Recursive categories

[eluser]JoostV[/eluser]
There is probably a much more efficient way to do this if you use a subquery. But this is a way to organise your category data in php.

Code:

// Create empty arry to hold categories
$category = array();

// Retrieve categories from DB, order by parent_id
$this->db->order_by('parent_cat');
$query = $this->db->get('categories');

// Store results in array, parents follewed by children
if ($query->num_rows() > 0) {

    // Store results in array
    $result = $query->result_array();

    foreach ($result as $row) {

        if (!$row['parent_cat']) {// This is a parent
            $category[$row['id']]['parent'] = $row;
        }
        else { // This is a child
            $category[$row['parent_cat']]['children'][] = $row;
        }

    }
}

// Print to screen
echo '<h1>Ordered categories<h1>';
echo '<pre>' . print_r($category, true) . '</pre>';