How do I display select content in an unordered list?

[wait]

I'm relatively new to php so please forgive any noobish questions that I may have.. 

 

I've created a left menu (within an inc) that is simply a series of styled unordered lists.  I would only like to display the portion of the menu relative to what page the user is on.  So for example: if the user is looking at cars and the menu covers cars, trucks, and motorcycles; I would only like the cars section to be presented.

 

    <div id="left-nav">
       	  <!-- Cars -->
          <ul>
          	<li><a href="#">Car</a></li>
          	<li><a href="#">Car 1</a></li>
          	<li><a href="#">Car 2</a></li>
          	<li><a href="#">Car 3</a></li>
          </ul>
       	  <!-- Trucks -->
          <ul>
          	<li><a href="#">Truck</a></li>
          	<li><a href="#">Truck 1</a></li>
          	<li><a href="#">Truck 2</a></li>
          	<li><a href="#">Truck 3</a></li>
          </ul>
       	  <!-- Motorcycles -->
          <ul>
          	<li><a href="#">Motorcycle</a></li>
          	<li><a href="#">Motorcycle 1</a></li>
          	<li><a href="#">Motorcycle 2</a></li>
          	<li><a href="#">Motorcycle 3</a></li>
          </ul>
    </div>

 

I assume this can be handled by a simple id but, unfortunately I don't know the code implantation to make it functional.

 

Thank you much in advance!

 

[.josh]

can't even begin to help you without seeing how the rest of your page is setup, url structure, etc..

[wait]

Here is a better example of what I have done so far.  Hope this helps.  I was able to get only the "cars" section to display but I receive an error (Notice: Undefined variable: trucks in C:\server\www\BA\inc\left-nav.php on line 32 ) for trucks and motorcycles on the cars page.

 

Code on the included menu:

<div id="left-nav">

       	  <!-- Cars -->
          <?php if ($cars == true): ?>
          <ul>
          	<li><a href="#">Car</a></li>
          	<li><a href="#">Car 1</a></li>
          	<li><a href="#">Car 2</a></li>
          	<li><a href="#">Car 3</a></li>
          </ul>
          <?php endif; ?>

       	  <!-- Trucks -->
          <?php if ($trucks == true): ?>
          <ul>
          	<li><a href="#">Truck</a></li>
          	<li><a href="#">Truck 1</a></li>
          	<li><a href="#">Truck 2</a></li>
          	<li><a href="#">Truck 3</a></li>
          </ul>
          <?php endif; ?>

       	  <!-- Motorcycles -->
          <?php if ($motorcycle == true): ?>
          <ul>
          	<li><a href="#">Motorcycle</a></li>
          	<li><a href="#">Motorcycle 1</a></li>
          	<li><a href="#">Motorcycle 2</a></li>
          	<li><a href="#">Motorcycle 3</a></li>
          </ul>
          <?php endif; ?>

    </div>

 

Code on the corresponding page:

<?
$cars = true;
include('../inc/left-nav.php');
?>

[.josh]

The error is because you are looking for individual variables like $cars, $trucks etc.. but you only define one of them at a given time.  Instead of defining individual variables with a value of true, a better method would be to define a single variable with individual values like 'cars', 'trucks' etc...and then output based on the value of the single variable:

 

"corresponding page"

<?php
  $leftnav = 'cars';
  include('../inc/left-nav.php');
?>

 

left-nav.php

<?php
$list = array(
  'cars' => array(
    'Car',
    'Car 1',
    'Car 2',
    'Car 3',
  ),
  'trucks' => array(
    'Truck',
    'Truck 1',
    'Truck 2',
    'Truck 3',
  ),
  'motorcycles' => array(
    'Motorcyle',
    'Motorcyle 1',
    'Motorcyle 2',
    'Motorcyle 3',
  )
);		  
?>

<div id="left-nav">
<?php if ( isset($leftnav)&&isset($list[$leftnav]) ) { ?>
  <ul>
<?php   foreach ($list[$leftnav] as $link) { ?>
    <li><a href="#"><?php echo $link ?></a></li>
<?php   } ?>
  </ul>
<?php } ?>
</div>

[wait]

Thank you... Works great! 

