Creating php arrays from sql queries - php

Question

I'm trying to create an array of arrays so I can build a dynamic menu, but I'm getting lost amongst the code. My output looks like this:
$menu = Array (
[0] => Array (
[text] => Home
[class] => 875
[link] => //Home
[show_condition] => TRUE
[parent] => 0
)
[1] => Array (
[text] => About
[class] => 326
[link] => //About
[show_condition] => TRUE
[parent] => 0
)
etc
etc
etc
[339] => Array (
[text] => Planner
[class] => 921
[link] => //Planner
[show_condition] => TRUE
[parent] => 45
)
)
And the two functions which should build the menu are:
function build_menu ( $menu ) {
$out = '<div class="container4">' . "\n";
$out .= ' <div class="menu4">' . "\n";
$out .= "\n".'<ul>' . "\n";
for ( $i = 1; $i <= count ( $menu )-1; $i++ )
{
if ( is_array ( $menu [ $i ] ) ) {//must be by construction but let's keep the errors home
if ( $menu [ $i ] [ 'show_condition' ] && $menu [ $i ] [ 'parent' ] == 0 ) {//are we allowed to see this menu?
$out .= '<li class="' . $menu [ $i ] [ 'class' ] . '"><a href="' . $menu [ $i ] [ 'link' ] . '">';
$out .= $menu [ $i ] [ 'text' ];
$out .= '</a>';
$out .= get_childs ( $menu, $i );
$out .= '</li>' . "\n";
}
}
else {
die ( sprintf ( 'menu nr %s must be an array', $i ) );
}
}
$out .= '</ul>'."\n";
$out .= "\n\t" . '</div>';
return $out . "\n\t" . '</div>';
}
function get_childs ( $menu, $el_id ) {
$has_subcats = FALSE;
$out = '';
$out .= "\n".' <ul>' . "\n";
for ( $i = 1; $i <= count ( $menu )-1; $i++ )
{
if ( $menu [ $i ] [ 'show_condition' ] && $menu [ $i ] [ 'parent' ] == $el_id ) {//are we allowed to see this menu?
$has_subcats = TRUE;
$add_class = ( get_childs ( $menu, $i ) != FALSE ) ? ' subsubl' : '';
$out .= ' <li class="' . $menu [ $i ] [ 'class' ] . $add_class . '"><a href="' . $menu [ $i ] [ 'link' ] . '">';
$out .= $menu [ $i ] [ 'text' ];
$out .= '</a>';
$out .= get_childs ( $menu, $i );
$out .= '</li>' . "\n";
}
}
$out .= ' </ul>'."\n";
return ( $has_subcats ) ? $out : FALSE;
}
But the menu is refusing to show any submenu levels - it only displays top level. Any ideas?
Thanks!

Answer 1

Your code is almost there - you may want to change mysql_fetch_array to mysql_fetch_assoc, and you can convert values as returned into the appropriate types using functions like intval:
$menu = array();
$sql = "SELECT TabName as text, TabID as class, TabPath as link, IsVisible as show_condition, ParentId as parent FROM dnn_SMA_Tabs WHERE PortalID = 3 AND IsVisible = 'True' ORDER BY TabOrder ASC";
$result = mysql_query($sql);
$index = 1;
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
$row['parent'] = intval($row['parent']);
$menu[$index] = $row;
$index++;
}
You'll need to convert show_condition to the appropriate type - how to do that probably depends on what column type IsVisible is.

Answer 2

i see your array has indexes from [0] to [399]
Array (
[0] => Array (
[text] => Home
[class] => 875
[link] => //Home
[show_condition] => TRUE
[parent] => 0
)
[1] => Array (
[text] => About
[class] => 326
[link] => //About
[show_condition] => TRUE
[parent] => 0
)
etc
etc
etc
[339] => Array (
[text] => Planner
[class] => 921
[link] => //Planner
[show_condition] => TRUE
[parent] => 45
) )
but you try to show items from [1] to [340]
for ( $i = 1; $i <= count ( $menu ); $i++ )
count($menu) returns 340 ([0]->[399])
Solution: for ( $i = 0; $i < count ( $menu ); $i++ )
start from 0 and go until 399 (strictly < 340)

Answer 3

I would do it in an other way: object oriented.
class Menu {
private $children = array();
private $name = '';
private $link = '';
private $class = '';
private $show = TRUE;
function __construct($name, $class, $link, $show = TRUE, $parent = null) {
$this->name = $name;
$this->link = $link;
$this->class = $class;
$this->show = $show;
if(!is_null($parent)) {
$parent->addChild($this);
}
}
function addChild(Menu $child) {
$this->children[] = $child;
}
// ... remaining getters (and probably setters)
}
Then you can build the menu like this:
$home = new Menu('Home', '875', '//Home');
$about = new Menu('About', '326', '//About');
//...
$planner = new Menu('Planner', '921', '//Planner', true, $home);
$menu = array($home, $about,...);
This is just one example. I am aware that this would mean you create 340 variables to hold your menu. With other setter and getter methods you can do it better, this is just a fast 'sketch'.
You can build the menu like this:
function build_menu ( $menu, $showContainer = false) {
$out = '';
if($showContainer) {
$out = '<div class="container4">' . "\n";
$out .= ' <div class="menu4">' . "\n";
}
if(!empty($menu)) {
$out .= '<ul>' . "\n";
for ($entry in $menu) {
if($entry->getShow()) {//are we allowed to see this menu?
$out .= '<li class="' . $entry->getClass() . '"><a href="' . $entry->getLink() . '">';
$out .= $entry->getText();
$out .= '</a>';
$out .= "\n" . build_menu($entry->getChildren());
$out .= '</li>' . "\n";
}
}
$out .= '</ul>'."\n";
}
if($showContainer) {
$out .= "\n\t" . '</div>';
$out .= "\n\t" . '</div>';
}
return $out;
}
I didn't test the code, but this is the idea behind it. If you have no experience with OOP and php have a look at the official documentation.
And also note that this requires PHP5.