Dropdown menus in MVC approach - php

Question

I have been trying to understand this existing php code that displays drop down menus with their subsequent menus. while the code works in one level, i am having a hard time how to or what to add another level of the dropdown... i have been able to do that but in this case where php is used to display these fields, it's kind of mind-boggling for me... here's the existing code in the view side -->
<ul class="nav navbar-nav">
<?php
foreach ($nav as $item) {
if (empty($item['children'])) {
?>
<li<?php if (!empty($item['is_active'])) { ?> class="active"<?php } ?>>
<a href="<?php echo $item['link']; ?>"><?php if ($item['icon'] != '') { ?>
<i class="<?php echo $item['icon']; ?>" data-toggle="tooltip" data-placement="bottom" data-original-title="A large tooltip."></i> <?php } echo $item['label']; ?></a></li>
<?php
}
else
{
?>
<li class="dropdown <?php if (!empty($item['is_active'])) { ?> active<?php } ?>">
<a href="#" class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" data-hover="dropdown">
<?php if ($item['icon'] != '') { ?>
<i class="<?php echo $item['icon']; ?>"></i>
<?php echo $item['label']; ?>
<b class="caret"></b><?php } ?>
</a>
<ul class="dropdown-menu">
<?php
_main_menu_widget_display_children($item['children']);
?>
</ul>
</li>
<?php
}
}
?>
and the controller looks like this -->
$nav['settings'] = array('label' => 'Settings', 'icon' => 'fa fa-wrench fa-lg', );
$nav['settings/access_rights'] = array('label' => 'Approver', 'icon' => 'fa fa-wrench fa-lg',
'location' => site_url('admin/access_rights'), 'parent_id' => 'settings');
//separator
$nav['settings/separator_1'] = array('blank' => true, 'parent_id' => 'settings');
$nav['settings/billing_param'] = array('label' => 'Technician', 'icon' => 'fa fa-wrench fa-lg',
'location' => site_url('billing_param'), 'parent_id' => 'settings');
//separator
$nav['settings/separator_2'] = array('blank' => true, 'parent_id' => 'settings');
$nav['settings/support_settings'] = array('label' => 'Support', 'icon' => 'fa fa-wrench fa-lg',
'location' => site_url('support_settings'), 'parent_id' => 'settings');
//sub-menu sub of Support
$nav['example1'] = array('label' => 'Request Supportt', 'icon' => 'fa fa-wrench fa-lg',
'location' => '#', 'parent_id' => 'settings/support_settings');
$nav['example2'] = array('label' => 'Need Features', 'icon' => 'fa fa-wrench fa-lg',
'location' => '#', 'parent_id' => 'settings/support_settings');
$nav['example3'] = array('label' => 'Telephone Number', 'icon' => 'fa fa-wrench fa-lg',
'location' => '#', 'parent_id' => 'settings/support_settings');
$nav['example4'] = array('label' => 'Testimonials', 'icon' => 'fa fa-wrench fa-lg',
'location' => '#', 'parent_id' => 'settings/support_settings');
$nav['example6'] = array('label' => 'Known Issues', 'icon' => 'fa fa-wrench fa-lg',
'location' => '#', 'parent_id' => 'settings/support_settings');
$nav['example5'] = array('label' => 'Road Map', 'icon' => 'fa fa-wrench fa-lg',
'location' => '#', 'parent_id' => 'settings/support_settings');
here's what it looks like :
i just wanted those list under 'support' not shown when i clicked the 'settings' menu but rather after i hover or clicked (it doesnt matter really) the 'support' sub-menu...
i know there's something missing in the 'view' side but i dont know what is... another if-else maybe but i cant see any connection so far... any help is very much appreciated thanks... :)