Question

I have a Hierarchical Table for Categories in this form NodeID ParentID NodeName

Following is the code i am using generate ASP.NET MENU ITEMS and bind it to MENU CONTROL

Private Sub displayMenu()
        Using con As New SqlConnection(System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("HagglerEntLibConStr").ConnectionString)
            Using sql As New SqlCommand("Select NodeID,ParentID,NodeName FROM Nodes", con)
                con.Open()
                Dim r As SqlDataReader = sql.ExecuteReader 'stored procedure that returns the above SqlDataReader
                Dim tempMaster As New MenuItem()
                Dim bagMaster(700) As MenuItem
                Dim j As Integer = 0
                Do While r.Read()
                    tempMaster.Value = r("NodeID").ToString()
                    tempMaster.ToolTip = r("ParentID").ToString()
                    tempMaster.Text = r("NodeName").ToString()
                    tempMaster.NavigateUrl = ""
                    bagMaster(j) = tempMaster
                    j += 1
                    tempMaster = New MenuItem()
                Loop
                r.Close()
                Menu1.Items.Clear()
                For i As Integer = 0 To j - 1
                    If i = 0 Then
                        Menu1.Items.Add(bagMaster(i))
                    Else
                        For x As Integer = 0 To j - 1
                            If bagMaster(i).ToolTip = bagMaster(x).Value Then
                                Dim c As MenuItem = bagMaster(x)
                                'you can change the tool tip here if you want
                                c.ChildItems.Add(bagMaster(i))
                            End If
                        Next x
                    End If
                Next i
                'Menu1.Items.RemoveAt(0)

            End Using

        End Using

    End Sub

    Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
        displayMenu()
    End Sub 

Everything works fine …but the main disadvantage with this approach is that the Menu CONTROL creates HTML TABLES…i have around 1000 rows in the table..this creates a multi level menu …which adds a lot of HTML Tables in the page and increases the page load time drastically…how do i tackle this issue?? This is the way the menu populates.

Answer 1

Have you tried with the RenderingMode property?

Values:

• Default. (This is the default value). The rendering mode depends on the RenderingCompatibility control property, if this setting is set to 3.5, the default rendering is a table, if this value is 4.0, the default rendering mode is a list ul. You can change this setting globally in the web.config file:

  <system.web>
      <pages controlRenderingCompatibilityVersion="4.0"/>
  </system.web>
  

• Table. Renders as a table

• List. Renders as a list

Update 1

Since you are using the .Net Framework 3.5, probably the best way to accomplish this is to use Control Adapters

Basically the adapters work on a specific control, and in the adapter you can update the rendering of the target control, in this case the Menu control

I have not created a control adapter, so I cannot give you further information other than pointing you in the right direction, googling I found this article which seems promising:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163543.aspx