 

Finally, how do I apply individual links and exclude the first "li" for a title?

 

Example:

 

<ul>
  <li><h3>Car</h3></li>
  <li><a href="<?= $dots('cars/model/car-1.php'); ?>">Car 1</a></li>
  <li><a href="<?= $dots('cars/model/car-2.php'); ?>">Car 2</a></li>
  <li><a href="<?= $dots('cars/model/car-3.php'); ?>">Car 3</a></li>
</ul>

 

Thank you again for all the help!

[.josh]

what is $dots(...) supposed to do? Is that supposed to be javascript or php?

[wait]

That fixes my issue with nested directories.  The left nav is on every page so $dots function creates relative links based on where you are within the site.  I didn't want to build my left-nav with absolute links.

[.josh]

but is $dots javascript or php?

 

I'm going to assume it is supposed to be some kind of php callback function to reformat the url...so there is a placeholder function in script below. 

 

$list = array(
  'cars' => array(
    'Car 1',
    'Car 2',
    'Car 3',
  ),
  'trucks' => array(
    'Truck 1',
    'Truck 2',
    'Truck 3',
  ),
  'motorcycles' => array(
    'Motorcyle 1',
    'Motorcyle 2',
    'Motorcyle 3',
  )
);		  

function dots($url) { return $url; }
?>

<div id="left-nav">
<?php if ( isset($leftnav)&&isset($list[$leftnav]) ) { ?>
  <ul>
    <li><h3><?php echo ucfirst($leftnav) ?></h3></li>
<?php   foreach ($list[$leftnav] as $k=> $link) { ?>
    <li><a href="<?php echo dots($leftnav.'/model/'.$leftnav.'-'.++$k.'.php'); ?>"><?php echo $link ?></a></li>
<?php   } ?>
  </ul>
<?php } ?>
</div>

 

 

[wait]

It is php in my header file.

 

<?
	$dots = function($url=null){
	$tmp = dirname($_SERVER["PHP_SELF"]);
	$tmp = str_replace('\\', '/', $tmp);
	$tmp = explode('/', $tmp);

	$relpath = null;
	for ($i = 0; $i < count($tmp); $i++){
		if ($tmp[$i] != '' && $i >= 2) $relpath .= '../';
	}

	$relpath = ($relpath != null) ? substr($relpath, 0, -1) : '.';

	if ($url){
		if (substr($url, 0, 1) != '/')
			return $relpath .= ('/' . $url);
		return $relpath .= $url;
	}
	else
		return $relpath;
};
?>

[.josh]

okay, well there you have it then.  I did use dots(...) instead of $dots(...) (no $) so you'll have to change that.

[wait]

Sent you a PM.

[.josh]

From your PM, it sounds like there is no pattern to the links per-se; instead you need to be able to output arbitrary links.  Here is adjusted code for being able to specify arbitrary links:

 

$list = array(
  'cars' => array(
    'Car 1' => 'path/to/cars1.php',
    'Car 2' => 'path/to/cars2.php',
    'Car 3' => 'path/to/cars3.php',
  ),
  'trucks' => array(
    'Truck 1' => 'path/to/trucks1.php',
    'Truck 2' => 'path/to/trucks2.php',
    'Truck 3' => 'path/to/trucks3.php',
  ),
  'motorcycles' => array(
    'Motorcyle 1' => 'path/to/motorcycle1.php',
    'Motorcyle 2' => 'path/to/motorcycle2.php',
    'Motorcyle 3' => 'path/to/motorcycle3.php',
  )
);		  
?>

<div id="left-nav">
<?php if ( isset($leftnav)&&isset($list[$leftnav]) ) { ?>
  <ul>
    <li><h3><?php echo ucfirst($leftnav) ?></h3></li>
<?php   foreach ($list[$leftnav] as $label => $link) { ?>
    <li><a href="<?php echo $dots($link); ?>"><?php echo $label ?></a></li>
<?php   } ?>
  </ul>
<?php } ?>
</div>

[wait]

Exactly what I was looking for!  Thank you for spending the time to help.

[.josh]

no problem!