[SOLVED] foreach problem -- table of contents script

[MikeHopley]

I'm writing some PHP to generate a table of contents. The idea is for me to write the minimum code each time I make a TOC.

So normally, a single entry might look like this:

Code: Select all

<li><a href=\"".$host."/articles/serving-guide/badminton-serve-types.php\">The four types of serve</a></li>

Instead, I want PHP to create this code from (part of) a variable like this:

Code: Select all

$tocList = "||badminton-serve-types|The four types of badminton serve";

Here, I use the "||" to separate items and the "|" to separate the URL from the anchor text.

With me so far? That bit is okay, but I also need to nest lists to create subsections (one level of nesting). I do this by adding the signal characters "+" and "-" onto the end of the title. "+" signals "opening a nested list" and "-" signals "closing a nested list".

This part -- the nested lists -- is causing problems with my foreach loop. It only applies the test for the last entry; all other signalled entries are being ignored by the loop. Here's my full code:

Code: Select all

<?php
$tocArray = 
    "|Introduction
    ||basic-technique/|Basic serving technique+
        ||backhand-low-serve-technique|Backhand low serve
        ||backhand-flick-serve-technique|Backhand flick serve-
    ||tactics|Serving tactics";
    

$tocList=explode("||", $tocArray);
$directory = "";        // placeholder empty string;
foreach($tocList as $value) {
    $temp = explode("|",$value);
    $temp3 = trim($temp[1]); $temp4 = rtrim($temp3, "+-");            // removes nesting-signal characters from anchor text
    if ( (substr($temp[0], -1) != "/") && ( strlen($temp[0]) > 0) ) {$temp[0] .= ".php";}            // adds .php for all non-directory URLs
    $tocURL = $host."/articles/".$article."/".$directory.$temp[0];                               // creates a URL
    if ($tocURL == ($host.$path)) { $entry ="<li class=\"here\"><span>".$temp4."</span>"; }        // "you are here" formatting
    else { $entry = "<li><a href=\"".$tocURL."\">".$temp4."</a>"; }        // normal link
    
    $temp2 = substr($temp[1], -1);
    if ($temp2 == "+") {                // for the start of a section
        $directory = $temp[0];        // capturing the directory string for later
        echo $entry."<ol>\n\t";     // starting a nested list
        echo "DEBUG: I dont understand PHP";
    }
    if ($temp2 == "-") {                                // for the end of a section
        echo $entry."</li>\n\t</ol></li>";     // ending nested list
        $directory = "";        // resetting directory
    }
    if ($temp2 != "-" && $temp2 != "+") { echo $entry."</li>\n"; }
}
?>

The only way to activate my debug text is by changing the last item to have a signal "+", like this:

Code: Select all

 $tocArray = 
    "|Introduction
    ||basic-technique/|Basic serving technique+
        ||backhand-low-serve-technique|Backhand low serve
        ||backhand-flick-serve-technique|Backhand flick serve-
    ||tactics|Serving tactics+";

If I do this, then if ($temp2 == "+") evaluates as true, and the debug text appears.

What's going on?

[MikeHopley]

Problem solved (solutions in this thread at the WebSqueeze).