Recursive Search Function - php

Question

I have strings that come in the form of "IT/Internet/Web Development/Ajax". I parse it and make a JSON Object like
[{
"name": "IT",
"subcategories":[
{
"name": "Internet",
"subcategories" : [
{
"name": "Web Development",
"subcategories" : [
{
"name":"Ajax"
}]}]}]
I create the JSON object by doing
$input = "IT/Internet/Web Development";
$items = explode("/", $input);
$parent = null;
$firstObject = null;
while (count($items))
{
$object = new StdClass();
$item = array_shift($items);
$object->name = $item;
if (count($items) == 0) {
$object->subcategories=NULL; // I made this null in order to know that this is the last item of the string that comes in
}
if ($parent)
$parent->subcategories = array($object);
else
$firstObject = $object;
$parent = $object;
}
array_push($category_collection, $firstObject); //$category_collection is an array
}
When another string comes in, for example "IT/Internet/Browsers", I want to be able to parse the categories that were created and place "Browsers" in the correct place as a subcategory of Internet, so then my JSON object would look like
[{
"name": "IT",
"subcategories":[
{
"name": "Internet",
"subcategories" : [
{
"name": "Web Development",
"subcategories" : [
{
"name":"Ajax"
}],
{
"name":"Browsers"
}}]}]
I'm having problems writing a recursive function that will just loop the JSON Object to categorize everything in the right place. What I am doing as of right now is
$arrlength = count($category_collection); //count the size of the array
$input = "IT/Internet/Browsers";
$items = explode("/",$input);
$tempVariable = array_shift($items);
$flag = false;
for ($x = 0; $x < $arrlength; $x++) {
//Here I check if the first a category with that name already exists
if ($category_collection[$x]['name'] == $tempVariable) {
$flag = true;
//Now here is where im having problems doing the recursion to check if the subcategory2 already exists and then if subcategory 3 and so on...
}
}
If anybody could guide me on the right direction that would be greatly appreciated

Answer 1

Here is a full function, it should work, you can convert it to json after, if you need:
$categoriesCollection = array();
$input = "IT/Internet/Web Development";
updateCategoriesCollection(explode('/', $input), $categoriesCollection);
$input = "IT/Internet/Browsers";
updateCategoriesCollection(explode('/', $input), $categoriesCollection);
function updateCategoriesCollection(array $categoriesList, array &$categoriesCollection)
{
$name = array_shift($categoriesList);
$category = null;
foreach ($categoriesCollection as $key => $value)
{
if ($value->name == $name)
{
$category = $value;
break;
}
}
if (!$category)
{
$category = new StdClass;
$category->name = $name;
$categoriesCollection[] = $category;
}
if (!empty($categoriesList))
{
if (empty($category->subcategories)) $category->subcategories = array();
updateCategoriesCollection($categoriesList, $category->subcategories);
}
}
var_dump($categoriesCollection);
Output:
Array
(
[0] => stdClass Object
(
[name] => IT
[subcategories] => Array
(
[0] => stdClass Object
(
[name] => Internet
[subcategories] => Array
(
[0] => stdClass Object
(
[name] => Web Development
)
[1] => stdClass Object
(
[name] => Browsers
)
)
)
)
)
)

Answer 2

Try this please (Not tested, maybe some error to correct, i am here to help):
function boolean check_is_good($array, $input)
{
$element = array_shift($input);
for ($x = 0; $x < count($array), $x++) {
if ($array[$x]['name'] == $element){
if ((!isset($array[$x]['subcategories']) && (count($input) == 0))
return (true);
else if ((!isset($array[$x]['subcategories']) && (count($input) != 0))
return (false);
$newArray = $array[$x]['subcategories'];
return (check_is_good($newArray, $input));
}
}
return (false);
}
The function return true is all is in the correct place
You have to pass in parameter1 an array that represent your JSON ($category_collecton in your example)
You have to pass in parameter2 an array with all elements ($items in your example)