Question

Is it possible to load menu Url’s and attributes from a database?

I am building a site that will incorporate dynamic news sections and it would be great to include new news items into the menu without having to re-edit the menu.

I am using Access and ASP.

Answer 1

I’ve currently finished an ASP – SQL2000 driven menu. I run it off one table and one query.

The table will need at the minimum: –

ID (INT)

label (char or varchar - the text that appears on the page)
sub (BIT or Boolean - if true then it has submenus)
level (the parent link - for submenus only)
link (char or varchar - what happens when you click!)
seq (INT - to order the menus and submenus)

The SQL or Query for the root menu items: –

SELECT [id],label,[level],sub,link FROM TOC where level=0 order by seq

Then: –

SELECT [id],label,[level],sub, [link] FROM TOC WHERE [level]<>0 order by [level],seq

For the submenus..

Finally the ASP (oMenuRoot is the recordset for the ROOT menus, oMenuSub is the recordset for the SUB menus: –

<%do until oMenuRoot.eof%>
,"<%=oMenuRoot("label")%>","<%
if oMenuRoot("sub") then
response.write "show-menu=" & oMenuRoot("id")
else
response.write Application("homePage") & "?" & oMenuRoot("link")
end if
%>",,"",1<%=vbcrlf%>
<%intRoots=intRoots+1
oMenuRoot.movenext
loop

do until oMenuSub.eof
if intOldTree<>oMenuSub("level") then
blnNewTree=true
response.write "])" & vbcrlf
else
blnNewTree=false
end if
if blnNewTree then
response.write "addmenu(menu=["""
response.write oMenuSub("level")
response.write """," & vbcrlf
response.write ",,120,1,"""",style1,,""left"",effect,,,,,,,,,,,," & vbcrlf
end if
response.write ",""" & oMenuSub("label") & ""","""
if oMenuSub("sub") then
response.write "show-menu=" & oMenuSub("id")
else
response.write Application("homePage") & "?" & oMenuSub("link")
end if
response.write """,,,1" & vbcrlf
intOldTree=oMenuSub("level")
oMenuSub.movenext
loop
response.write "])" & vbcrlf
%>

This is draft working model, but works without problems, you could improve by using one SQL query and writing all the output inside ASP markup.