Php Multidimensional array for navigation

Question

Needed Navigation Html

Home

Pages

About
Services
Products
Contact
FAQs
Sitemap
Privacy Policy
Column Layouts
- 1 Column
- 2 Column (Left Sidebar)
- 2 Column (Right Sidebar)
- 3 Column
- 4 Column

I want to use php arrays and foreach loops to output the needed html. The php code I have thus far is:

<?php
    $data = array("navigation");
    $data['navigation']['Home'] = base_url();
    $data['navigation']['Pages'] = base_url('pages');
    $data['navigation']['Pages']['About'] = base_url('pages/about');
    echo '<ul>';
    foreach($data as $nav) {
        foreach($nav as $subNavKey => $subNavHref) {
            echo "<li><a href='$subNavHref'>$subNavKey</a>";
        }
    }
    echo '</ul>';
?>

I was thinking I would need three foreach loops nested but php warnings/errors are generated when the third loop is reached on lines such as:

$data['navigation']['Home'] = base_url();
$data['navigation']['Pages'] = base_url('pages');

I'm not quite sure how to test for 3rd level depths such as:

$data['navigation']['Pages']['About'] = base_url('pages/about');

Also, outputting the needed li and ul tags in the proper positions has given me trouble aswell.

array("navigation"); Creates an array with one element, the string "navigation". I think you want $data = array("navigation" => array()); — gen_Eric
– gen_Eric, Commented Apr 3, 2014 at 21:26

Rahul Prasad · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-03 21:27:40Z

4

Use recursion

$data['navigation']['Home'] = base_url();
$data['navigation']['Pages'] = base_url('pages');
$data['navigation']['Pages']['About'] = base_url('pages/about');
$data['navigation']['Pages']['About']['Team'] = base_url('pages/team');
$data['navigation']['Pages']['About']['Team']['Nate'] = base_url('pages/nate');

echo "<ul>"
print_list($data);
echo "</ul>"

function print_list($menu) {
  foreach($menu as $key=>$item) {
    echo "<li>";
    if(is_array($item)) {
      echo "<ul>";
      print_list($item);
      echo "</ul>";
    } else {
      echo "<a href='{$val}'>$key</a>";
    }
    echo "</li>";
  }
}

answered Apr 3, 2014 at 21:27

Rahul Prasad

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Steve Robbins · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-04 00:39:06Z

2

<?php

function nav($data) {
    $html = '<ul>';
    foreach ($data as $k => $v) {
        if (is_array($v)) {
            $html .=  "<li>$k" . nav($v) . "</li>";
        }
        else {
            $html .= "<li><a href='$k'>$v</a>";
        }
    }
    $html .= '</ul>';
    return $html;
}

echo nav($data);

edited Apr 4, 2014 at 0:39

answered Apr 3, 2014 at 21:29

Steve Robbins

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1 Comment

Ed T. Over a year ago

You should change $html .= nav($v); to $html .= "<li>$k". nav($v) ."</li>";, as you're loosing Pages and Column Layouts

Ryan · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-03 21:37:01Z

1

A recursive function can get the job done:

$items = array(
    "Home",
    "Pages" => array(
        "About",
        "Services",
        "Products",
        "Contact",
        "FAQs",
        "Sitemap",
        "Privacy Policy",
        "Column Layouts" => array(
            "1 Column",
            "2 Column (Left Sidebar)",
            "2 Column (Right Sidebar)",
            "3 Column",
            "4 Column"
        )
    )
);

function getMenu($array) {
    foreach($array as $key => $value) {
        if(is_array($value)) {
            echo "<li>" . $key . "</li>";
            echo "<ul>";
            getMenu($value);
            echo "</ul>";
        } else {
            echo "<li>" . $value . "</li>";
        }
    }
}
echo "<ul>";
getMenu($items);
echo "</ul>";

Output:

enter image description here

edited Apr 3, 2014 at 21:37

answered Apr 3, 2014 at 21:30

Ryan

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2 Comments

Ed T. Over a year ago

You got a bug, as you're printing your menu items outside main <ul> tags, like that <ul></ul><li>Home</li><li>Pages</li>....

Ed T. Over a year ago

You still got a bug, as your child <ul> is outside parent tag <li>. You have to change echo "<li>" . $key . "</li>"; echo "<ul>"; getMenu($value); echo "</ul>"; to echo "<li>" . $key; echo "<ul>"; getMenu($value); echo "</ul></li>";

The Alpha · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-03 22:02:58Z

1

You should use a recursive function, for example (Working Demo):

function makeMenu($array)
{
    $menu = '';
    foreach($array as $key => $value) {
        if(is_array($value)) {
            $menu .= '<li>' . $key . '<ul>' . makeMenu($value) . '</ul></li>';
        }
        else {
            $menu .= "<li><a href='". $value ."'>" . $value ."</a></li>";
        }
    }
    return $menu;
}

Then call it like:

$data = array(
    "Home",
    "Pages" => array("About", "Services"),
    "Column Layouts" => array("1 Column", "2 Column (Left Sidebar)")
);
echo '<ul>' . makeMenu($data) . '</ul>';

edited Apr 3, 2014 at 22:02

answered Apr 3, 2014 at 21:31

The Alpha

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