Frequent users should notice that some of the Dynamics AX forms use tree controls instead of commonly used grids. In some cases, it is extremely useful, especially when there are parent-child relationships among records. It is a much clearer way to show the whole hierarchy compared to a flat list. For example, projects and their subprojects are displayed in the Projects form of the Project management and accounting module and give a much better overview when displayed in a tree layout.
This recipe will discuss the principles of how to build tree-based forms. As an example, we will use the Budget model form, which can be found in Budgeting | Setup | Budget models. This form contains a list of budget models and their submodels, and although the data is organized using a parent-child structure it is still displayed as a grid. In this recipe, to demonstrate the usage of tree controls, we will replace the grid with a new tree control.