[RESOLVED] Setting active state in dynamic link list

[Mechaworx]

I am trying to set the active state of a link so that a user knows which page they are on. Right now I'm dynamically building a link list from a mysql database table like so:

$sqlCatMenu = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM categories ORDER BY category ASC") or die (mysql_error());
$num_rows = mysql_num_rows($sqlCatMenu);
	//now loop through all data 
	$listCats = '';//this declares a compound variable for posting content to the html page
	while($row = mysql_fetch_array($sqlCatMenu)){
	$mcatid = $row['catid'];
	$mcName = $row['category'];
	$mcURL = $row['urlPath'];

$listCats .= '<li><a href="../'.$mcURL.'"title="'.$mcName.'">'.$mcName.'</a></li>';
}

I am then echoing the variable $listCats between the body tags of the html page. I am assuming that I would need to create a for loop or a for each loop but I am unsure how to set it up. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Gerry

[dagon]

i assume you know the current page catid, so check that against the db row your echoing and mark the link 'active' however you like. no need for another loop.

[Mechaworx]

Hi Dagon

thanks for getting back. I actually tried that by creating a variable

$active = $_GET['catid'];

But I always get an "Undefined Index error. When I use that. I think it is because the current page is where I'm trying to get this to work is loaded by another variable from a different query further up the page. The link I want highlighted is just part of a list of links in the footer menu. I'm thinking I may have to rewrite the sql to do a join of some type. Then try to grab the catid.

But before I do that, this here seems to work but it works backwards.

The first link list item is always highlighted but its the wrong one. I have taken the liberty of posting the entire php code I'm using with comments. The sql for highlighting the actual link is at the bottom.

//connect to the database
mysql_connect("localhost", "root", "");
mysql_select_db("masscic");

//First grab the associated article id from the index page link and display the full article on this page
$id = $_GET['gid'];

//Now build the sql to grab the data in the generalinfo table in mysql
$sqlCommand = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM generalinfo WHERE gid='$id'");

//now loop through the data in the generalinfo table
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($sqlCommand)){
$id = $row['gid'];
$catid = $row['catid'];
$title = $row['title'];
$pic = $row['picURL'];
$picAlt = $row['picALT'];
$picTitle = $row['picTitle'];
$content = $row['article_body'];
$date = $row['reported_date'];

$formID = 'general_details.php?gid='.$id;//echo this variable created so that users can post comments to a particular article since the form is below
}

//build the sql to grab the data in the blogcomments table in mysql
$sqlComments = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM geninfocomments WHERE gid='$id' ORDER BY cgid ASC") or die(mysql_error());
$num_rows = mysql_num_rows($sqlComments); //Grab the total number of comments based on this article id

//loop through the data in the blogcomments table and grab all the comments with the same id.
$displayComments = "";
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($sqlComments)){
$name = $row['name'];
$email = $row['email'];
$cmtDate = $row['comments_date'];
$comment = $row['comments_body'];

//echo this on the html page to display all comments
$displayComments .= "<ul><li>Posted By: <span>$name</span></li><li>On: $cmtDate</li></ul><p>$comment</p>";
}

//initialize the variables for the form if users want to post a comment
$name ='';
$email ='';
$website ='';
$comments ='';
$errorMsg ='';

if (isset($_POST['submit'])) {

//grab the form data
$curnum = 0; //will itemize the number of errors we have
$name = $_POST['name'];
$email = $_POST['email'];
$website = $_POST['website'];
$comments = $_POST['comments_body'];

//do some injection cleaning
	$name = stripslashes($name);
	$email = stripslashes($email);
	$website = stripslashes($website);
	$comments = stripslashes($comments);

$name = strip_tags($name);
$email = strip_tags($email);
$website = strip_tags($website);
$comments = strip_tags($comments);

//check for errors    

     if (!$name) {
	 	 $curnum ++;
         $errorMsg .= '<span style="color:#ff0000">'.$curnum.'. Your name is required</span><br />';
		}
     if (!$email) {
	 	 $curnum ++;
	 	 $errorMsg .= '<span style="color:#ff0000">'.$curnum.'. Your email address is required<br />';
	 	}
	 if (!$comments) {
	 	 $curnum ++; 
         $errorMsg .= '<span style="color:#ff0000">'.$curnum.'. You need to post a comment<br />';
		}

$name = mysql_real_escape_string($name);
$email = mysql_real_escape_string($email);
$website = mysql_real_escape_string($website);
$comments = mysql_real_escape_string($comments);	 

//done with error checking now perform the insert
	if (empty($errorMsg)) {
		$sqlInsert = mysql_query("INSERT INTO geninfocomments(gid, name, email, website, comments_date, comments_body) 				VALUES('$id','$name','$email','$website', now(), '$comments')") or die (mysql_error());
	}
}

//build the footer categories menu this is where I want to highlight a link
$sqlCatMenu = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM categories ORDER BY category ASC") or die (mysql_error());
$num_rows = mysql_num_rows($sqlCatMenu);

//now loop through all data 
	$listCats = '';//this declares a compound variable for posting content to the html page
	while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($sqlCatMenu)){
	$mcatid = $row['catid'];
	$mcName = $row['category'];
	$mcURL = $row['urlPath'];

$active = $_GET['gid'];	

if(!$listCats == $active) {
$listCats .= '<li><a href="../'.$mcURL.'"title="'.$mcName.'" class="active">'.$mcName.'</a></li>';
}
else {
$listCats .= '<li><a href="../'.$mcURL.'"title="'.$mcName.'">'.$mcName.'</a></li>';
}
}

Thanks very much for your help.
Gerry

[dagon]

I would do something like:

<?php
$sqlCatMenu= mysql_query("SELECT * FROM categories ORDER BY category ASC") or die(mysql_error());
$num_rows= mysql_num_rows($sqlCatMenu);
//now loop through all data
$listCats= ''; //this declares a compound variable for posting content to the html page
while($row= mysql_fetch_array($sqlCatMenu)){
	$mcatid= $row['catid'];
	$mcName= $row['category'];
	$mcURL= $row['urlPath'];
	if($mcatid == $_GET['gid']){
		$active= 'id="active"';
	}else{
		$active='';
	}

$listCats.= '<li><a href="../' . $mcURL . '"title="' . $mcName . '" ' . $active . '>' . $mcName . '</a></li>';
}
?>

[Mechaworx]

Hey Dagon

While that didn't throw any errors, nothing happened. I changed your code from

$active= 'id="active"';

to

$active= 'class="active"';

Looking at your if statment

if($mcatid == $_GET['gid'])

$mcatid would never be equal to gid as these are two different tables.

I'm building the link list from the categories table and the gid is from a "general information" table. They do share a column "catid" in a sort of one(from the categories table) to many catid from the general info table. That is why I was thinking of doing a join in the sql when listing the categories menu.

Hope that makes sense.

Gerry

[dagon]

i can only guess at some of you variables obviously (you just need to match something from the page to something from the db, to know its the same page), and how you want to handle the css is up to you.

please mark as resolved.

[Mechaworx]

Eureka!

I changed this:

if($mcatid == $_GET['gid']) 

To This:

if($mcatid == $catid)

And it works perfectly. You said the magic words, "find something that is equal to the page" and that did it.

Thanks for your patience Dagon and thanks once again for your help.

Gerry