Mixing PHP and Javascript

lanshaft

Hello All,
I am having a bit of a problem... I am building a new online store for my job. I have done a few in the past but I am running into a small problem...

Ok so here it is I have a list of main categories that I pull from the db. There are sub-categories that are associated to these main categories of course. It is all 100% dynamic. The problem is I would like to be able to use javascript or something so that when mouseover or click a main category it displays the sub-categories.

i.e.

CPU's <- main cat
- Athlon <- sub cat
- Intel <- sub cat
Memory <- main cat
HDD <- main cat

I am having a heck of a time with this... Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance Jared

jesus_hairdo

This sort of thing would require client side coding such as Javascript or VBScript.
Trying looking athttp://javascript.internet.com they have some sample scripts which have dynamic <select> boxes which you could alter to meet your needs.

Jamie

lanshaft

jesus_hairdo,

I know that javascript is the way to go what is happening is that the I cannot get javascript and php to play nice...

Do you have any code examples???

Thanks Jared

jesus_hairdo

All you are doing is getting php to output the correct coding.

You CANNOT run php from a javaScript function.

The most difficult aspect IMHO is actually getting the Javascript itself, to work correctly.

What i would suggest is get a static page running in just html and Javascript.

Once that works OK, workout how to get your php to output the correct html and javascript to work.

lanshaft

I was afraid that was the case... And the way I am doing it I need to pass javascript values because the drop down would be 100% dynamic in other words completely controlled by the db content....

grrrrr... thanks for your help

diego25

If there's not too much data, you can always get all the categories and subcategories from the database and put them in JavaScript...and JavaScript will just use those, without requerying the database.

Diego

lanshaft

Do you have an example of that????

kamy99

You CANNOT run php from a javaScript function.

If write a JS func, then you can not pass php vars to it. However, if you encode your JS within PHP, then you can.
The process is a bit longer, but I usually write my JS funcs first, then port them over.

daphreeek

Well, I saw your post and knew I had a kool javascript menu I made about 6mnths ago. I decided to edit it so it runs off a database.

It runs really well and looks good. It even has an admin page allowing easy editing.

http://daphreeek.kicks-ass.net/~phpjavascriptmenu

Hope that helps 🙂

Email me your comments or if you need help

Duey

hmm i think you are just getting the languages confused, what you should do is just think of javascript as html when using php if you are echoing/printing the js you must do "\"" with the speech marks just like in normal HTML.

daphreeek, Nice to see some new zealanders are using this forum 😉 wat city you from?

daphreeek

Im from Auckland 🙂 But next year I'm movin to wellington

Duey

im from hamilton

Weedpacket

Originally posted by kamy99

If write a JS func, then you can not pass php vars to it. However, if you encode your JS within PHP, then you can.

What's that supposed to mean? "Encode your JS within PHP"? Write a Javascript emulator in PHP? That would be PHP running Javascript, not Javascript running PHP. Write a PHP emulator in Javascript? Possible, but I'd bet good money that no-one's ever done it (and would be just as limited in application and functionality as any PHP code translatable into Javascript). Have PHP write Javascript code in its output? It's not running anything. Rewrite your Javascript as PHP? It's not Javascript any more (and only occasionally does it make any conceptual sense to attempt such a thing).

PHP can send data to Javascript, by rewriting the Javascript on demand in its response to the browser's request for a page (which is the solution for this situation). But the only way Javascript can send anything to PHP is by causing the browser to make a request back to the server.

Neither can run the other, because they're running on totally separate machines with only an occasional http request/response between passing them.

daphreeek

well we all established the exact same point just using different wording 🙂 anyways - if u want a javascript that is dynamic (ie different every time u goto the page) and you want it running from a mysql database then u need 2 load all the info into the javascript first (maybe an array)

The menu link in my previous post does it nicely 🙂

Matt