TreeView, HierarchicalDataTemplate and recursive Data

Solution 1:

You should only have to declare the HierarchicalDataTemplate for NodeViewModel as this is the only thing showing in the TreeView, and bind the actual ItemSource to the TreeView

<TreeView ItemsSource="{Binding Items}">
    <TreeView.Resources>
        <HierarchicalDataTemplate DataType="{x:Type local:NodeViewModel}" ItemsSource="{Binding Children}">
            <TextBlock Text="{Binding Name}"></TextBlock>
        </HierarchicalDataTemplate>
    </TreeView.Resources>
</TreeView>

Full Example

Xaml:

<Window x:Class="WpfApplication13.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        xmlns:local="clr-namespace:WpfApplication13"
        Title="MainWindow" x:Name="UI" Width="343" Height="744.625" >

    <TreeView DataContext="{Binding ElementName=UI, Path=TreeModel}" ItemsSource="{Binding Items}">
        <TreeView.Resources>
            <HierarchicalDataTemplate DataType="{x:Type local:NodeViewModel}" ItemsSource="{Binding Children}">
                <TextBlock Text="{Binding Name}"></TextBlock>
            </HierarchicalDataTemplate>
        </TreeView.Resources>
    </TreeView>

</Window>

Code:

public partial class MainWindow : Window
{

    public MainWindow()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    public TreeViewModel TreeModel
    {
        get
        {
            return new TreeViewModel
            {
                Items = new ObservableCollection<NodeViewModel>{
                           new NodeViewModel { Name = "Root", Children =  new ObservableCollection<NodeViewModel> {
                              new NodeViewModel { Name = "Level1" ,  Children = new ObservableCollection<NodeViewModel>{ 
                                  new NodeViewModel{ Name = "Level2"}}} } }}
            };
        }
    }
}

public class TreeViewModel
{
    public ObservableCollection<NodeViewModel> Items { get; set; }
}

public class NodeViewModel
{
    public string Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public ObservableCollection<NodeViewModel> Children { get; set; }
}

Result:

Solution 2:

As @sa_ddam213 said, you only need the HierarchicalDataTemplate for NodeViewModel, but the only problem with your code was the missing braces ({ and }) for DataType="x:Type local:TreeViewModel" in your data template definitions (it should be DataType="{x:Type local:TreeViewModel}"). Adding brackets and ItemsSource binding solves the problem:

The additional HierarchicalDataTemplate for TreeViewModel is not used, but it does not harm.