Help coding a navigation bar

[jdub]

I got tired of constantly changing the navigation bar on our numerous
top-level pages, so I finally used an include of an html-only file. Here's
a snippet:

<div class="navleft" >
<a href="home.php" >Home</a>
<div class="navspace r"></div>
<a href="newitems. php"><b>New Items!</b></a>
<div class="navspace r"></div>
<a href="items1.ph p">items 1</a>
<a href="items2.ph p">items 2</a>
<a href="items3.ph p">items 3</a>
<div class="navspace r"></div>
<a href="blah blah">blah blah</a>
<a href="contact.p hp"><b>Contac t Us!</b></a>
</div>

Now I want to modify the nav bar so that the active page is not a clickable
link and appears differently. E.g., when the items 1 page is active, the
nav bar should have
<div id="activeselec tion">items 1</div>
instead of the href line.

I can turn the include file into php code and have a whole mess of
if-then-else combos for each nav bar entry, but that's pretty messy. So php
gurus, how can I best code a single include file?

Thanks.

jay dub

[Micha³ Wo¼niak]

Re: Help coding a navigation bar

[color=blue]
> I can turn the include file into php code and have a whole mess of
> if-then-else combos for each nav bar entry, but that's pretty messy. So
> php gurus, how can I best code a single include file?[/color]

str_replace/preg_replace, I suppose. :)

You can simply parse your HTML file and replace the anchors to the active
page with pure text or whatever you wish. But don't ask me about
regexps... ;)

Cheers
Mike

[NC]

Re: Help coding a navigation bar

jdub wrote:[color=blue]
>
> I got tired of constantly changing the navigation bar on our numerous
> top-level pages, so I finally used an include of an html-only file.
> Here's a snippet:
>
> <div class="navleft" >
> <a href="home.php" >Home</a>
> <div class="navspace r"></div>
> <a href="newitems. php"><b>New Items!</b></a>
> <div class="navspace r"></div>
> <a href="items1.ph p">items 1</a>
> <a href="items2.ph p">items 2</a>
> <a href="items3.ph p">items 3</a>
> <div class="navspace r"></div>
> <a href="blah blah">blah blah</a>
> <a href="contact.p hp"><b>Contac t Us!</b></a>
> </div>
>
> Now I want to modify the nav bar so that the active page is not
> a clickable link and appears differently. E.g., when the items
> 1 page is active, the nav bar should have
> <div id="activeselec tion">items 1</div>
> instead of the href line.
>
> I can turn the include file into php code and have a whole mess of
> if-then-else combos for each nav bar entry, but that's pretty messy.
> So php gurus, how can I best code a single include file?[/color]

I think you don't even need HTML. Let's say you have this tab-
delimited text file called 'menu.txt':

home.php Home

newitems.php <b>New Items!</b>

items1.php items 1
items2.php items 2
items3.php items 3

blah blah blah blah
contact.php <b>Contact Us!</b>

An empty line between items means that there should be a spacer
between those items.

Now you can do something like this:

$running = strtolower(path info($_SERVER['PHP_SELF'],
PATHINFO_BASENA ME));
$menu = file('menu.txt' );
foreach ($menu as $item) {
$item = trim($item);
if ($item) == '') {
echo "<div class=\"navspac er\"></div>\r\n";
} else {
list($url, $text) = explode("\t", $item);
if (strtolower(tri m($url)) == $running) {
echo $text;
} else {
echo "<a href=\"$url\">$ text</a>";
}
}
}

You can wrap this code into a function and place that function into
a file that is included by all pages on your site.

