thomas down wrt:
> > I need to generate a tree structure in my Java app. The size of
> > the tree cannot determined until runtime. THe idea i have is to store the
> > tree as an array using the Vector class. Before i start implementation, i
> > want to ask if there is an alternative approach to this?
>
> That solution would work fine, of course. The alternative is a
> `linked tree' structure. Binary trees are easy (just store each
> node's left and right children, and probably the parent). Trees
> with arbitrary numbers of branches are a little more complex. My
> preferred solution is for each node to store parent, first child,
> and `sibling', so to enumerate a node's children, you find the
> first child then follow it's sibling list.
>
> Unfortunately there isn't a standard tree class in the API, but you could
> implement a class for a tree of arbitrary objects and use that if you
> wanted.
i experimented with a number of ways to represent trees as part of the
dog.gui package, and the current form is the fastest secure way i came
across.
have a play with dog.util.Tree, part of the dog.gui package available
from http://www.dog.net.uk/knife/gui.html and see what you think. the
only (possibly) redundant feature is the collator, which can be set in
order to sort the tree (you may find this useful too).
dog
