The composite design pattern is used to compose objects into a tree structure. So each element can hold a list of sub elements. Optional it may have a link to the parent object within the tree.

Within the following example I want to create a generic base class to implement the behavior of a tree node. This base class can be used for any object to create a tree structure.

At first we define the interface for the tree node.

public interface ITreeNode<T>
{
    T AddChild(ITreeNode<T> child);
    void RemoveChild(ITreeNode<T> child);

    List<ITreeNode<T>> Children { get; }
}

Next we implement the tree node object.

public class TreeNode<T> : ITreeNode<T>
{
    private List<ITreeNode<T>> _children = new List<ITreeNode<T>>();

    public List<ITreeNode<T>> Children
    {
        get
        {
            return _children;
        }
    }

    public T AddChild(ITreeNode<T> child)
    {
        _children.Add(child);

        return (T)child;
    }

    public void RemoveChild(ITreeNode<T> child)
    {
        _children.Remove(child);
    }
}

Now let’s say you want to create a tree of visual elements. To keep it simple our visual element is a shape which has a name property only. By using the generic tree node you can simply create a shape tree node.

public class Shape : TreeNode<Shape>
{
    public Shape(string name)
    {
        Name = name;
    }

    public string Name { get; set; }
}

Finally we will create a console application to test our nice shape object. Within this application we create a complex shape containing a tree structure of sub shapes. And we create a recursive executed method to show our visual tree.

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    Shape root = new Shape("Drawing");

    root.AddChild(new Shape("Circle"));
    Shape rectangle = root.AddChild(new Shape("Rectangle"));
    root.AddChild(new Shape("Line"));

    rectangle.AddChild(new Shape("Dotted Line"));
    rectangle.AddChild(new Shape("Triangle"));

    Display(root);

    Console.ReadKey();
}

private static void Display(Shape rootShape)
{
    Display(rootShape, 1);
}

private static void Display(Shape shape, int level)
{
    if (level > 1)
    {
        Console.Write(new string(' ', (level - 2) * 2));
        Console.Write("> ");
    }
    Console.WriteLine(shape.Name);

    foreach (Shape child in shape.Children)
    {
        Display(child, level + 1);
    }
}