Cheers,
NC

[R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah]

Re: Help coding a navigation bar

jdub wrote:[color=blue]
> I got tired of constantly changing the navigation bar on our numerous
> top-level pages, so I finally used an include of an html-only file.[/color]
Here's[color=blue]
> a snippet:
>
> <div class="navleft" >
> <a href="home.php" >Home</a>
> <div class="navspace r"></div>
> <a href="newitems. php"><b>New Items!</b></a>
> <div class="navspace r"></div>
> <a href="items1.ph p">items 1</a>
> <a href="items2.ph p">items 2</a>
> <a href="items3.ph p">items 3</a>
> <div class="navspace r"></div>
> <a href="blah blah">blah blah</a>
> <a href="contact.p hp"><b>Contac t Us!</b></a>
> </div>
>
> Now I want to modify the nav bar so that the active page is not a[/color]
clickable[color=blue]
> link and appears differently.[/color]
<snip>

If you don't pick the items from the DB---I mean, if you already know
the list items, you can put it in HTML and use the famous CSS tab
technique <http://www.sitepoint.c om/print/css-anthology-tips-tricks-4>
(Figure 4.20) and minor PHP to achieve what you wanted.

--
<?php echo 'Just another PHP saint'; ?>
Email: rrjanbiah-at-Y!com Blog: http://rajeshanbiah.blogspot.com/

[jdub]

Re: Help coding a navigation bar

On 31 Mar 2005 13:22:09 -0800, "NC" <nc@iname.com > wrote:
[color=blue]
>I think you don't even need HTML. Let's say you have this tab-
>delimited text file called 'menu.txt':
>
>home.php Home
>
>newitems.php <b>New Items!</b>
>
>items1.php items 1
>items2.php items 2
>items3.php items 3
>
>blah blah blah blah
>contact.php <b>Contact Us!</b>
>
>An empty line between items means that there should be a spacer
>between those items.
>
>Now you can do something like this:
>
>$running = strtolower(path info($_SERVER['PHP_SELF'],PATHINFO_BASEN AME));
>$menu = file('menu.txt' );
>foreach ($menu as $item) {
> $item = trim($item);
> if ($item) == '') {
> echo "<div class=\"navspac er\"></div>\r\n";
> } else {
> list($url, $text) = explode("\t", $item);
> if (strtolower(tri m($url)) == $running) {
> echo $text;
> } else {
> echo "<a href=\"$url\">$ text</a>";
> }
> }
>}[/color]

Yeah, I think that will work just fine. I'm off to try it out.

Thanks!

[jdub]

Re: Help coding a navigation bar

On 31 Mar 2005 22:22:08 -0800, "R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah"
<ng4rrjanbiah@r ediffmail.com> wrote:

(snip)
[color=blue]
> If you don't pick the items from the DB---I mean, if you already know
>the list items, you can put it in HTML and use the famous CSS tab
>technique <http://www.sitepoint.c om/print/css-anthology-tips-tricks-4>
>(Figure 4.20) and minor PHP to achieve what you wanted.[/color]

Thanks for that reference. I'm already doing much of this, but there are
some ideas that I hadn't considered.

jdub

[jdub]

Re: Help coding a navigation bar

On Mon, 04 Apr 2005 14:49:43 GMT, jdub <jdub@doesntlik espam.net> wrote:
[color=blue]
>On 31 Mar 2005 22:22:08 -0800, "R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah"
><ng4rrjanbiah@ rediffmail.com> wrote:
>
>(snip)
>[color=green]
>> If you don't pick the items from the DB---I mean, if you already know
>>the list items, you can put it in HTML and use the famous CSS tab
>>technique <http://www.sitepoint.c om/print/css-anthology-tips-tricks-4>
>>(Figure 4.20) and minor PHP to achieve what you wanted.[/color]
>
>Thanks for that reference. I'm already doing much of this, but there are
>some ideas that I hadn't considered.
>
>jdub[/color]

Followup.

This technique is working great.

In the HTML:

items1.php has <BODY id="items1">

In the navbar include file:

<A class="items1" HREF="items1.ph p">items1</A>

In the css:

body#items1 a.items1 {
background-color: #FFF;
color: #777;
}

etc.

Again, thanks for the reference!

