Creating infinte drop down menus

[dc_jt]

Hi I have categories which contain sub categories which contain other sub categories etc etc....

 

Ive got a drop down which shows the first lot of categories, then another drop down displaying the sub categories depending on what the user clicked in the first place. Then another displaying the next set of sub categories depending on what they chose in the second drop down etc.

 

However, there could be hundreds of sub categories within each category therefore I need to create one drop down which can then create other drop downs if there are any sub categories in that category. (Hope your still with me)

 

I cant literally create 100 drop downs therefore what is the best way to do this? Maybe using an increment? Here are the three drop downs so far anyway:

 

<?php 
require_once(LOCAL_CLASSES.'RCLTblCategories.class.php');
$oTblCategories = new RCLTblCategories();
$rCategories = $oTblCategories->GetCategories();
$rCategories2 = $oTblCategories->GetCategories2($_POST['category']);
$rCategories3 = $oTblCategories->GetCategories3($_POST['category2']);

?>
<table width="100%"  border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tabpagemain">
<form name="category" action="<?=$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']?>" method="POST">		
<tr>
      <td>Category</td>

<td> <select name="category">

<option value="0">-- View All --</option>
  <?php

  while ($oCategories = mysql_fetch_object($rCategories))

  {?>

    <option value="<?=$oCategories->category_id?>"<?=($_POST['category'] == $oCategories->category_id)?' selected="selected"':''?>><?=$oCategories->name ?></option>

    <?php } ?>


</select>
<td colspan="2"><input type="Submit" name="submit" value="Submit" class="cmdbutton" /></td>
</tr>
<input type="hidden" name="mode" value="apply" />

</table>
<?php if($_POST['submit'] || $_POST['submit2']){?>
<table width="100%"  border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tabpagemain">	
<tr>
      <td>Sub Category</td>

<td> <select name="category2">

<option value="0">-- View All --</option>
  <?php

  while ($oCategories2 = mysql_fetch_object($rCategories2))

  {?>

    <option value="<?=$oCategories2->category_id?>"<?=($_POST['category2'] == $oCategories2->category_id)?' selected="selected"':''?>><?=$oCategories2->name ?></option>

    <?php } ?>


</select>
<td colspan="2"><input type="Submit" name="submit2" value="Submit" class="cmdbutton" /></td>
</tr>
<input type="hidden" name="mode" value="apply" />

</table>
<?php } ?>

<?php if($_POST['submit2']){?>
<table width="100%"  border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tabpagemain">		
<tr>
      <td>Sub Category 2</td>

<td> <select name="category3">

<option value="0">-- View All --</option>
  <?php

  while ($oCategories3 = mysql_fetch_object($rCategories3))

  {?>

    <option value="<?=$oCategories3->category_id?>"<?=($_POST['category3'] == $oCategories3->category_id)?' selected="selected"':''?>><?=$oCategories3->name ?></option>

    <?php } ?>


</select>
<td colspan="2"><input type="Submit" name="submit3" value="Submit" class="cmdbutton" /></td>
</tr>
<input type="hidden" name="mode" value="apply" />
</form>
</table>
<?php } ?>

 

Hope someone can help?

 

Thanks

[magnetica]

Your on the right tracks but try and echo a drop down list within the while loop.

 

 

[skali]

Instead of creating hundreds of dropdowns why don't you create a function that will recursively list the sub-categories of the selected category as well as its parent categories in a single drop down with sub categories slightly indented..

[dc_jt]

Thanks for your replies but I need to have separate drop downs I think!

 

Any other ideas?

[dhimok]

Read this thread and you will find the solution

 

http://www.phpfreaks.com/forums/index.php/topic,116245.0.html

[dc_jt]

It needs to be drop downs. I already have a tree, however there is thousands of data which the server cannot handle using this way, therefore Im trying to cut it down using drop down menus.

 

???