jsTree - loading subnodes via ajax on demand

Question

I'm trying to get a jsTree working with on demand loading of subnodes. My code is this:

jQuery('#introspection_tree').jstree({ 
        "json_data" : {
            "ajax" : {
                url : "http://localhost/introspection/introspection/product"
            }
    },
    "plugins" : [ "themes", "json_data", "ui" ]
    });

The json returned from the call is

[
  {
    "data": "Kit 1",
    "attr": {
      "id": "1"
    },
    "children": [
      [
        {
          "data": "Hardware",
          "attr": {
            "id": "2"
          },
          "children": [

          ]
        }
      ],
      [
        {
          "data": "Software",
          "attr": {
            "id": "3"
          },
          "children": [

          ]
        }
      ]
    ]
  }
  .....
]

Each element could have a lot of children, the tree is going to be big. Currently this is loading the whole tree at once, which could take some time. What do I have to do to implement on-demand-loading of child-nodes when they are opened by the user?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Irishka pointed me in the right direction, but does not fully resolve my problem. I fiddled around with her answer and came up with this. Using two different server functions is done only for clarity. The first one lists all products at top level, the second one lists all children of a given productid:

jQuery("#introspection_tree").jstree({
    "plugins" : ["themes", "json_data", "ui"],
    "json_data" : {
        "ajax" : {
            "type": 'GET',
            "url": function (node) {
                var nodeId = "";
                var url = ""
                if (node == -1)
                {
                    url = "http://localhost/introspection/introspection/product/";
                }
                else
                {
                    nodeId = node.attr('id');
                    url = "http://localhost/introspection/introspection/children/" + nodeId;
                }

                return url;
            },
            "success": function (new_data) {
                return new_data;
            }
        }
    }
});

The json data returned from the functions is like this (notice the state=closed in each node):

[
  {
    "data": "Kit 1",
    "attr": {
      "id": "1"
    },
    "state": "closed"
  },
  {
    "data": "KPCM 049",
    "attr": {
      "id": "4"
    },
    "state": "closed"
  },
  {
    "data": "Linux BSP",
    "attr": {
      "id": "8"
    },
    "state": "closed"
  }
]

No static data is needed, the tree is now fully dynamic on each level.

Answer 2

I guess it would be nice to display by default first level nodes and then the children will be loaded on demand. In that case the only thing you have to modify is to add "state" : "closed" to the nodes whose child nodes are going to be loaded on demand.

You might wish to send node's id in ajax call so you modify your code

"json_data": {
    //root elements to be displayed by default on the first load
    "data": [
        {
            "data": 'Kit 1',
            "attr": {
                "id": 'kit1'
            },
            "state": "closed"
        },
        {
            "data": 'Another node of level 1',
            "attr": {
                "id": 'kit1'
            },
            "state": "closed"
        }
    ],
    "ajax": {
        url: "http://localhost/introspection/introspection/product",
        data: function (n) {
            return {
                "nodeid": $.trim(n.attr('id'))
            }
        }
    }
}

From jsTree documentation

NOTE: If both data and ajax are set the initial tree is rendered from the data string. When opening a closed node (that has no loaded children) an AJAX request is made.

Answer 3

you need to set root elements as tree data on page load and then you will be able to retrieve their children with an ajax request

$("#introspection_tree").jstree({
    "plugins": ["themes", "json_data", "ui"],
    "json_data": {
        //root elements
        "data": [{"data": 'Kit 1', "attr": {"id": 'kit1'}} /*, ... */], //the 'id' can not start with a number 
        "ajax": {
            "type": 'POST',
            "data": {"action": 'getChildren'},
            "url": function (node) {
                var nodeId = node.attr('id'); //id="kit1"

                return 'yuorPathTo/GetChildrenScript/' + nodeId;
            },
            "success": function (new_data) {
                //where new_data = node children 
                //e.g.: [{'data':'Hardware','attr':{'id':'child2'}}, {'data':'Software','attr':{'id':'child3'}}]
                return new_data;
            }
        }
    }
});

See my answer to a similar question here (the old part) for more details