Need help: dynamic menus from database entries

[eluser]WanWizard[/eluser]
Google on "mysql nested tree", you'll be amazed at what's out there...

You are approaching the problem from the wrong end. Just because you have a hierarchy ( a tree ) in your output doesn't mean your internal variable structure should reflect that. You make it overly complex.

You are starting from a flat structure (i.e. the result of a query), just loop through the results, keep track of the current tree depth, and generate the html accordingly. Remember, the end result (the html) is flat as well.