Switching between tree view and list view

[Helmut Giese]

Hello out there,
I need to display hierarchical data - somewhat similar to a file
system. There will be lots of items (10.000 or more).
Here is what the users want:
- Display as a tree (since its hierarchical),
- but also optionally display as flat list with a text search option,
- and the possibility to switch between the 2 views while keeping the
current position.

The idea behind these requirements is as follows:
- For users who are well aquainted with the structure of the data the
treeview will probably be the most efficient way to locate the item of
interest.
- For others which maybe only know the name of one particular item but
not its path a searchable list might make more sense.
- Finally the opton to switch between these 2 views: Item names will
have (lots of) duplicates. If someone knows the approximate path the
treeview may be good to home in into the region of interest and then
switching to the list view and use the search feature - or maybe the
other way round: users have different ways to accomplish their goals.

Currently I don't have a concrete idea how to approach this and
therefore any link or advice will be greatly appreciated.
Best regards
Helmut Giese

 

[Peter Duniho]

Hello out there,
I need to display hierarchical data - somewhat similar to a file
system. There will be lots of items (10.000 or more).
Here is what the users want:
- Display as a tree (since its hierarchical),
- but also optionally display as flat list with a text search option,
- and the possibility to switch between the 2 views while keeping the
current position.

[...]
Currently I don't have a concrete idea how to approach this and
therefore any link or advice will be greatly appreciated.

The first thing that comes to mind is a UI similar to that seen
elsewhere, including Microsoft's own Visual Studio help system. In
particular, a tabbed control where the tree and list views are present
in different tabs.

It's not clear from your post whether "while keeping the current
position" means for each view to maintain its own position, or for the
position in each view to be synchronized with the other, but either way
that should not be very difficult to do (well, assuming there's an
obvious one-to-one mapping between the views, of course).

Pete

 

[Helmut Giese]

Hi Peter,

The first thing that comes to mind is a UI similar to that seen
elsewhere, including Microsoft's own Visual Studio help system. In
particular, a tabbed control where the tree and list views are present
in different tabs.

yeah, that seems like a good idea.

It's not clear from your post whether "while keeping the current
position" means for each view to maintain its own position, or for the
position in each view to be synchronized with the other,

'synchronized' is the word I should have used. The idea being that
when you navigated into the "region of interest" and then switched the
view you should remain in the same region.

that should not be very difficult to do (well, assuming there's an
obvious one-to-one mapping between the views, of course).

Obvious? Well, I think so - they are based on the same data.
Thanks for your thoughts and best regards
Helmut Giese