More CMS help

[Jon]

All,

I'm building a CMS, and have run into another problem that I'm not sure
which direction to take on it. Basically, I allow users to add pages, and
allow them to hide/unhide links (sub-navigation) on any page they wish. The
problem now is in the link order. I want them to be able to choose the link
order, and am not sure of the best way to handle this.

I have considered up and down arrows, however I'm not really sure of the
code I'll need to have them query the DB based on that (would I simply
subtract or add one to the linkOrder to the DB?). So, we have also discussed
the use of a drop-down list with a list of numbers showing the current order
(from the DB) that each link is in, along with numbers to change the order
by clicking a down arrow and submitting a form.

My question is mainly - which method would be best? What would the code, or
even the algorithm look like here? The select box code is looking ugly as
hell because I want to echo all of this while I'm echoing the actual links,
and the up/down arrow choices seems confusing as far as the algorithm to me.
Here's the code block I'm using to echo values from the DB as links on the
CMS:

<?php
//start a table
echo "<table width=\"150\"><tr><td></td></tr>";

//call the getLinks function (from a displayClass I have built)
$links = $displayData->getLinks($pageID, $contentID, $data);

//start looping through the records
while($rows=mysql_fetch_array($links)){

//echo links in table cells along with a hide link to have a link
NOT show up on the actual site
echo "<tr><td><a
href=index.php?pageID=".$pageID."&contentID=".$row s['cContentID'].">".$rows['cLinkDisplay']."</a></td><td><a
href=\"index.php?hideLink=".$rows['cContentID']."&contentID=$contentID&pageID=$pageID\">Hide</a></td></tr>";

}

echo "</table>";

?>

Thanks for any help

[Adam Plocher]

This is how I normally achieve a sortable list:

You should start by setting up a SortOrder (int) column. Each new
record that get's added should cause that # to increment. If this is
going to be a multi-user system or something you should increment it
based on that UserID (so there aren't gaps in the number). Then when
you want to move up simply do:

function MoveUp($id,$replaceID)
{
UPDATE table SET SortOrder=(SortOrder-1) WHERE ID=$id
UPDATE table SET SortOrder=(SortOrder+1) WHERE ID=$replaceID
}

move down would be similar

function MoveDown($id,$replaceID)
{
UPDATE table SET SortOrder=(SortOrder+1) WHERE ID=$id
UPDATE table SET SortOrder=(SortOrder-1) WHERE ID=$replaceID
}

And of course on your select you would ORDER BY SortOrder. There are
several ways you can accomplish this task, this is just the way I do
it. I don't know if this is necessarily the best way, but as long as
your script doesn't leave gaps in the SortOrder # you'll be fine.

[Jon]

Ok, I've added a linkOrder ID into the DB, and have my up/down arrows
passing order=up and order=down now - My problem now is not incrementing or
decrementing the current id chosen, it's finding the OTHER IDs that will be
affected. Do I literally decrement every orderID for the current pageID? If
the pageIDs are scattered, I really will not know at all what the current ID
is save what came from the DB.

"Adam Plocher" <ap******@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:11**********************@g49g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...

This is how I normally achieve a sortable list:

You should start by setting up a SortOrder (int) column. Each new
record that get's added should cause that # to increment. If this is
going to be a multi-user system or something you should increment it
based on that UserID (so there aren't gaps in the number). Then when
you want to move up simply do:

function MoveUp($id,$replaceID)
{
UPDATE table SET SortOrder=(SortOrder-1) WHERE ID=$id
UPDATE table SET SortOrder=(SortOrder+1) WHERE ID=$replaceID
}

move down would be similar

function MoveDown($id,$replaceID)
{
UPDATE table SET SortOrder=(SortOrder+1) WHERE ID=$id
UPDATE table SET SortOrder=(SortOrder-1) WHERE ID=$replaceID
}

And of course on your select you would ORDER BY SortOrder. There are
several ways you can accomplish this task, this is just the way I do
it. I don't know if this is necessarily the best way, but as long as
your script doesn't leave gaps in the SortOrder # you'll be fine.

[Adam Plocher]

Does this fix the problem? It will attempt to find the "replaceID"
automatically. You shouldn't need to shift every item, just the item
before or after the item you want to move.

function MoveUp($id)
{
$query = "SELECT ID FROM table WHERE SortOrder=(SortOrder+1)";
$ret = mysql_query($query);
if (mysql_num_rows($ret) == 1)
{
// if 0 rows returned, don't change the sortorder
list($replaceID) = mysql_fetch_row($ret);

$query = "UPDATE table SET SortOrder=(SortOrder-1) WHERE ID=$id"
mysql_query($query);

$query = "UPDATE table SET SortOrder=(SortOrder+1) WHERE ID=$replaceID"
mysql_query($query);
}
}

[Jon]

I don't understand the query here - If I'm selecting WHERE
SortOrder=(SortOrder+1) - I don't know what sortOrder is. Do I have to pass
the current sortOrder ID within the query string?

"Adam Plocher" <ap******@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:11********************@g14g2000cwa.googlegrou ps.com...

Does this fix the problem? It will attempt to find the "replaceID"
automatically. You shouldn't need to shift every item, just the item
before or after the item you want to move.

function MoveUp($id)
{
$query = "SELECT ID FROM table WHERE SortOrder=(SortOrder+1)";
$ret = mysql_query($query);
if (mysql_num_rows($ret) == 1)
{
// if 0 rows returned, don't change the sortorder
list($replaceID) = mysql_fetch_row($ret);

$query = "UPDATE table SET SortOrder=(SortOrder-1) WHERE ID=$id"
mysql_query($query);

$query = "UPDATE table SET SortOrder=(SortOrder+1) WHERE ID=$replaceID"
mysql_query($query);
}
}

[Adam Plocher]

oops, you're absolutely right, I don't know what I was thinking. How
about something like this

$query = "SELECT ID FROM table WHERE SortOrder=((SELECT SortOrder FROM
table WHERE ID=$id) + 1)";

I don't have any of my PHP or MySQL in front of me, so I'm not testing
this stuff.