Need help with a LOOP

14zero

I have a database structure that stores categories

There is a table that holds the information of the cateogries ID and if it has a Parent ID

eg. categories_id = 34 parent_id = 5

If it is a top level category it has a parent_id of 0

So when displaying we can always see the next level down by seeing what that level has as a parent.

What I am trying to figure out is, how can I loop through all the possible children of a parent category.

so if I start with parent_id = 5, categories_id = 34 would be a child category but it is also the parent of categories_id = 45

I have tried thinking of various ways but can't seem to come up with a solution. I am no expert so any help would be appreciated.

Let me know if I havent explained this clearly enough please

Thankyou

vaaaska

Ummm, can you simplify that question because it's completely not understandable...

However, why don't you create a multi-dimensional array to deal with things. That's how I manage nav structures...

14zero

sorry if it was hard to understand.

Basically the data only tells me what the parent id of a category is.

It doesnt tell me what children the category has.

I solved it by calling a function and then calling that function within the same function.

function()

give me all the children with parent id = 5

loop through all children and call the function again giving the child ID as the parent

etc etc until there are no children

if that doesnt make sense stuff it LOL

Roger_Ramjet

Yours is a lousy solution LOL. :rolleyes:

Read this article for the proper way to do it. :p

Oh yes, and 'stuff you'. 😃

14zero

wasn't my structure to begin, just have to work with it :p

Roger_Ramjet

So redesign it, or use work tables to extract the data and then run your script on them.

As it is you have an untold number of recursions through the same function, each of which will require the execution of a query: must take about 5 minutes each time.

We all get stuck with rubbish data from our clients/users occasionally - does not mean we have to 'work stupid' as well. Extract the data you need and then process it efficiently.