Recursion using repeat controls and custom controls - xpages

Question

I am trying to generate a hierarchical list of categories and sub-categories on an X-Page. So far I have attempted two methods:
The first, which works, is based on code by Jesse Gallagher in this blog post and that outputs the list in exactly the order I want it using an xe:outline control. However, I want be able to add extra functions and styling to each entry (e.g. edit and delete links) but can't work out how to render custom controls within the outline control.
The second method is trying to leverage nested repeats and custom controls to generate the list but for the life of me I can't quite get this work and I don't know if it's because it just won't work or I'm just missing something fundamental. The basic code for the XPage is:
<xp:view xmlns:xp="http://www.ibm.com/xsp/core" xmlns:xc="http://www.ibm.com/xsp/custom">
<xp:this.data>
<xp:dominoView var="Categories" viewName="vLUTopCat"></xp:dominoView>
</xp:this.data>
<xc:ccUI navigationPath="Admin/Main" pageName="Admin">
<xp:this.facets>
<xp:panel xp:key="facetMiddle">
<h2>Categories</h2>
<ul id="adminCatList">
<xp:repeat id="parentCat" rows="30" value="#{Categories}" var="DocCat" indexVar="catIdx" disableOutputTag="true">
<xc:ccCategoryList>
<xc:this.catID><![CDATA[#{javascript:DocCat.getColumnValue("docID")}]]></xc:this.catID>
<xc:this.catName><![CDATA[#{javascript:DocCat.getColumnValue("categoryName")}]]></xc:this.catName>
</xc:ccCategoryList>
</xp:repeat>
</ul>
</xp:panel>
</xp:this.facets>
</xc:ccUI>
and the code for the custom control (ccCategoryList) is:
<xp:view xmlns:xp="http://www.ibm.com/xsp/core" xmlns:xc="http://www.ibm.com/xsp/custom">
<xp:text escape="true" id="computedField1"
value="#{compositeData.catName}" tagName="li" />
<xp:repeat id="rptSubCat" rows="30" var="subCat"
disableOutputTag="true">
<xp:this.facets>
<xp:text disableTheme="true" xp:key="header"
escape="false">
<xp:this.value><![CDATA[<ul>]]></xp:this.value>
</xp:text>
<xp:text disableTheme="true" xp:key="footer"
escape="false">
<xp:this.value><![CDATA[</ul>]]></xp:this.value>
</xp:text>
</xp:this.facets>
<xp:this.value><![CDATA[#{javascript:var tview = database.getView("vLUSubCat");
var v = compositeData.catID;
var vc:NotesViewEntryCollection = null;
if (v != null) {
vc = tview.getAllEntriesByKey(v);
}
vc}]]></xp:this.value>
<xc:ccCategoryList>
<xc:this.catID><![CDATA[#{javascript:subCat.getColumnValues()[3]}]]></xc:this.catID>
<xc:this.catName><![CDATA[#{javascript:subCat.getColumnValues()[1]}]]></xc:this.catName>
</xc:ccCategoryList>
</xp:repeat>
</xp:view>
So my related questions are:
Is there anyway to output a custom control in an xe:outline control using a bean node?
Can I use repeats and custom controls to recursively output data from views like I can using a bean node?
Is there a better alternative method I'm overlooking (e.g. using a Java Collection in a bean and a repeat control?)
Thanks

Answer 1

1) There is a way to add your own CustomNode to the Outline For that look into extending:
com.ibm.xsp.extlib.tree.ITreeNode;
com.ibm.xsp.extlib.tree.complex.ComplexLeafTreeNode;
com.ibm.xsp.extlib.tree.impl.TreeNodeWrapper;
2) sorry i have never tryed to build a recursive xpage element as a custom Control, but i would not recoment it.
3) You could just use the <xe:forumView> or the <xp:viewPanel> both have nice possibilites to determine if the viewEntry/row is a Category or not. And offers you the possebility to add everything you want like links, buttons or other controls to a row.
or another way to get what you need is to build you Outline/TreeView with the DojoTreeView:
Link1
Link2