PHP : Create menu from SQL Server database - php

Question

How can I create a dynamic menu created in a database?
A sample of the menu table :
ID NAME URL IDPARENT
----------------------------------
1 Accueil #Accueil 0
2 Parcs #Parcs 0
3 Allemagne #Allemagne 2
4 Berlin #Berlin 3
5 France #France 2
6 Contact #Contact 0
The result should be :
<ul>
<li>Accueil</li>
<li>Parcs</li>
<ul>
<li>Allemagne</li>
<ul>
<li>Berlin</li>
</ul>
<li>France</li>
</ul>
<li>Contact</li>
</ul>
SOLVED : My code :
<?php
//connection to the database
$dbhandle = mssql_connect('*****', '*****', '*****')
or die("Couldn't connect to Server");
//select a database to work with
$selected = mssql_select_db("*****", $dbhandle)
or die("Couldn't open database");
//declare the SQL statement that will query the database
$query = "SELECT * FROM CATEGORIES ";
//execute the SQL query and return records
$result = mssql_query($query);
//display the results
while($row = mssql_fetch_array($result))
{
// Assign by reference
$thisref = &$refs[ $row['ID'] ];
// add the the menu parent
$thisref['IDCategoriePere'] = $row['IDCategoriePere'];
$thisref['NOM'] = $row['NOM'];
$thisref['URL'] = $row['URL'];
// if there is no parent id
if ($row['IDCategoriePere'] == 0)
{
$list[ $row['ID'] ] = &$thisref;
}
else
{
$refs[ $row['IDCategoriePere'] ]['children'][ $row['ID'] ] = &$thisref;
}
}
function create_menu( $arr )
{
$html = "\n<ul>\n";
foreach ($arr as $key=>$val)
{
$html .= '<li>'.$val['NOM']."</li>\n";
if (array_key_exists('children', $val))
{
$html .= create_menu($val['children']);
}
}
$html .= "</ul>\n";
return $html;
}
echo create_menu( $list );
//close the connection
mssql_close($dbhandle);
?>
It works fine ! but when i tried to put css (http://cssmenumaker.com/menu/flat-jquery-responsive-menu), the dropdown doesn't show :(
Result with and witout css :
<style>
/* CSS Document */
#import url(http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans);
#import url(http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Bree+Serif);
#container {
margin: 0 auto;
}
nav {
margin: 50px 0;
background-color: #E64A19;
}
nav ul {
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
list-style: none;
position: relative;
}
nav ul li {
display:inline-block;
background-color: #E64A19;
}
nav a {
display:block;
padding:0 10px;
color:#FFF;
font-size:20px;
line-height: 60px;
text-decoration:none;
}
nav a:hover {
background-color: #000000;
}
/* Hide Dropdowns by Default */
nav ul ul {
display: none;
position: absolute;
top: 60px; /* the height of the main nav */
}
/* Display Dropdowns on Hover */
nav ul li:hover > ul {
display:inherit;
}
/* Fisrt Tier Dropdown */
nav ul ul li {
width:170px;
float:none;
display:list-item;
position: relative;
}
/* Second, Third and more Tiers */
nav ul ul ul li {
position: relative;
top:-60px;
left:170px;
}
/* Change this in order to change the Dropdown symbol */
li > a:after { content: ' +'; }
li > a:only-child:after { content: ''; }
</style>
<!-- WITH PHP -->
<div id="container">
<nav>
<?php
//connection to the database
$dbhandle = mssql_connect('*****', '*****', '*****')
or die("Couldn't connect to Server");
//select a database to work with
$selected = mssql_select_db("*****", $dbhandle)
or die("Couldn't open database");
//declare the SQL statement that will query the database
$query = "SELECT * FROM CATEGORIES ";
//execute the SQL query and return records
$result = mssql_query($query);
//display the results
while($row = mssql_fetch_array($result))
{
// Assign by reference
$thisref = &$refs[ $row['ID'] ];
// add the the menu parent
$thisref['IDCategoriePere'] = $row['IDCategoriePere'];
$thisref['NOM'] = $row['NOM'];
$thisref['URL'] = $row['URL'];
// if there is no parent id
if ($row['IDCategoriePere'] == 0)
{
$list[ $row['ID'] ] = &$thisref;
}
else
{
$refs[ $row['IDCategoriePere'] ]['children'][ $row['ID'] ] = &$thisref;
}
}
function create_menu( $arr )
{
$html = "\n<ul>\n";
foreach ($arr as $key=>$val)
{
$html .= '<li>'.$val['NOM']."</li>\n";
if (array_key_exists('children', $val))
{
$html .= create_menu($val['children']);
}
}
$html .= "</ul>\n";
return $html;
}
echo create_menu( $list );
//close the connection
mssql_close($dbhandle);
?>
</nav>
</div>
<!-- WITHOUT PHP -->
<div id="container">
<nav>
<ul>
<li>ACCUEIL</li>
<li>PARCS
<!-- First Tier Drop Down -->
<ul>
<li>ALLEMAGNE
<!-- Second Tier Drop Down -->
<ul>
<li>BERLIN</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>FRANCE
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>CONTACT</li>
</ul>
</nav>
</div>

Answer 1

Please give for a detailed answer all informations like your database type and also the query or all of your code. Also the column name NAME is a reserved SQL Keyword, so normally it is not a good idea but mssql is mostly not ANSI, so it is maybe not interesting :)
If you want a multidimensional menu, then you cannot only print out the table. You have first to order the data (pass all childs to parent) and then you can create your menu. For that you are using normally with recursive functions or methods like here the create_menu function.
<?php
$serverName = "serverName\instanceName";
$connectionInfo = array( "Database"=>"dbName", "UID"=>"username", "PWD"=>"password");
// connect to sql server
$conn = sqlsrv_connect( $serverName, $connectionInfo );
if( $conn === false ) {
die( print_r( sqlsrv_errors(), true));
}
// create an array to hold the references
$refs = array();
// create and array to hold the list
$list = array();
$tsql = "SELECT ID, IDPARENT, NAME, URL FROM menu_items ORDER BY NAME;"
$stmt = sqlsrv_query( $conn, $tsql);
if( $stmt === false) {
die( print_r( sqlsrv_errors(), true) );
}
while($row = sqlsrv_fetch_array( $stmt, SQLSRV_FETCH_ASSOC))
{
// Assign by reference
$thisref = &$refs[ $row['ID'] ];
// add the the menu parent
$thisref['IDPARENT'] = $row['IDPARENT'];
$thisref['NAME'] = $row['NAME'];
$thisref['URL'] = $row['URL'];
// if there is no parent id
if ($row['IDPARENT'] == 0)
{
$list[ $row['ID'] ] = &$thisref;
}
else
{
$refs[ $row['IDPARENT'] ]['children'][ $row['ID'] ] = &$thisref;
}
}
mssql_close($conn);
/**
*
* Create a HTML menu from an array
*
* #param array $arr
* #param string $list_type
* #return string
*
*/
function create_menu( $arr )
{
$html = "\n<ul>\n";
foreach ($arr as $key=>$val)
{
$html .= '<li>'.$val['NAME']."";
if (array_key_exists('children', $val))
{
$html .= create_menu($val['children']);
}
$html .= "</li>\n";
}
$html .= "</ul>\n";
return $html;
}
echo create_menu( $list );
?>