Tree data structure in C#

My best advice would be that there is no standard tree data structure because there are so many ways you could implement it that it would be impossible to cover all bases with one solution. The more specific a solution, the less likely it is applicable to any given problem. I even get annoyed with LinkedList - what if I want a circular linked list?

The basic structure you'll need to implement will be a collection of nodes, and here are some options to get you started. Let's assume that the class Node is the base class of the entire solution.

If you need to only navigate down the tree, then a Node class needs a List of children.

If you need to navigate up the tree, then the Node class needs a link to its parent node.

Build an AddChild method that takes care of all the minutia of these two points and any other business logic that must be implemented (child limits, sorting the children, etc.)

delegate void TreeVisitor<T>(T nodeData);

class NTree<T>
{
    private T data;
    private LinkedList<NTree<T>> children;

    public NTree(T data)
    {
         this.data = data;
        children = new LinkedList<NTree<T>>();
    }

    public void AddChild(T data)
    {
        children.AddFirst(new NTree<T>(data));
    }

    public NTree<T> GetChild(int i)
    {
        foreach (NTree<T> n in children)
            if (--i == 0)
                return n;
        return null;
    }

    public void Traverse(NTree<T> node, TreeVisitor<T> visitor)
    {
        visitor(node.data);
        foreach (NTree<T> kid in node.children)
            Traverse(kid, visitor);
    }
}

Simple recursive implementation... < 40 lines of code... You just need to keep a reference to the root of the tree outside of the class, or wrap it in another class, maybe rename to TreeNode??

The generally excellent C5 Generic Collection Library has several different tree-based data structures, including sets, bags and dictionaries. Source code is available if you want to study their implementation details. (I have used C5 collections in production code with good results, although I haven't used any of the tree structures specifically.)

See https://github.com/YaccConstructor/QuickGraph (previously http://quickgraph.codeplex.com/)

QuickGraph provides generic directed/undirected graph data structures and algorithms for .NET 2.0 and up. QuickGraph comes with algorithms such as depth-first search, breadth-first search, A* search, shortest path, k-shortest path, maximum flow, minimum spanning tree, least common ancestors, etc... QuickGraph supports MSAGL, GLEE, and Graphviz to render the graphs, serialization to GraphML, etc.

Here's my own:

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var tree = new Tree<string>()
            .Begin("Fastfood")
                .Begin("Pizza")
                    .Add("Margherita")
                    .Add("Marinara")
                .End()
                .Begin("Burger")
                    .Add("Cheese burger")
                    .Add("Chili burger")
                    .Add("Rice burger")
                .End()
            .End();

        tree.Nodes.ForEach(p => PrintNode(p, 0));
        Console.ReadKey();
    }

    static void PrintNode<T>(TreeNode<T> node, int level)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("{0}{1}", new string(' ', level * 3), node.Value);
        level++;
        node.Children.ForEach(p => PrintNode(p, level));
    }
}

public class Tree<T>
{
    private Stack<TreeNode<T>> m_Stack = new Stack<TreeNode<T>>();

    public List<TreeNode<T>> Nodes { get; } = new List<TreeNode<T>>();

    public Tree<T> Begin(T val)
    {
        if (m_Stack.Count == 0)
        {
            var node = new TreeNode<T>(val, null);
            Nodes.Add(node);
            m_Stack.Push(node);
        }
        else
        {
            var node = m_Stack.Peek().Add(val);
            m_Stack.Push(node);
        }

        return this;
    }

    public Tree<T> Add(T val)
    {
        m_Stack.Peek().Add(val);
        return this;
    }

    public Tree<T> End()
    {
        m_Stack.Pop();
        return this;
    }
}

public class TreeNode<T>
{
    public T Value { get; }
    public TreeNode<T> Parent { get; }
    public List<TreeNode<T>> Children { get; }

    public TreeNode(T val, TreeNode<T> parent)
    {
        Value = val;
        Parent = parent;
        Children = new List<TreeNode<T>>();
    }

    public TreeNode<T> Add(T val)
    {
        var node = new TreeNode<T>(val, this);
        Children.Add(node);
        return node;
    }
}

