Need Advice on Animals Database Index Function

message from David B on 21 Jul 2004

I'm working on a database-driven website focusing on mammals. I put a
sample page online at http://mammals.geozoo.org/car/index.php

If you click "Page Index" in the top left corner, a menu will open
featuring ten items (Introduction, Home, Diet, etc.). Each item is
linked to a heading on that same page.

If you close the Page Index and scroll down and click "Who are we?" then
choose Felidae, you'll go to a page that's almost identical. Click Page
Index in the top left corner, and you'll see the same ten topics linked
to articles on that same page.

Obviously, I can't write about ten topics for every species of mammal.
Therefore, the section on Intelligence will be blank for many species,
for example (maybe even humans!).

That isn't a problem by itself; if there's no content stored in the
database, it simply won't register on the page. The problem is that the
Page Index will still include the word "Intelligence," linked to a
non-existent anchor on that page.

So I'd like to know if there's a way to create a menu that will only
display topics that are actually on the page. If there's an article
about the polar bear's diet, then the polar bear page wiill display a
Page Index that's linked to that article. If there is NO article about
the polar bear's diet, then I don't want the linked word "Diet" to even
appear on the Page Index.

Can you think of a good strategy for designing something like this? I'm
using PHP, connected to a MySQL database.

This is what the HTML for my Page Index looks like at present:

<div id="navpageindex" class="menuDivHeader"
onclick="P7_swapClass(1,'mnpageindex','showIt','hideIt','div');P7_swapClass(1,'but1','m
enuButMinus','menuButPlus','img')">Page
Index <img src="/images/arrows/pointers/bur.gif" width="6"
height="12"></div>
<div id="mnpageindex" class="showIt">
<div class="divindexes"> • <a href="#intro">Introduction</a><br />
• <a href="#home">Home (Range & Habitat)</a><br />
• <a href="#desc">Appearance & Anatomy</a><br />
• <a href="#senses">Senses</a><br />
• <a href="#intel">Intelligence & Behavior</a><br />
• <a href="#action"><?=$data_details['FamMamPlural'] ?> in Action</a><br />
• <a href="#diet">Diet</a><br />
• <a href="#family">Reproduction & Family Life</a><br />
• <a href="#enemies">Enemies</a><br />
• <a href="#people"><?=$data_details['FamMamPlural'] ?> &
People</a><br />
</div>
</div>

Thanks.

Paul Whitham TMM replied to David B on 22 Jul 2004

What I would do is simply wrap the control for the menu in a repeat region
using the database recordset that will feed the main content. That way if an
element is not in the main section it will not appear in the menu.

David B replied to Paul Whitham TMM on 21 Jul 2004

Sorry to be so dense, but could you elaborate on that just a bit, or
post an example?

I started out using recordsets, then began hand coding most of my stuff
so I could better understand how it all works. Now I'm getting rusty on
using recordsets!

Thanks.

Paul Whitham TMM replied to David B on 22 Jul 2004

David

I do not know PHP so I can not give you a specific example however if your
content is coming from a database then you are currently mapping it to the
page. All you need to do is replace you current code for the menu with a
repeat region that will pick up a key point from the returned records.

David B replied to Paul Whitham TMM on 21 Jul 2004

OK, thanks.

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