That actually makes perfect sense now, thanks.

Mark Bean said:

One statement I might dispute: "OutlookExpress is basically for homogenous data where every band has the same columns".. TreeViews I've seen have been used for hierarchical DataTables, not homogeneous data

That's true of Tree controls in general and even UltraTree in particular - but not when using OutlookExpress ViewStyle. This style mimics OutlookExpress, which is an e-mail client and it displays e-mail threads in a hierarchy. As such, every node in the tree is an e-mail, so they all have exactly the same columns and structure. 

OutlookExpress shows a single set of column headers, so it's intended for use where every level of the hierarchy has the same columns and you therefore only need a single set of headers for the entire tree. 

Of course, you CAN show non-homogenous data in OutlookExpress Style. But it's a little odd, since there will be a single column header that represents different data at different levels of the hierarchy. And, as we've established here, you have to tell the tree which parent columns are linked up to which child column, since it has no way of knowing that. 

I hope that clarifies things. :) 

Understood, and the column remapping works perfectly.  I am enclosing a code snippet for others to see.

 private void treeView1_ColumnSetGenerated(object sender, ColumnSetGeneratedEventArgs e)
        {
            UltraTreeColumnSet columnSet = e.ColumnSet;

            switch (columnSet.Key)
            {
                case "Campaign_Experiments":
                    columnSet.Columns["Experiment_ID"].MapToColumn = "Campaign_ID";
                    break;

                case "Experiment_Plates":
                    columnSet.Columns["Barcode"].MapToColumn = "Campaign_Name";
                    break;
            }

            if (e.ColumnSet.Columns.Count > 0)
            {
                // the dataset ws tailored so the columns needed are in the same order for each table
                // [0] ID, [1] text to display, [2} status used for colored dot
                columnSet.Columns[0].Visible = false;
                columnSet.Columns[1].Visible = true;
                columnSet.Columns[1].LayoutInfo.PreferredCellSize = new System.Drawing.Size(500, 10);
                columnSet.Columns[2].Visible = true;
                columnSet.Columns[2].LayoutInfo.PreferredCellSize = new System.Drawing.Size(50, 10);

                int count = columnSet.Columns.Count - 1; // (last one is actually the foreign key, so use one less)
                for (int i = 3; i < count; i++)
                    columnSet.Columns[i].Visible = false;
            }
        }

One statement I might dispute: "OutlookExpress is basically for homogenous data where every band has the same columns".. TreeViews I've seen have been used for hierarchical DataTables, not homogeneous data; and, it is difficult for tool consumers to know, a priori, limitations of use in the minds of the creator.  Nevertheless, the solution is simple, functional, and flexible.  Thank you!