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Hierarchical data-binding using declarative relations

When binding the detail tables in a hierarchical grid, you must provide some way of managing the data relationships between the data set for the detail tables and the records of the parent table. You can describe these relationships declaratively.

Data sources

When using declarative relations to describe the data hierarchy, each table view (MasterTableView and every GridTableView inside the DetailTables collection of a parent table view), must have its own data source. When using declarative data sources, the data source for each table view is assigned to the DataSourceID property. The data sources for detail tables should filter records based on all fields that link the detail table to the parent table, with parameters to supply the values of those linking fields. Typically, this is done using a WHERE clause in the SelectCommand of a data source, but more complicated SELECT methods are possible (for example, a parameterized stored procedure).

DataKeyNames

You must set the DataKeyNames property of every parent table view in the hierarchy to specify the fields in the table's data source that are used for linking to child tables. The DataKeyNames property must list the exact names of these fields as they appear in the parent table's data source.

If multiple fields are needed for linking to child tables, you can list them in the ASPX file, separating their names with commas (but no spaces):

<MasterTableView DataKeyNames="CustomerID,EmployeeID">          

DataKeyNames is an array of strings, so if you are creating the grid's structure at runtime, assign each field name as a separate array entry:

RadGrid1.MasterTableView.DataKeyNames = new string[2] { "CustomerID", "EmployeeID" };           
RadGrid1.MasterTableView.DataKeyNames = New String(2) {"CustomerID", "EmployeeID"}          

ParentTableRelation

You must set the ParentTableRelation property of every detail table view to indicate how its data table links to the parent table view's data table.

ParentTableRelation is a collection of GridRelationFields objects. Each object specifies the link between a single field in the detail table and the corresponding field in the parent table. It does this using two properties:

  • The MasterKeyField property is the name of a field in the data source of the parent table. This property must match exactly a string in the DataKeyNames collection of the parent table view.

  • The DetailKeyField property is the name of a field in the data source of the child table whose value must match the parent field specified by MasterKeyField. If you are using declarative data sources, this string must match exactly the name of a SELECT parameter in the detail table view's data source.

To summarize, you need to define the ParentTableRelations/DataKeyNames for the MasterTableView/GridTableViews according to the database relations conventions. And here are the exact conventions:

  • the primary key column name for each table in the grid source (used for master/detail table population) should be added to the DataKeyNames collection of the respective master/detail table;

  • the MasterKeyField in the GridRelationFields should match the primary key of the parent table in the corresponding relation;

  • the DetailKeyField in the GridRelationFields should match the foreign key of the child table in the corresponding relation.

There is one more detail if you use declarative binding using DataSource controls under .NET 2.x/3.x:You should have WHERE clause in the SelectCommand of the second DataSource control which to filter the records for the child table. The WHERE clause should include the DetailKeyField from the ParentTableRelation definition between the master/child table. Furthermore, that same field has to be included in the SelectParameters of the second DataSource (with exactly the same Name value):

<asp:SqlDataSource ID="SqlDataSource1" ConnectionString="<%$ ConnectionStrings:NorthwindConnectionString %>"
    ProviderName="System.Data.SqlClient" SelectCommand="SELECT * FROM Customers"
    runat="server"></asp:SqlDataSource>
<asp:SqlDataSource ID="SqlDataSource2" ConnectionString="<%$ ConnectionStrings:NorthwindConnectionString %>"
    ProviderName="System.Data.SqlClient" SelectCommand="SELECT * FROM Orders Where CustomerID = @CustomerID"
    runat="server">
    <SelectParameters>
        <asp:Parameter Name="CustomerID" Type="string" />
    </SelectParameters>
</asp:SqlDataSource>
<asp:SqlDataSource ID="SqlDataSource3" ConnectionString="<%$ ConnectionStrings:NorthwindConnectionString %>"
    ProviderName="System.Data.SqlClient" SelectCommand="SELECT * FROM [Order Details] where OrderID = @OrderID"
    runat="server">
    <SelectParameters>
        <asp:Parameter Name="OrderID" Type="Int32" />
    </SelectParameters>
</asp:SqlDataSource>

Every GridRelationFields object should has only one field name for DetailKeyField and MasterKeyField. For data relationships that are based on multiple fields, add multiple GridRelationFields objects to the ParentTableRelation collection:

<ParentTableRelation>
  <telerik:GridRelationFields DetailKeyField="DepartmentID" MasterKeyField="DepartmentID" />  
  <telerik:GridRelationFields DetailKeyField="ManagerID" MasterKeyField="EmployeeID" />
</ParentTableRelation>          

For a live example that used declarative relations to generate a three-level hierarchy, see Three level hierarchy.

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