nested dictionary to nested repeater asp.net c# - asp.net

Question

I'm making an asp.page that will display hierarchical information about company assets.
To grab the data I used a lambda expression:
FASAssetInfoDataContext fasInfo = new FASAssetInfoDataContext();
var data = from g in fasInfo.Asset_Informations
where g.Department.Substring(0, 3) == p
select g;
Dictionary<string, Dictionary<string, List<info>>> branch = data.GroupBy(e => e.Location)
.ToDictionary(g => g.Key,
g => g.GroupBy(gl => gl.G_L_Asset_Acct_No)
.ToDictionary(gl => gl.Key,
gl => gl.Select(s => new info
{
acqDate = s.Acquisition_Date,
asstNo = s.Co_Asset_Number,
classInfo = s.Class,
description = s.Description,
mfgSerialNo = s.Mfg_Serial_No,
deprThisRun = s.Depr_This_Run__Int_,
AcqValue = s.Acquisition_Value__Int_,
currentAccDepr = s.Current_Accum_Depr__Int_,
estLife = s.Est_Life__YYMM___Int_,
inServiceDate = s.Placed_In_Service_Date__Int_,
netBookValue = s.Current_Net_Book_Value__Int_,
oldAcqValue = s.Acquisition_Value__Tax_
}).ToList()));
So I now have a nested set of dictionaries with a list of information at the end. My question is how do I best display this information on the page itself? I can get the first level but have been struggling to get the nested repeater to function properly. If there is a better control to use I'm all ears :)
Thanks,
Marco

Answer 1

If you do indeed need to use nested repeaters, its possible, but getting it working isn't particularly obvious. The following would work (simplified for brevity):
<asp:Repeater id="level1" OnItemDataBound="level1_ItemDataBound" ...>
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:Repeater id="level2" OnItemDataBound="level2_ItemDataBound" ...>
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:Repeater id="level3" OnItemDataBound="level3_ItemDataBound" ...>
</asp:Repeater>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>
Code behind:
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Dictionary<string, Dictionary<string, List<info>>> branch = ...;
level1.DataSource = branch;
level1.DataBind();
}
protected void level1_ItemDataBound(object sender, RepeaterItemEventArgs e)
{
Dictionary<string, List<info>> data = (Dictionary<string, List<info>>)e.Item.DataItem;
Repeater level2 = e.Item.FindControl("level2") as Repeater;
level2.DataSource = data;
level2.DataBind();
}
protected void level2_ItemDataBound(object sender, RepeaterItemEventArgs e)
{
List<info> data = (List<info>)e.Item.DataItem;
Repeater level3 = e.Item.FindControl("level3") as Repeater;
level3.DataSource = data;
level3.DataBind();
}
protected void level3_ItemDataBound(object sender, RepeaterItemEventArgs e)
{
// Bind properties from info elements in List<info> here
}

Answer 2

There's an nicer way of doing this without any ItemDataBound events. For simplicity let's assume two level of repeaters.
<asp:Repeater id="level1" >
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:Repeater id="level2"
DataSource='<%# ((System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair<string,System.Collections.Generic.List<string>>)Container.DataItem).Value %>' >
<ItemTemplate>
<%# Container.DataItem %>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>
I usually prefer this way, since for some reason I hate ItemDataBound events :)

Answer 3

asp:TreeView? Not sure how it will handle the nested data set but it's designed to display it.