Categories parent_id

[g.nencini]

I'm working to build a function related to categories and I've a doubt.

If the master category is 'MASTER'
the subcategory is 'SUB'
the subsubcategory i 'SUBSUB':

the parent_id of MASTER is 0
the parent_id of SUB is the categories_id of MASTER
the parent_id of SUBSUB is the categories_id of SUB

is this correct?

Also, the master_categories_id of a product of SUBSUB is the categories_id of SUBSUB or of MASTER?

Many thanks - Giovanni

[kuroi]

No this isn't quite correct. It would be if there is only one level of categories. But it's not generally so.

The master category is product-specific. Each product has one but they can be different.

If a product is in a top level category then its master category's parent ID would indeed be zero (which really means doesn't have a parent). But if the product has master category 2 which is a subcategory of category 1, then the parent ID of of the master category would be 1 and not 0.

This is further complicated by linked products, which allow a product to be in two or more categories at the same time. However, a product can only have one master category.

I'm guessing that you may have more questions about this ... please feel free to ask them.

[g.nencini]

well, kuroy
I want to make some controls on categories, sub-categories and sub-sub-categories. For this I've modified the database and built a function for the control.

In the category and subcategory I can control the situation. In includes\modules\mytemplate\category_row.php I've modified the code at row 31

while (!$categories->EOF) {

$cat_num = $categories->fields['categories_id'];
$cat_vis = zen_control_categories_visibility ($cat_num);
if (!$cat_vis) $categories->MoveNext();

if (!$categories->fields['categories_image']..........

The 3 statements that I've added (also in other scripts) works well for te categories and the sub-categories, but don't work for the sub-sub-categories and I'm not able to find where modify something!
For this I've theese doubts!
Any idea about the script to modify??

Thanks - Giovanni

[gjh42]

Since zen_control_categories_visibility () is a custom function, it might help to see its code. The code you posted seems so straightforward that it is hard to imagine it being the source of the problem. What *is* the problem, anyway? This is apparently supposed to hide particular categories in certain circumstances??

[g.nencini]

Yes.....
I've added a field to the categories table to control the visibility (for resellers).
the problem is that I'm not able to control the sub-sub-catebories when there's shown in the main page (clicking the sub-categories on the category box).
In all the other situation the control is right.
If you like I can post the function, but is not there the problem.
Any idea???? - Thanks - Giovanni

[gjh42]

You may be confusing the code in this while loop.
Perhaps instead of

if (!$cat_vis) $categories->MoveNext();

you should wrap the conditional around the rest of the while content so it skips to the MoveNext at the bottom:

if ($cat_vis) {
if (!$categories->fields['categories_image']..........
...
}
$categories->MoveNext();

I don't know if this is related to your problem, but it seems like it could cause some kind of misbehavior.

[gjh42]

I've figured out what was bugging me about that code:
You have a while loop that is supposed to stop at the last category in the array, but you will increment the count twice when you skip a category. If it was processing the last category in the array and skips it, it will proceed to try to process the last + 1, which doesn't exist.
This may not cause a fatal error, but it sounds like it could cause some incorrect output.

[g.nencini]

Many thanks, gjh42
this was the problem, and is happened because perhaps I'm too tired!!!
Now all is going perfectly - Many thanks again - Giovanni