

Best For:
Developers using ASP.NET Core who want a lightweight, client-side rendered TreeView without relying on jQuery plugins or third-party UI components.

Summary:
This video demonstrates how to generate a TreeView structure using data directly from a SQL Server database in an MVC 4 application. The example uses recursive methods to fetch hierarchical data from a parent-child table (such as a category structure). The TreeView is rendered using a combination of Razor and recursive HTML helpers.

Key Steps:

• Create a SQL table with ID and ParentID fields.
• Use Entity Framework to fetch data into a recursive model.
• Write recursive logic in the controller to build the tree.
• Use a partial view or helper method to render nested HTML in the view.

Best For:
Developers working with older ASP.NET MVC versions who need to generate TreeViews from database-driven content, particularly with dynamic data structures.