Call stack:
Telerik.WinControls.GridView.dll!Telerik.WinControls.UI.GridGroupHeaderRowElement.Initialize(Telerik.WinControls.UI.GridViewRowInfo rowInfo) Line 100 at Telerik.WinControls.UI\GridGroupHeaderRowElement.cs(100) Telerik.WinControls.GridView.dll!Telerik.WinControls.Export.GridExportUtils.GetRowHeight(Telerik.WinControls.UI.RadGridView radGridView, Telerik.WinControls.UI.RowElementProvider rowProvider, Telerik.WinControls.UI.CellElementProvider cellProvider, Telerik.WinControls.UI.GridViewRowInfo gridViewRowInfo, bool exportVisualSettings) Line 158 at Telerik.WinControls.Export\GridExportUtils.cs(158) Telerik.WinControls.GridView.dll!Telerik.WinControls.Export.GridViewSpreadExport.AddRow(Telerik.WinControls.UI.GridViewRowInfo gridViewRowInfo, int rowIndex) Line 960
In this scenario, the Browsable(false) attribute is set to both properties which are used to create the self-referencing hierarchy. When the columns are predefined, running that application will freeze as the RadGridView could not correctly get the parent row. If the columns are auto-generated, this behavior is not observed.
This is not exactly a real solution as setting the Browsable(false) attribute will remove the properties from the source. However, the control should not freeze the application.