Predefined Categories Table

[liamloveslearning]

Hi all,

 

I need to produce a table holding a list of categories, On my page, depending on the user_level they can choose x amount of categories. Can I ask whats the most efficient way of achieving this?

 

parent_categories (id, name)

secondary_categories (id, parent_id, name)

member_plan (member_id, member_categories)

 

The above is my theoretical idea of how it should look, what are your thoughts?

[ignace]

x amount of categories

 

How do you exactly mean? x amount of total (parents + sub)? or x amount of parent? or x amount of sub?

[liamloveslearning]

X amount of sub, So on signup they click there primary category, and then there given the option to pick a sub, and its repeated if this makes sense?

[ignace]

and its repeated if this makes sense?

 

You mean a Sub under a Sub under a Sub under a Sub ..? Most use the Adjacency List Model although there are better alternatives like a Binary Tree:

 

http://dev.mysql.com/tech-resources/articles/hierarchical-data.html

[liamloveslearning]

Hi Ignace, No only 1 sub,

There will be 2 dropdowns...

 

[Primary Category] - [sub Category]

 

When both are selected another option below will appear such as

 

[Musician] - [Cover Band] <--- selected option

Primary Category - Sub Category <--- Second option now appears.

 

I just need advice on how to best store these selected categoris in a table? Hope this isnt too confusing!

[ignace]

Your setup should do it:

 

categories (id, name)

subcategories (id, category_id, name)

 

Just perform a SELECT count(*) FROM subcategories to see how many subcategories a user has left to create.

[liamloveslearning]

Briliant, Thanks again for all your help ignace!