ArrayCollection as Data Provider in Tree

Question

Hi,
     Does anybody know how to use ArrayCollection as a data provider in tree control as i have to access the data later from the database. I'm able to use XMLList as the data provider in the tree control but unable to use ArrayCollection as data provider.
Please help me in this.
Thanxs
Gaurav

Answer 1

Actually I was just thinking about something I am currently doing.  I am not sure if a tree control will accept a HierarchicalData object as its dataprovider but what you can do is create an array of associative arrays where one of the keys is called children.  This key called children would then point to another associative array.  It could nest down as far as you want but would look absolutely terrible.  I still think XMLList is the way to go but if you really dont want to do that you can try and work this.  Here is some sample of what a simple HierarchicalData object looks like:
private var masterData:Array = [
             { OrderId: 10248, CustomerId:"WILMK", EmployeeId:5, OrderDate:"1-Feb-2007",
            children:[
                        {ProductId:11, ProductName:"Quesbo Cabrales", UnitPrice:14, Quantity:12, Discount:0, Price:168},
                        {ProductId:42, ProductName:"Singaporean Hokkien Fried Mee", UnitPrice:9.8, Quantity:10, Discount:0, Price:98},
                        {ProductId:42, ProductName:"Mozzarella di Giovanni", UnitPrice:34.8, Quantity:5, Discount:0, Price:174}
             { OrderId: 10249, CustomerId:"TRADH", EmployeeId:6, OrderDate:"3-Feb-2007",
                 children:[
                    {ProductId:51, ProductName:"Manjimup Dried Appels", UnitPrice:42.4, Quantity:40, Discount:0, Price:1696},
                    {ProductId:14, ProductName:"Tofu", UnitPrice:18.6, Quantity:9, Discount:0, Price:167.4}
             { OrderId: 10250, CustomerId:"HANAR", EmployeeId:4, OrderDate:"4-Feb-2007",
                 children:[
                    {ProductId:51, ProductName:"Manjimup Dried Appels", UnitPrice:42.4, Quantity:35, Discount:0.15, Price:1261},
                    {ProductId:41, ProductName:"Jack's Clam Chowder", UnitPrice:7.7, Quantity:10, Discount:0, Price:77},
                    {ProductId:65, ProductName:"Hot pepper Sauce", UnitPrice:16.8, Quantity:10, Discount:0.15, Price:214.2}
I got this example from a tutorial online explaining how to use nested AdvancedDataGrids but hopefully you can see my point on how you could nest the "nodes" in their parents children object.  It has to be called children because the data object is defaulted to look there. If you created this type of Array all you would have to do then is:
var hierData:HierarchicalData = new HierarchicalData(masterData);