recursive/reiterative function

[sanfly]

Hi Guys

 

I have this function (below) which works great in its current setting, but Im now using cakePHP so I need to change it a little.

 

I have an image gallery, there are categories in the gallery, each category can have sub categories, each sub-category can have sub-sub-categories etc, so I had this recursive function to put all the category names (in the correct order) in a select box so when I was uploading or moving an image I could select the correct destination category

 

The function below just basically spits out (echos) each line as it comes to it - this was fine for my old site because I would just call the function in the spot where I wanted the select box to appear.

 

NOW I want to collect up all the outputs into a string, then echo them in a place of my choosing. 

 

Any ideas how I do this?

 

The Current Function

<?function display_children($parent, $level, $selectedParent) { 
   		// retrieve all children of $parent 
   		include "includes/db.php";
   		$r = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM gal_cat WHERE gc_parent = '$parent' ORDER BY gc_order") or die(mysql_error()); 
   		
   		// display each child 
   		while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($r)) { 
   			$gc_id = $row['gc_id'];
		$gc_name = $row['gc_name'];
		$gc_level = $row['gc_level'];

		$indent = str_repeat('      ',$level)
       		// indent and display the title of this child ?>
       		<option value="<?=$gc_id?>" <? if($gc_id == $selectedParent){ echo "selected"; } ?> class="optionHeight"><?=$indent?><?=$gc_name?><br>
	<?	// call this function again to display this 
      	 	// child's children 
       		display_children($gc_id, $level+1, $selectedParent); 
   		} 
}
?>

[flyhoney]

Untested, but something like this might work:

 

<?php

function display_children($parent, $level, $selectedParent)
{ 
// retrieve all children of $parent 
include "includes/db.php";

$r = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM gal_cat WHERE gc_parent = '$parent' ORDER BY gc_order") or die(mysql_error()); 

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($r))
{   
	$gc_id = $row['gc_id'];
	$gc_name = $row['gc_name'];
	$gc_level = $row['gc_level'];
	$indent = str_repeat('      ',$level);
	$html = '<option value="'.$gc_id.'" '.($gc_id == $selectedParent ? "selected" : '').' class="optionHeight">'.$indent.$gc_name.'<br>';
	return $html . display_children($gc_id, $level + 1, $selectedParent); 
}
}

?>

[sanfly]

Good idea, but unfortunately didnt work - it only went down one branch

 

eg:  If my "dir" structure is:

 

2008

    Winter Games

    Season Parties

2009

    Ski Sale

    Winter Games

 

All that was returned was:

 

2008

    Winter Games

    Season Parties