Output:

Fastfood
   Pizza
      Margherita
      Marinara
   Burger
      Cheese burger
      Chili burger
      Rice burger

There is also the possibility to use XML with LINQ:

Create XML tree in C# (LINQ to XML)

XML is the most mature and flexible solution when it comes to using trees and LINQ provides you with all the tools that you need. The configuration of your tree also gets much cleaner and user-friendly as you can simply use an XML file for the initialization.

If you need to work with objects, you can use XML serialization:

XML serialization

Tree With Generic Data

using System;
using System.Collections.Concurrent;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

public class Tree<T>
{
    public T Data { get; set; }
    public LinkedList<Tree<T>> Children { get; set; } = new LinkedList<Tree<T>>();
    public Task Traverse(Func<T, Task> actionOnNode, int maxDegreeOfParallelism = 1) => Traverse(actionOnNode, new SemaphoreSlim(maxDegreeOfParallelism, maxDegreeOfParallelism));
    private async Task Traverse(Func<T, Task> actionOnNode, SemaphoreSlim semaphore)
    {
        await actionOnNode(Data);
        SafeRelease(semaphore);
        IEnumerable<Task> tasks = Children.Select(async input =>
        {
            await semaphore.WaitAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
            try
            {
                await input.Traverse(actionOnNode, semaphore).ConfigureAwait(false);
            }
            finally
            {
                SafeRelease(semaphore);
            }
        });
        await Task.WhenAll(tasks);
    }
    private void SafeRelease(SemaphoreSlim semaphore)
    {
        try
        {
            semaphore.Release();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            if (ex.Message.ToLower() != "Adding the specified count to the semaphore would cause it to exceed its maximum count.".ToLower())
            {
                throw;
            }
        }
    }

    public async Task<IEnumerable<T>> ToList()
    {
        ConcurrentBag<T> lst = new ConcurrentBag<T>();
        await Traverse(async (data) => lst.Add(data));
        return lst;
    }
    public async Task<int> Count() => (await ToList()).Count();
}

Unit Tests

using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Xunit;

public class Tree_Tests
{
    [Fact]
    public async Task Tree_ToList_Count()
    {
        Tree<int> head = new Tree<int>();

        Assert.NotEmpty(await head.ToList());
        Assert.True(await head.Count() == 1);

        // child
        var child = new Tree<int>();
        head.Children.AddFirst(child);
        Assert.True(await head.Count() == 2);
        Assert.NotEmpty(await head.ToList());

        // grandson
        child.Children.AddFirst(new Tree<int>());
        child.Children.AddFirst(new Tree<int>());
        Assert.True(await head.Count() == 4);
        Assert.NotEmpty(await head.ToList());
    }

    [Fact]
    public async Task Tree_Traverse()
    {
        Tree<int> head = new Tree<int>() { Data = 1 };

        // child
        var child = new Tree<int>() { Data = 2 };
        head.Children.AddFirst(child);

        // grandson
        child.Children.AddFirst(new Tree<int>() { Data = 3 });
        child.Children.AddLast(new Tree<int>() { Data = 4 });

        int counter = 0;
        await head.Traverse(async (data) => counter += data);
        Assert.True(counter == 10);

        counter = 0;
        await child.Traverse(async (data) => counter += data);
        Assert.True(counter == 9);

        counter = 0;
        await child.Children.First!.Value.Traverse(async (data) => counter += data);
        Assert.True(counter == 3);

        counter = 0;
        await child.Children.Last!.Value.Traverse(async (data) => counter += data);
        Assert.True(counter == 4);
    }
}

I don't like a tree aproach. It gets things overcomplicated including search or dril-down or even ui controls populating.

I would suggest to use a very simple approach with IDictionary<TChild, TParent>. This also allows to have no connections between nodes or levels.