Multi-Dimensional Navigation Array - php

Question

Trying to construct a navigation using multi-dimensional arrays and recursion. I have the following code:
First I run <?php $title = 'pagename'; ?> on each individual page beneath doctype (for active class detection)
ARRAY:
<?php
$nav_array = array ('Home' => 'index.php',
'About' => array ( 'about.php', array (
'Michael' => array( 'michael.php', array (
'Blog' => 'blog.php',
'Portfolio' => 'portfolio.php')),
'Aaron' => 'aaron.php' ,
'Kenny' => 'kenny.php',
'David'=> 'david.php')),
'Services' => array ( 'services.php', array (
'Get Noticed' => 'getnoticed.php',
'Hosting' => 'hosting.php')),
'Clients' => 'clients.php',
'Contact Us' => 'contact.php'
);
$base = basename($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']);
?>
FOREACH: (generates nav)
<ul>
<?php
foreach ($nav_array as $k => $v) {
echo buildLinks ($k, $v, $base);
}
?>
</ul>
buildLinks:
<?php // Building the links
function buildLinks ($label_name, $file_name, $active_class) {
if ($label_name == $title) {
$theLink = "<li><a class=\"selected\" href=\"$file_name\">$label_name</a></li>\n";
} else {
$theLink = "<li>$label_name</li>\n";
}
return $theLink;
}
?>
Result: http://khill.mhostiuckproductions.com/siteLSSBoilerPlate/arraytest.php
The sub menu's will appear on the hover of parent element using CSS. I need to be able to fall through multiple sub-levels without modifying anything but the array.
How do I make my foreach fall through the rest of the array recursively?
(Note: that I have to have the ability to apply a class of active to current pages, and a class of arrow to parent elements that have a sub-menu present.)

Answer 1

No matter what data structure you use to build your navigation, you'll need to make your function recursive, here's a quick and dirty way:
echo "<ul>";
foreach ($nav_array as $nav_title => $nav_data) {
echo buildLinks($nav_title, $nav_data, $base, $title);
}
echo "</ul>";
/* NOTE that we pass $title to the function */
function buildLinks ($label_name, $file_name, $active_class, $title) {
$theLink = '';
/* this is dirty code, you should reconsider your data structure */
$navigation_list = false;
if (is_array($file_name)) {
$navigation_list = $file_name[1];
$file_name = $file_name[0];
}
if ($active_class == $title) {
$theLink = "<li><a class=\"selected\" href=\"$file_name\">$label_name</a></li>\n";
} else {
$theLink = "<li>$label_name</li>\n";
}
if ($navigation_list) {
$theLink .= "<ul>";
foreach ($navigation_list as $nav_title => $nav_data) {
$theLink .= buildLinks($nav_title, $nav_data, $active_class, $title);
}
$theLink .= "</ul>";
}
return $theLink;
}
Not a clean solution in anyway, if I were you I'd change the data structure to be an easier one to handle.

Answer 2

I think this is a very bad way. I recommend to save your menu elements as XML or JSON and use parsers. It will facilitate your work.