Creating a single SELECT using multilevel parent->child array

I used the following stackoverflow thread, which was very helpful, in creating a sorted multilevel parent->child array.

The below is a sample multi-level (3 levels) parent->child sorted array based on the sorting method of the above stated thread:

Array 
( 
    [1] => Array 
        ( 
            [name] => User Manual 
            [parentId] => 0 
            [children] => Array
                ( 
                    [2] => Array 
                        ( 
                            [name] => Users 
                            [parentId] => 1 
                            [children] => Array 
                                ( 
                                    [4] => Array 
                                        ( 
                                            [name] => Privileges 
                                            [parentId] => 2 
                                        ) 
                                )
                        ) 
                    [3] => Array 
                        ( 
                            [name] => Reference 
                            [parentId] => 1 
                            [children] => Array 
                                ( 
                                    [5] => Array 
                                        ( 
                                            [name] =>  Glossary
                                            [parentId] => 3 
                                        ) 
                                    [6] => Array 
                                        ( 
                                            [name] =>  Index
                                            [parentId] => 3
                                        )
                                ) 
                        ) 
                )
        )
)

Now I'd like to take that sorted array and generate a single HTML SELECT that displays and represents the parent->child structure like the below example:

<option value='1'>User Manual</option>
<option value='2'>User Manual -> Users</option>
<option value='4'>User Manual -> Users -> Privileges</option>
<option value='3'>User Manual -> Reference</option>
<option value='5'>User Manual -> Reference -> Glossary</option>
<option value='6'>User Manual -> Reference -> Index</option>

The goal as seen above is to compile a display string that represents the multi-level parent/child path for each item. The VALUE to each option is the last item in the represented compiled string. So for the OPTION 'User Manual -> Users -> Privileges' the VALUE is the ID for Privileges, but the display text represents it's parent/child relationship in the array.

The select I create always ends up displaying the list of options like the below:

<option value='1'>User Manual</option>
<option value='2'>User Manual -> Users</option>
<option value='4'>Users -> Privileges</option>
<option value='3'>User Manual -> Reference</option>
<option value='5'>Reference -> Glossary</option>
<option开发者_运维百科 value='6'>Reference -> Index</option>

You can see that it only is able to keep track of one level of the parent/child relationship.

My function that processes the array to create the selects options list is as follows:

function buildOptions($arr, $target, $parent = NULL) {
  $html = "";
  foreach ( $arr as $key => $v ) 
  {
    if (array_key_exists('children', $v))
    {
      if ( $key == $target )
        $html .= "<option value='$key' selected>$parent {$v['name']}</option>\n";
      else
        $html .= "<option value='$key'>$parent {$v['name']}</option>\n";

      $html .= buildOptions($v['children'],$target,$v['name']." > ");
    }
    else if ( $key == $target )
      $html .= "<option value='$key' selected>$parent {$v['name']}</option>\n";
    else
      $html .= "<option value='$key'>$parent {$v['name']}</option>\n";

  }

  return $html;
}

I'm having trouble in keeping track of the previous X parent.name when there is more than one level. Any help here would be welcomed. Thank you!

Fix your recursive invocation this way, and you should get the full hierarchy on each node:

function buildOptions($arr, $target, $parent = NULL) {
  $html = "";
  foreach ( $arr as $key => $v )
  {
    if ( $key == $target )
      $html .= "<option value='$key' selected>$parent {$v['name']}</option>\n";
    else
      $html .= "<option value='$key'>$parent {$v['name']}</option>\n";

    if (array_key_exists('children', $v)) 
      $html .= buildOptions($v['children'],$target,$parent . $v['name']." > ");
  }

  return $html;
}