PHP Multidimensional array into an HTML nested list? - php

Question

I have an array with data that is nested as per the below (just a simplified example as it has to be "endless" since each family tree can go over X generations):
Array
(
[id] => 121
[name] => Very Important Dogs Bowey Showey
[gen] => 0
[mother] => Array
(
[id] => 128
[name] => Veridique Of Winners
[gen] => 1
[mother] =>
[father] =>
)
[father] => Array
(
[id] => 124
[name] => Rosickys Robocopico
[gen] => 1
[mother] => Array
(
[id] => 75
[name] => Astro Spice
[gen] => 2
[mother] =>
[father] =>
)
[father] => Array
(
[id] => 62
[name] => Your King of the World
[gen] => 2
[mother] =>
[father] =>
)
)
)
And I tried with this PHP function but without success because it indeed goes through each array and creates a bullet point, but I cannot isolate "name" and "ID" as they all come together.
function recurseTree($var){
$out = '<li>';
foreach($var as $v){
if(is_array($v)){
$out .= '<ul>'.recurseTree($v).'</ul>';
}else{
$out .= $v;
}
}
return $out.'</li>';
}
echo '<ul>'.recurseTree($familytree).'</ul>';
And this is what it gives me:
- 121Very Important Dogs' Bowey Showey0
- 128Veridique Of Winners1
- 124Rosicky's Robocopico1
- 75Astra's Spice2
- 62Lazhar's King of the World2
It gives me an unusable string. Instead, I want to use something like $v['id'] to get the id (and create an a href link) and the name with something like $v['name']... But how?!
The format I am after:
<ul>
<li><span>Mother</a></span>
<ul>
<li><span>Grandmother</span>
<ul>
<li><span>Grand-Grandmother</span></li>
<li><span>Grand-Grandfather</span></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><span>Grandfather</span>
</ul>
</li>
<li><span>Father</a></span>
<ul>
<li><span>Grandmother</span>
<li><span>Grandfather</span>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

Answer 1

Here is what you could do:
function recurseTree($var)
{
$out = '<li>';
foreach($var as $k => $v)
{
if(is_array($v))
{
$out .= '<ul>'.recurseTree($v).'</ul>';
}
else
{
switch($k)
{
case 'id':
$out .= 'id='.$v;
break;
case 'name':
$out .= 'name='.$v;
break;
}
}
}
return $out.'</li>';
}
echo '<ul>'.recurseTree($familytree).'</ul>';

Answer 2

Because your array is associative and appears to follow a consistent format, I think you can actually do this without using a loop at all. This should make the formatting much easier.
function recurseTree($var) {
if ($var) {
$link = '<span>'. $var['name']. '</span>';
$parents = '';
if ($var['mother'] || $var['father']) {
$parents = '<ul>'. recurseTree($var['mother']). recurseTree($var['father']). '</ul>';
}
return "<li>$link$parents</li>";
}
}
echo '<ul>' . recurseTree($familytree) . '</ul>';