Highlight Parent Item in TreeView - wpf

Question

Is there a way to have the Parent node in a Treeview too have some differentiation so the user knows that is the parent they are under? It could be to highlight the cell or change the text but I want to be able to click on an item inside a folder but the parent node is different so the user knows what they have clicked inside of.
Thank you.

Answer 1

Model Level - Have "Parent" property in your model class.
E.g. if you have a class that is recursively bound to the TreeView say MyItemClass
public class MyItemClass
{
public string MyHeader { get; set; } //Header text of each tree view item.
public MyItemClass Parent { get; set; } //Parent MyItemClass object.
public List<MyItemClass> Children { get; set; } //Children MyItemClass
public bool IsSelected { get; set; } //When tree view item is clicked & selected.
public bool IsHighlighted { get; set; } //When parent is highlighted.
}
So when child is selected ...
private bool _isSelected;
public bool IsSelected
{
get { retrn _isSelected; }
set
{
_isSelected = value;
//The line below highlights the parent when either of the child is selected.
this.Parent.IsHighlighted
= this.Parent.Children.Where(item => item.IsSelected).Any();
//Notify Property Changed here...
}
}
So as the parent highlights...
private bool _isHighlighted;
public bool IsHighlighted
{
get { retrn _isHighlighted; }
set
{
_isHighlighted = value;
//When a node is highlighted all its Parent nodes should be too.
this.Parent.IsHighlighted
= this.Parent.Children.Where(item => item.IsHighlighted).Any();
//Notify Property Changed here...
}
}
You can then use this IsHighlighted flag from undelrying data context of the tree view item and then apply appropriate style to that TreeViewItem.
<TreeView ItemsSource="{Binding MyItems}">
<TreeView.ItemTemplate>
<HierarchicalDataTemplate ItemsSource="{Binding Children}">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding MyHeader}">
<TextBlock.Style>
<Style TargetType="{x:Type TextBlock}">
<Style.Triggers>
<DataTrigger Binding="{Binding IsHighlighted}"
Value="True">
<Setter Property="FontWeight" Value="Bold"/>
</DataTrigger>
</Style.Triggers>
</Style>
</TextBlock.Style>
</TextBlock>
</HierarchicalDataTemplate>
</TreeView.ItemTemplate>
</TreeView>
Make sure that you implement INotifyPropertyChanged on all the properties in your item class otherwise these effects wont work.