How to turn off left column for one category and all of its sub categories?

[WayneStephens]

I've used the following code in the templates/CUSTOM/common/tpl_mainpage.php file to disable the left column for a particular category:

if ($current_page_base == 'index' and $cPath == '275') {
	$flag_disable_left = true;
	}

However, I would like to be able to do the same for all the subcategories under that category, without having to list them all (there is a lot). Is this possible using a wildcard of some sort? For instance:

if ($current_page_base == 'index' and $cPath == '275***') {
	$flag_disable_left = true;
	}

Thanks in advance for any help.

[lat9]

Is 275 the top-level category? That is, is the cPath for all the categories for which you want to hide the sidebox of the form 275_xxx or 275_xxx_yyy?

If so, you could use:

if ($current_page_base == 'index' && strpos($cPath, '275') === 0 ) {
  $flag_disable_left = true;
}

Make sure that you use the === (3 equals signs) for exactly equal to.

[WayneStephens]

Works perfectly, thanks!

[lat9]

Thanks for reporting back that that worked for you! I realized that there might be an issue, once your category_id values get into the 2700 range; a more complete, future-proofed solution is:

if ($current_page_base == 'index' && strpos($cPath, '275_') === 0 ) {
  $flag_disable_left = true;
}

Adding the underscore (_) to the end makes sure that the category starts with 275_ so that category 2750 won't satisfy the 'if' statement.

[gjh42]

You probably want a modification of the test to account for the top category page as well as subcats...

if ($current_page_base == 'index' && ($cPath == '275' or strpos($cPath, '275_') === 0 )) {
  $flag_disable_left = true;
} 

[WayneStephens]

Thanks again!