TreeView.BeforeExpand Event

Definition

Occurs before the tree node is expanded.

C#
public event System.Windows.Forms.TreeViewCancelEventHandler BeforeExpand;
C#
public event System.Windows.Forms.TreeViewCancelEventHandler? BeforeExpand;

Event Type

Examples

The following code example demonstrates how to change the collapse state of a TreeView so that all the checked nodes are visible. First, all the nodes are collapsed, and a handler is added for the BeforeExpand event. Next, all the nodes are expanded. The BeforeExpand event handler determines whether a given node has child nodes that are checked. If a node does not have checked children, the expansion is canceled for that node. In order to allow standard node expansion when the plus sign next to a node is clicked, the BeforeExpand event handler is then removed.

This behavior can also be implemented by handling the BeforeCollapse event, as illustrated in the example for that topic.

For the complete example, see the CheckBoxes reference topic.

C#
private void showCheckedNodesButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    // Disable redrawing of treeView1 to prevent flickering 
    // while changes are made.
    treeView1.BeginUpdate();

    // Collapse all nodes of treeView1.
    treeView1.CollapseAll();

    // Add the checkForCheckedChildren event handler to the BeforeExpand event.
    treeView1.BeforeExpand += checkForCheckedChildren;

    // Expand all nodes of treeView1. Nodes without checked children are 
    // prevented from expanding by the checkForCheckedChildren event handler.
    treeView1.ExpandAll();

    // Remove the checkForCheckedChildren event handler from the BeforeExpand 
    // event so manual node expansion will work correctly.
    treeView1.BeforeExpand -= checkForCheckedChildren;

    // Enable redrawing of treeView1.
    treeView1.EndUpdate();
}

// Prevent expansion of a node that does not have any checked child nodes.
private void CheckForCheckedChildrenHandler(object sender, 
    TreeViewCancelEventArgs e)
{
    if (!HasCheckedChildNodes(e.Node)) e.Cancel = true;
}

// Returns a value indicating whether the specified 
// TreeNode has checked child nodes.
private bool HasCheckedChildNodes(TreeNode node)
{
    if (node.Nodes.Count == 0) return false;
    foreach (TreeNode childNode in node.Nodes)
    {
        if (childNode.Checked) return true;
        // Recursively check the children of the current child node.
        if (HasCheckedChildNodes(childNode)) return true;
    }
    return false;
}

Remarks

For more information about how to handle events, see Handling and Raising Events.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
Windows Desktop 3.0, 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

See also