[Geoff Berrow]

Re: Help coding a navigation bar

I noticed that Message-ID: <lnko411jjbms05 55rgrdpmmd7lrrt ca47j@4ax.com>
from jdub contained the following:
[color=blue]
>I can turn the include file into php code and have a whole mess of
>if-then-else combos for each nav bar entry, but that's pretty messy. So php
>gurus, how can I best code a single include file?[/color]

Use my menuitem function

define("LINK_CL ASS","");
function menuitem($link, $text){
$url=$_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];
if(strpos($url, $link)===false) {
$lnk="<a class= \"LINK_CLASS
\"href=\"$link\ ">$text</a>";
}
else{
$lnk=$text;
}
print $lnk;
}


Then just call the function wherever you want it
e.g. <?php menuitem("index .php","Home"); ?><?php
menuitem("page1 .php","Page 1"); ?> etc.
--
Geoff Berrow (put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs http://www.ckdog.co.uk/rfdmaker/

[R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah]

Re: Help coding a navigation bar

Geoff Berrow wrote:[color=blue]
> I noticed that Message-ID:[/color]
<lnko411jjbms05 55rgrdpmmd7lrrt ca47j@4ax.com>[color=blue]
> from jdub contained the following:
>[color=green]
> >I can turn the include file into php code and have a whole mess of
> >if-then-else combos for each nav bar entry, but that's pretty messy.[/color][/color]
So php[color=blue][color=green]
> >gurus, how can I best code a single include file?[/color]
>
> Use my menuitem function
>
> define("LINK_CL ASS","");
> function menuitem($link, $text){
> $url=$_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];
> if(strpos($url, $link)===false) {
> $lnk="<a class= \"LINK_CLASS
> \"href=\"$link\ ">$text</a>";
> }
> else{
> $lnk=$text;
> }
> print $lnk;
> }
>
> Then just call the function wherever you want it
> e.g. <?php menuitem("index .php","Home"); ?><?php
> menuitem("page1 .php","Page 1"); ?> etc.[/color]

IM*H*O, this is pretty "old" style. Much easier/new technique is
just changing the id of BODY or outer DIV container.

--
<?php echo 'Just another PHP saint'; ?>
Email: rrjanbiah-at-Y!com Blog: http://rajeshanbiah.blogspot.com/

[Geoff Berrow]

Re: Help coding a navigation bar

I noticed that Message-ID:
<1112841696.740 179.21390@l41g2 000cwc.googlegr oups.com> from R. Rajesh
Jeba Anbiah contained the following:
[color=blue]
> IM*H*O, this is pretty "old" style. Much easier/new technique is
>just changing the id of BODY or outer DIV container.[/color]

I'm not sure what you mean. This menu file is simply edited and
included in any page that needs a menu. It doesn't get much easier.

--
Geoff Berrow (put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs http://www.ckdog.co.uk/rfdmaker/

[R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah]

Re: Help coding a navigation bar

Geoff Berrow wrote:[color=blue]
> I noticed that Message-ID:
> <1112841696.740 179.21390@l41g2 000cwc.googlegr oups.com> from R. Rajesh
> Jeba Anbiah contained the following:
>[color=green]
> > IM*H*O, this is pretty "old" style. Much easier/new technique is
> >just changing the id of BODY or outer DIV container.[/color]
>
> I'm not sure what you mean. This menu file is simply edited and
> included in any page that needs a menu. It doesn't get much easier.[/color]

You don't have to change the list. Change only the id of BODY or
outer DIV; something like:
<body id="<?php echo str_replace(arr ay('/', '.'), '',
$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']);?>">
....
</body>

The technique is here
<http://www.sitepoint.c om/print/css-anthology-tips-tricks-4> (Figure
4.20). I personally think, this is a great CSS technique; OP also
responded positively.

--
<?php echo 'Just another PHP saint'; ?>
Email: rrjanbiah-at-Y!com Blog: http://rajeshanbiah.blogspot.com/