display root category name

11 posts by 2 authors in: Forums > CMS Builder
Last Post: August 25, 2011   (RSS)

By rez - August 22, 2011 - edited: August 22, 2011

I have a multi level category menu set up.
At the top of the page, (the same page is details and list), I have:
<?php if ($selectedCategory): ?><?php echo $selectedCategory['name'] ?><?php endif ?>

I would like to change that to always show the root category of the current category (which will sometimes be root or sub category) Something like:

If this is a root category, display its name. If it's a child category, display this child's root.


So no matter where i am in a branch, how do I display the root name with a <?php if ($selectedCategory): ?> statement?

Re: [rez] display root category name

By rez - August 22, 2011

Well look at me, finally starting to figure something out all on my own.
<?php foreach ($categoryRecords as $categoryRecord): ?>
<?php if($categoryRecord['_isSelectedBranch' ] && $categoryRecord['depth'] == 0): ?>
<?php echo $categoryRecord['name'] ?>
<?php endif ?><?php endforeach; ?>

Ok, is there a shortcut for this to get straight there with just some type of, "what is this selected branches root?" Looping through everything in my DB just to get to one thing 10 different places on my page couldn't possibly be a good thing.

Re: [rez] display root category name

By Jason - August 23, 2011

Hi Rez,

If you want to get the parent name if the selected category has a parent, you can get this by manipulating the breadcrumb field like this:

<?php if ($selectedCategory): ?>

<?php if ($selectedCategory['_hasParent']): // display the parent name?>

<?php
$breadcrumbArray = explode(":", $selectedCategory['breadcrumb']);
echo trim($breadcrumbArray[(count($breadcrumbArray) -2 )]);
?>

<?php else: // display the current categories name?>

<?php echo $selectedCategory['name'] ?>

<?php endif ?>

<?php endif ?>

Note that this code will show the parent name if the selected category has a parent. If the tree is more than 1 level deep, it is not going to be showing the top level category. If you want to display the top level category instead change this:

echo trim($breadcrumbArray[(count($breadcrumbArray) -2 )]);

to this:

echo trim($breadcrumbArray[0]);

Hope this helps
---------------------------------------------------
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interactivetools.com

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Re: [Jason] display root category name

By rez - August 24, 2011 - edited: August 24, 2011

That works great. I realized I want to also display the <?php echo $selectedCategory['content'] ?> of this same category in a different spot on the page. How do a display the content field of it? (note that I added another level, depth 0 ("menu") so for each branch, i will be displaying depth 1. In other words, no matter what panini items are displayed, I will have a title at the top of "sandwiches" and the sandwiches category description.

My nav / categories:
Menu
sandwiches
classic
panini
beverages
coke
coffee

<div id="sub-head" class="grid_16">
<div class="grid_3 prefix_6 suffix_1 alpha"><div id="vert2"><div class="cell"><p><?php if ($selectedCategory): ?>

<?php if ($selectedCategory['_hasParent']): // display the parent name?>

<?php
$breadcrumbArray = explode(":", $selectedCategory['breadcrumb']);
echo trim($breadcrumbArray[1]);
?>

<?php else: // display the current categories name?>

<?php echo $selectedCategory['name'] ?>

<?php endif ?>

<?php endif ?></p></div></div></div><div id="sub-dsc" class="grid_5 suffix_1 omega">
<div id="vert"><div class="cell"><p>

***whatever category is displayed above (currently always a level 1) display it's content field here.*****

</p></div></div>
</div>
</div>


thanks.

Re: [Jason] display root category name

By rez - August 24, 2011 - edited: August 24, 2011

By the way, in this same fashion, I plan to get more complex once I understand, using searches, more depths and more fields from lower depths and knowing exactly where I am in a branch. So the visitor can see lower descriptions and such from lower depths while viewing items in the category they currently have selected.

So hopefully the way i get this working will be the base for that. arrays? or whatever i have to learn like the functions i see _hasParent, the ancestor ones etc.

Thought I'd mention that to make sure i'm heading in the right direction for all of this.

Re: [rez] display root category name

By Jason - August 24, 2011 - edited: August 24, 2011

Hi,

Since we're not able to get the content of the parent record from selectedCategory, a better approach to this would be to use a query to get the parent record directly. If you're using CMSB 2.08 or above, we can use the mysql_get() function like this:

<div id="sub-head" class="grid_16">
<div class="grid_3 prefix_6 suffix_1 alpha"><div id="vert2"><div class="cell"><p><?php if ($selectedCategory): ?>

<?php if ($selectedCategory['_hasParent']): // display the parent name?>

<?php
$parent = mysql_get('categories', $selectedCategory['parentNum']);
$content = $parent['content'];

echo $parent['name'];
?>

<?php else: // display the current categories name?>


<?php
$content = $selectedCategory['content'];
echo $selectedCategory['name']
?>

<?php endif ?>

<?php endif ?></p></div></div></div><div id="sub-dsc" class="grid_5 suffix_1 omega">
<div id="vert"><div class="cell"><p>


<?php echo $content; ?>


</p></div></div>
</div>
</div>

Hope this helps
---------------------------------------------------
Jason Sauchuk - Project Manager
interactivetools.com

Hire me! Save time by getting our experts to help with your project.
http://www.interactivetools.com/consulting/

Re: [Jason] display root category name

By rez - August 24, 2011

My table is menu_categories but even with that change, I get:
Undefined index: partentNum

Thanks for the help.

Re: [rez] display root category name

By Jason - August 24, 2011

Hi,

Ooops, that was a typo. It should be parentNum. I've made this change in the code as well.

Give that a try.
---------------------------------------------------
Jason Sauchuk - Project Manager
interactivetools.com

Hire me! Save time by getting our experts to help with your project.
http://www.interactivetools.com/consulting/

Re: [Jason] display root category name

By rez - August 25, 2011

If i build my whole site's navigation into this category group, making one branch for the food menu (depth 0 as shown above with sandwiches etc), then how would i display a nested ul for just this one branch? (for side navigation on this particular food menu page)

originally, I had:
<?php foreach ($categoryRecords as $categoryRecord): ?>
<?php echo $categoryRecord['_listItemStart'] ?>
<?php if ($categoryRecord['_isSelected']): ?>
<b><?php if (!$categoryRecord['_hasChild']):?><a href="<?php echo $categoryRecord['_link'] ?>"><?php endif; ?><?php echo $categoryRecord['name'] ?><?php if (!$categoryRecord['_hasChild']):?></a><?php endif; ?></b>
<?php else: ?>
<?php if (!$categoryRecord['_hasChild']):?><a href="<?php echo $categoryRecord['_link'] ?>"><?php endif; ?><?php echo $categoryRecord['name'] ?><?php if (!$categoryRecord['_hasChild']):?></a><?php endif; ?>
<?php echo $categoryRecord['_listItemEnd'] ?><?php endif; ?>
<?php endforeach; ?>

that works fine. but now, of course when i add other depth zero branches for home, about us, contact us etc. They are added into this side nav on the food menu page. I tried wrapping parts in <?php if ($categoryRecord ['num']==23): ?> , 23 being the record number for the "menu" category, but couldn't figure out how to get the children to display.

thanks again.