Question

My PHP site has header,body,footer files that are included into the INDEX.PHP page.
On the header.php file I have a menu like this

    <div id="bottomrow"> 
      <div class="pad"> 
        <ul class="menu left">
          <li class="first <?=$current_home?>"><a href="/"><em>Home</em></a></li>
          <li class="users drop <?=$current_users?>"><a href=""><em>Users</em></a><span class="drop">&nbsp;</span> 
            <ul id="moreheader">
                <li></li>
                <li></li>

            </ul>
          </li>
          <li class="<?=$current_forum?>"><a href=""><em>Forums</em></a></li>
          <li class="drop <?=$current_more?>"><a href="/moreheader"><em>More</em></a><span class="drop">&nbsp;</span> 
            <ul id="moreheader">
              <li><a href=""><em>Widgets</em></a></li>
              <li><a href=""><em>News</em></a></li>
              <li><a href=""><em>Promote</em></a></li>
              <li><a href=""><em>Development</em></a></li>
              <li><a href=""><em>Bookmarks</em></a></li>
              <li><a href=""><em>About</em></a></li>
            </ul>
          </li>
          <li class="moneytabmenu <?=$current_money?>"><a href="/moneytabmenu"><em>Money:<span class="moneytabmenu-total">$0.00</span></em></a></li>
        </ul>
        <ul class="menu right">
          <li class="drop myaccount <?=$current_myaccount?>"><a href="" class="first"><img class="avatar" src="http://gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=7ab1baf18a91ab4055923c5fd01d68a2&amp;rating=pg&amp;size=80&amp;default=" height="19" width="19" alt="you" /><em>My 
            Account</em></a><span class="drop">&nbsp;</span> 
            <ul id="myaccount">
              <li><a href=""><em>Dashboard</em></a></li>
              <li><a href=""><em>Account Settings</em></a></li>
              <li><a href=""><em>Settings</em></a></li>
            </ul>
          </li>
          <li class="drop"><a href=""><em>Mail</em></a><span class="drop">&nbsp;</span> 
            <ul id="mailboxheader">
              <li><a href=""><em>InBox</em></a></li>
              <li><a href=""><em>SentBox</em></a></li>
              <li><a href=""><em>Trash</em></a></li>
              <li><a href=""><em>Post Bulletin</em></a></li>
              <li><a href=""><em>View Bulletins</em></a></li>
            </ul>
          </li>
          <li class="drop <?=$current_more?>"><a href=""><em>More</em></a><span class="drop">&nbsp;</span> 
            <ul id="moreheader">
              <li><a href=""><em>Widgets</em></a></li>
              <li><a href=""><em>News</em></a></li>
              <li><a href=""><em>Promote</em></a></li>
              <li><a href=""><em>Development</em></a></li>
              <li><a href=""><em>Bookmarks</em></a></li>
              <li><a href=""><em>About</em></a></li>
            </ul>
          </li>
        </ul>
      </div>
    </div>
    <!-- END div#bottomrow -->
  </div> 

The menu is similar to above, the above menu is not completed but you can see how it is set up, there are

list items that make up a menu and SOME of the list items have SUB-LIST items to make up sub-menus on some of the main menu items.

If a user is on any of the pages in a sub-menu, it should add the “current” css class to the parent menu item.

Below is my index.php page where I can determine which page I am on using $_GET for the variable index.php?p=PAGE-NAME

I posted a question earliar similar to this but it was before I did the code below and it didnt get much response, the response it did get all mentioned using arrays but that was beofre they new that I had sub-menus.

So does anyone see a better way to add the css class “current” to a list item above based on which page I am on?

---

Code on INDEX.php page that processes which menu item should be highlighted

//set variables for menu item to appear as being SELECTED 
$p = $_GET['p'];

$current_home = '';
$current_users = '';
$current_forum = '';
$current_more = '';
$current_money = '';
$current_myaccount = '';
$current_mail = '';
//if home then highlight home menu
if($p === 'home'){
    $current_home = 'current';
}
if($p === 'users.online' || $p === 'users.location' || $p === 'users.featured' || $p === 'users.new' || $p === 'users.browse' || $p === 'users.search' $p === 'users.staff'){
    $current_users = 'current';
}
if($p === 'forum'){
    $current_forum = 'current';
}
if($p === 'widgets' || $p === 'news' || $p === 'promote' || $p === 'development' || $p === 'bookmarks'  || $p === 'about'){
    $current_more = 'current';
}
if($p === '=account.money' || $p === 'account.store' || $p === 'account.lottery' || $p === 'users.top.money'){
    $current_money = 'current';
}
if($p === 'account'){
    $current_myaccount = 'current';
}
if($p === 'mail.inbox' || $p === '=mail.sentbox' || $p === 'mail.trash' || $p === 'bulletins.post' || $p === 'bulletins.my'  || $p === 'bulletins'){
    $current_mail = 'current';
}

Answer 1

I would recommend making the whole thing more data driven. Create a multi-dimensional array of your menu options and then iterate through the array, outputting the correct HTML.

Here’s how I would do it (this hasn’t been tested, but the idea is what I’m trying to convey):

<?
    $p = $_GET['p'];

    $navArray = array();
    $navArray['home'] = array('main' => array('id'=>'home', 'url'=>'/', 'title'=>'Home'));
    $navArray['more'] = array('main' => array('id'=>'more', 'url'=>null, 'title'=>'More'), 
                              'pages'=> array(
                                array('id'=>'widgets', 'url'=>'/more-widgets.php', 'title'=>'Widgets'),
                                array('id'=>'news', 'url'=>'/news.php', 'title'=>'News')));

?>


<div id="bottomrow"> 
      <div class="pad"> 
        <ul class="menu left">

            <? foreach($navArray as $navHeading) : ?>
                <? $current = $navHeading['main']['id'] == $p ? 'current' : ''; ?>
                <li class="first <?=$current?>"><a href="<?=$navHeading['main']['url']?>"><em><?=$navHeading['main']['title']?></em></a></li>

                <? if (!empty($navHeading['pages'])) : ?>
                    <ul id="sub-<?=$navHeading['main']['id']?>">
                    <? foreach($navHeading['pages'] as $navPage) : ?>
                        <? $current = $navPage['id'] == $p ? 'current' : ''; ?>
                        <li class="<?=$current?>"><a href="<?=$navPage['url'];?>"><em><?=$navPage['title']?></em></a></li>
                    <? endforeach; ?>
                    </ul>
                <? endif; ?>
            <? endforeach; ?>
        </ul>
    </div>
</div>