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.

Answer 1

<?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);

Answer 2

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>';

Answer 3

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:

Answer 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>";
  }
}