Array_Question

willcodeforfoo

I have a bunch of elements for a navigation panel in an array like so:

Labs
Labs_RH1557
Mission_Statement
Labs_CLB702
Wireless
Wirelsss_Intel
About_Us

My question is: what would be the most efficient way to transform into an unordered list like so:

* About Us
* Labs
    - CLB702
    - RH1557
* Mission Statement
* Wireless
    - Intel

(wherein all elements with more than one string in common before the _ are grouped under the heading)

My current strategy is to loop through the array and split by _'s. Then create another array with only unique elements, then go through again and add in items that should go under them.

Haven't written any code yet.

Thanks!

konsu

i would go through the array once, split each element by '_', and build a tree.

willcodeforfoo

It's the building the tree part I'm stuggling with...

konsu

well, a tree is a root node, that has roots of smaller trees as its children. so, a node is a pair containing the node name, and the list of child nodes. the latter can be stored in an array. the pair is also can be stored in an array.

for example:

$root = array('name' => 'root', 'children' => array(array('name' => 'child0', 'children' => array(...)), array('name' => 'child1')));

note that 'child1' is a leaf.

halojoy

Originally posted by willcodeforfoo
My question is: what would be the most efficient way to transform into an unordered list like so:
* About Us
* Labs
    - CLB702
    - RH1557
* Mission Statement
* Wireless
    - Intel
[/B]

I would do this manually.
Why would you need to automat this?

I would create first level headlines, as a start of 'tree':
About Us
Labs
Mission
Wireless
Then is easy to make a string compare search,
to see what every entered String belong
and create a sub-branch in tree.

Wikis, have a special way to create tree in wiki:
'AboutUs' would make a new wiki-link.
Maybe time you download a simple free Wiki software, and have a look howto?

willcodeforfoo

Its similar to a wiki. It reads files from a directory and generates the navigation. I would like it so like items (with similar Prefixes_) are grouped together.

konsu

are all levels of navigation created from these strings during the same request?

willcodeforfoo

Yes. I think... If I understand your question 😉

konsu

my question was whether you display the whole navigation tree or just the "current" level. say, on the top page, you show just links on the first level, when the user clicks a link, the links at the second level under the given top link are shown, etc. if yoy show the whole tree then it is much easier. you just create the tree in memory, and display it. if not, you will have to remember where in the tree you are to show the correct links.

willcodeforfoo

Yeah, always show the full tree.