how to bind dynamic json into treeview wpf

json, treeview, wpf

Solution

You can do this with the Json.NET framework. Json.NET has a static method `JToken.Parse()` (which is similar in purpose to `XDocument.Parse()`) and can turn a valid JSON string into a hierarchy of `Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JToken` objects. This hierarchy can be bound into a WPF TreeView control using `DataTemplate` and `HierarchicalDataTemplate` to format data from all possible subclasses of `JToken` and iterate through their children.

The concrete Json.NET `JToken` classes for which templates are required are:

- `JValue`

- `JObject`

- `JArray`

- `JProperty`

- `JConstructor`

- `JRaw`

In order to bind a hierarchy of these classes into a tree, you first need a converter to convert the `JToken.Children()` method into a property:

// Respectfully adapted from https://stackoverflow.com/questions/502250/bind-to-a-method-in-wpf/844946#844946

public sealed class MethodToValueConverter : IValueConverter
{
    public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        var methodName = parameter as string;
        if (value == null || methodName == null)
            return null;
        var methodInfo = value.GetType().GetMethod(methodName, new Type[0]);
        if (methodInfo == null)
            return null;
        return methodInfo.Invoke(value, new object[0]);
    }

    public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        throw new NotSupportedException(GetType().Name + " can only be used for one way conversion.");
    }
}

Having done this, an extremely simple XAML markup that can display this hierarchy in a tree is:

<Window x:Class="WpfJsonTreeViewNew.Window1"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:w="clr-namespace:WpfJsonTreeViewNew"
    xmlns:json ="clr-namespace:Newtonsoft.Json;assembly=Newtonsoft.Json"
    xmlns:jlinq ="clr-namespace:Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;assembly=Newtonsoft.Json"
    Title="Window1" Height="1000" Width="600">
    <Window.Resources>
        <w:MethodToValueConverter x:Key="MethodToValueConverter"/>
        <HierarchicalDataTemplate DataType="{x:Type jlinq:JArray}" ItemsSource="{Binding Converter={StaticResource MethodToValueConverter}, ConverterParameter='Children'}">
            <TextBlock Text="Array">
            </TextBlock>
        </HierarchicalDataTemplate>
        <HierarchicalDataTemplate DataType="{x:Type jlinq:JProperty}" ItemsSource="{Binding Converter={StaticResource MethodToValueConverter}, ConverterParameter='Children'}">
            <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
                <TextBlock Text="Property name: "/>
                <TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=Name, Mode=OneWay}"/>
            </StackPanel>
        </HierarchicalDataTemplate>            
        <HierarchicalDataTemplate DataType="{x:Type jlinq:JObject}" ItemsSource="{Binding Converter={StaticResource MethodToValueConverter}, ConverterParameter='Children'}">
            <TextBlock Text="Object">
            </TextBlock>
        </HierarchicalDataTemplate>            
        <HierarchicalDataTemplate DataType="{x:Type jlinq:JConstructor}" ItemsSource="{Binding Converter={StaticResource MethodToValueConverter}, ConverterParameter='Children'}">
            <TextBlock Text="Constructor">
            </TextBlock>
        </HierarchicalDataTemplate>            
        <HierarchicalDataTemplate DataType="{x:Type jlinq:JRaw}" ItemsSource="{Binding Converter={StaticResource MethodToValueConverter}, ConverterParameter='Children'}">
            <TextBlock Text="Raw">
            </TextBlock>
        </HierarchicalDataTemplate>            
        <DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type jlinq:JValue}">
            <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
                <TextBlock Text="Value: "/>
                <TextBox Text="{Binding Path=Value, Mode=TwoWay}"/>
            </StackPanel>
        </DataTemplate>
    </Window.Resources>
    <Grid>
        <TreeView Margin="3" Name="treeView1">
            <TreeView.ItemContainerStyle>
                <Style TargetType="{x:Type TreeViewItem}">
                    <Setter Property="IsExpanded" Value="True" />
                </Style>
            </TreeView.ItemContainerStyle>
        </TreeView>
    </Grid>
</Window>

Then, when your user selects JSON data to view, you can do:

        var token = JToken.Parse(jsonString);

        var children = new List<JToken>();
        if (token != null)
        {
            children.Add(token);
        }

        treeView1.ItemsSource = null;
        treeView1.Items.Clear();
        treeView1.ItemsSource = children;

And the result looks like:

For the sample JSON:

{
    ""id"": ""0001"",
    ""type"": ""donut"",
    ""name"": ""Cake"",
    ""ppu"": 0.55,
    ""batters"":
        {
            ""batter"":
                [
                    { ""id"": ""1001"", ""type"": ""Regular"" },
                    { ""id"": ""1002"", ""type"": ""Chocolate"" },
                    { ""id"": ""1003"", ""type"": ""Blueberry"" },
                    { ""id"": ""1004"", ""type"": ""Devil's Food"" }
                ]
        },
    ""topping"":
        [
            { ""id"": ""5001"", ""type"": ""None"" },
            { ""id"": ""5002"", ""type"": ""Glazed"" },
            { ""id"": ""5005"", ""type"": ""Sugar"" },
            { ""id"": ""5007"", ""type"": ""Powdered Sugar"" },
            { ""id"": ""5006"", ""type"": ""Chocolate with Sprinkles"" },
            { ""id"": ""5003"", ""type"": ""Chocolate"" },
            { ""id"": ""5004"", ""type"": ""Maple"" }
        ]
}

Of course, the user interface could be made more beautiful, e.g. by placing the value for `JProperty` tokens with only a single `JValue` child on the same row. However, this should give you an idea of how to do the binding.

This approach binds the JSON to the tree directly. If you are looking for full editing functionality including adding, removing and renaming nodes, you may want to switch to a "Model-View-ViewModel" methodology in which the `JToken` hierarchy becomes the model and a lightweight view model handles modifications and notifications.

Problem

Original source