How to: Drop down menu for instant jump to category?

[enginerunup]

I want to make a simple drop down menu that will be placed in the header, so users can instanly jump to any category, from any page. Right now, the user has to return to the main page in order to change categories, so I am trying to make the site more user friendly. The categories should stay updated automatically as categories are added or deleted.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

[esm]

I never found that folks used the "jump to" list and i never use them myself. but ....

a couple of things. if you have lots of categories (thousands), then you you may not want to put them on the page - takes time to download them. but browsers cache pages and INDEXU caches pages. so maybe no problem.

also you may want to re-visit the idea to create them dynamically for EVERY page if you have "lots of them." same reason as in previous paragraph.

besides, once you get your site up and running, you don't tend to add categories. even if one or two is missing from the list, they are not likely to be missed. unless you have thousands of daily visitors.

since you don't have any sub-cats, you could just get yours off the index page. with a good text editor (editplus.com) you could create a dropdown list in a matter of a few minutes.

or write a php program to do it. I don't think i have seen one but i remember discussing something like this before with someone else.



.

[dody]

It will be included in next release, see the codes here: http://nicecoder.com/svn/index.php?act=changeset&id=265

[enginerunup]

It will be included in next release, see the codes here: http://nicecoder.com/svn/index.php?act=changeset&id=265

Good to hear. Although, that link doesn't show me any code. I am sure you get asked this all the time, but what is your time frame for the next release?

[esm]

... what is your time frame for the next release?

see http://www.nicecoder.com/community/s...ead.php?t=3642

Indexu 5.1.1 ... This is a monthly maintenance release aiming for bug fixing and a few enhancements.

I guess some months have a different number of days depending on which part of this small planet one happens to inhabit.


.

[dody]

I guess some months have a different number of days depending on which part of this small planet one happens to inhabit.

We skipped the June release, but you will get the July release very soon

[enginerunup]

It will be included in next release, see the codes here: http://nicecoder.com/svn/index.php?act=changeset&id=265

If the update is coming very soon, then no worries, but if it is going to be a little while, can you post the code and files, the link above doesn't show anything.

Thanks.

[dody]

Here is the code

/blocks/block.category_jump.php

function block_category_jump($params) {
  global $dbConn, $site_url, $cat, $category_separator;

  if (!$params['template']) {
    $params['template'] = 'block.category_jump.html';
  }

  $tpl = new Template;

  $query_filter = "";
  if ($params['type'] == 'main') {
    $query_filter = "and a.parent_id = '0'";
  }
  if ($params['type'] == 'sub') {
    $query_filter = "and b.parents like '%;$cat;%'";
  }
  if ($params['type'] == 'all') {
    $query_filter = "";
  }

  $query = "select a.category_id, b.path, b.path_with_url
            from idx_category a
                 left join idx_category_path b on (a.category_id = b.category_id)
            where visible = 1 $query_filter
            order by b.path asc";
  $result = $dbConn->Execute($query);

  while ($row = $result->FetchRow()) {
    preg_match_all('|<a href="(.*?)"|msi', $row['path_with_url'], $match);
    $row['path_with_url'] = $site_url . '/' . $match[1][@count($match[1]) - 1];
    $paths = explode($category_separator, $row['path']);
    $row['path'] = str_repeat('&nbsp; ', (@count($paths) - 1) * 3).$paths[@count($paths) - 1];
    $categories[] = $row;
  }
  
  $tpl->assign('cat', $cat);
  $tpl->assign('categories', $categories);
  $tpl->display('blocks/'.$params['template'], 0);
} 

/themes/kosmos/blocks/block.category_jump.html

<%if $categories%>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
function category_jump(targ,selObj,restore){
  eval(targ+".location='"+selObj.options[selObj.selectedIndex].value+"'");
  if (restore) selObj.selectedIndex=0;
}
</script>
<form action="" name="categoryjump_frm">
Category Jump :
<select name="select" onchange="category_jump('parent',this,0)">
  <%section name=i loop=$categories%>
    <option value="<%$categories[i].path_with_url%>" <%if $cat == $categories[i].category_id%>selected="selected"<%/if%>>
      <%$categories[i].path%>
    </option>
  <%/section%>
</select>
</form>
<%/if%> 

[enginerunup]

Thanks for the code. I made the files, and uploaded them, but nothing has changed. I believe this is because I haven't placed any code in the header.html file to call it up. What should I add to 'activate' these new files?

Thanks again for your help.

[dody]

You need to call the block from any template you like

    <!-- category jump -->
    <div align="right">
    <%block_category_jump type="all"%>
    </div>

[enginerunup]

I am trying to put it in my header file, but this is the error that I get:

function block_category_jump($params) { global $dbConn, $site_url, $cat, $category_separator; if (!$params['template']) { $params['template'] = 'block.category_jump.html'; } $tpl = new Template; $query_filter = ""; if ($params['type'] == 'main') { $query_filter = "and a.parent_id = '0'"; } if ($params['type'] == 'sub') { $query_filter = "and b.parents like '%;$cat;%'"; } if ($params['type'] == 'all') { $query_filter = ""; } $query = "select a.category_id, b.path, b.path_with_url from idx_category a left join idx_category_path b on (a.category_id = b.category_id) where visible = 1 $query_filter order by b.path asc"; $result = $dbConn->Execute($query); while ($row = $result->FetchRow()) { preg_match_all('|assign('cat', $cat); $tpl->assign('categories', $categories); $tpl->display('blocks/'.$params['template'], 0); }
Warning: Smarty error: [in header.html line 142]: syntax error: custom function 'block_category_jump' is not implemented (Smarty_Compiler.class.php, line 794) in /homepages/3/d97457417/htdocs/erstorecc/directory/lib/smarty/Smarty.class.php on line 1088



Any ideas? Is there a specific place to put it in the header.html file?

[dody]

The easiest way is download the latest version and then uplaod the category jump block files:
/blocks/block.category_jump.php
/themes/kosmos/blocks/block.category_jump.html

And put the invocation code, try in browse.html first

    <!-- category jump -->
    <div align="right">
    <%block_category_jump type="all"%>
    </div>

[aladdin1]

Hello,

I like the idea of a "Jump to an other category" but I would prefer to have it display in a block on the left side of the screen. I have over 1500 categories, I would prefere to limit the my block to top categories (no sub-categories) how could I do that?
I want something more like I did here:
http://www.e-gun.com/browse-classifi...ction-2-1.html
On the left of the screen under "Categories"
Thanks,

[dody]

Try this query in block.category_jump.php

  $query = "select a.category_id, b.path, b.path_with_url
            from idx_category a
                 left join idx_category_path b on (a.category_id = b.category_id)
            where visible = 1 and a.parent_id=0 $query_filter
            order by b.path asc";