Change Magento Menu Subcategory Sort Order - php

Question

I am using the following code to display Categories and Subcategories in a drop down menu, however I want the subcategories to be sorted alphabetically... how can I do this?
<ul id="custom-menu">
<li><b>Home</b></li>
<?php $_helper = Mage::helper('catalog/category') ?>
<?php $_categories = $_helper->getStoreCategories() ?>
<?php $currentCategory = Mage::registry('current_category') ?>
<?php if (count($_categories) > 0): ?>
<ul style="width:940px;">
<?php foreach($_categories as $_category): ?>
<li>
<b><a class="drop" href="<?php echo $_helper->getCategoryUrl($_category) ?>">
<?php echo $_category->getName() ?>
</a></b>
<?php $_category = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($_category->getId()) ?>
<?php $_subcategories = $_category->getChildrenCategories() ?>
<?php if (count($_subcategories) > 0): ?>
<div class="dropdown_1column" style="width:235px;">
<?php foreach($_subcategories as $_subcategory): ?>
<div class="col_1">
<a href="<?php echo $_helper->getCategoryUrl($_subcategory) ?>">
<?php echo $_subcategory->getName() ?>
</a>
</div>
<?php endforeach; ?>
<div class="clr" clear="all"></div>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
</li>
<?php endforeach; ?>
<li class="normal"><b>Sale</b></li>
<li class="normal"><b>Help</b></li>
<li class="normal"><b>Open Account</b></li>
</ul>
<?php endif; ?>

Answer 1

What I've always done as our clients don't usually have categories that change frequently is dragged and dropped them in alphabetical order in the admin backend: Catalog > Categories > Manage Categories.
If that's not your style, you can always take some advice from this answer to first run through the categories, place them in a new array, and then key sort the array and finally output: https://stackoverflow.com/a/4273912/823549

Answer 2

First backup your topmenu.phtml then replace the following code in your new topmenu.phtml file
<?php $_helper = Mage::helper('catalog/category') ?>
<?php $_categories = $_helper->getStoreCategories() ?>
<?php
function array_sort($array, $on, $order=SORT_ASC){
$new_array = array();
$sortable_array = array();
if (count($array) > 0) {
foreach ($array as $k => $v) {
if (is_array($v)) {
foreach ($v as $k2 => $v2) {
if ($k2 == $on) {
$sortable_array[$k] = $v2;
}
}
} else {
$sortable_array[$k] = $v;
}
}
switch ($order) {
case SORT_ASC:
asort($sortable_array);
break;
case SORT_DESC:
arsort($sortable_array);
break;
}
foreach ($sortable_array as $k => $v) {
$new_array[$k] = $array[$k];
}
}
return $new_array;
}
?>
<?php
$layer = Mage::getSingleton('catalog/layer');
$_category = $layer->getCurrentCategory();
$currentCategoryId= $_category->getId();
?>
<div class="nav-container">
<ul id="nav">
<?php $_helper = Mage::helper('catalog/category') ?>
<?php $_categories = $_helper->getStoreCategories() ?>
<?php $currentCategory = Mage::registry('current_category') ?>
<?php if (count($_categories) > 0){ ?>
<?php foreach($_categories as $_category){ ?>
<?php $_category = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($_category->getId()) ?>
<li><span><?php echo $_category->getName(); ?></span>
<?php $catList = array();?>
<?php $_subcategories = $_category->getChildrenCategories() ?>
<?php foreach($_subcategories as $_subCategory){ ?>
<?php $catList[] = array('name' => $_subCategory->getName(), 'url' => $_subCategory->getUrl(), 'id' => $_subCategory->getId());?>
<?php } ?>
<?php $catList = array_sort($catList, 'name', SORT_ASC);?>
<ul>
<?php if (count($catList) > 0){ ?>
<?php $subcat=0?>
<?php foreach($catList as $_subCategory){ ?>
<li><span><?php echo $_subCategory['name'] ?></span>
<?php $subCatList = array();?>
<?php $_subSubCat = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($_subCategory['id']);
$_subSubCategories = $_subSubCat->getChildrenCategories();?>
<?php foreach($_subSubCategories as $_subSubCategory){ ?>
<?php $subCatList[] = array('name' => $_subSubCategory['name'], 'url' => $_subSubCategory['url']);?>
<?php } ?>
<?php $subCatList = array_sort($subCatList, 'name', SORT_ASC);?>
<?php if (count($subCatList) > 0){ ?>
<ul>
<?php foreach($subCatList as $_subSubCat){ ?>
<li><span><?php echo $_subSubCat['name'] ?></span>
<?php } ?>
</li>
</ul>
<?php } ?>
</li>
<?php } ?>
<?php } ?>
</ul>
</li>
<?php } ?>
<?php } ?>
</ul>
</div>