Convert class array

Question

I need to convert this class array

$categoriesArray = array();
//                                    ID, PARENT_ID, NAME
$categoriesArray[] = Category::create(1,   0,       "Category A");
$categoriesArray[] = Category::create(2,   0,       "Category B");
$categoriesArray[] = Category::create(3,   0,       "Category C");
$categoriesArray[] = Category::create(4,   2,       "Sub-cat F");
$categoriesArray[] = Category::create(5,   2,       "Sub-Cat G");
$categoriesArray[] = Category::create(6,   3,       "Sub-Cat H");

Into this:

$x = new CategoryTree("Main");
$x->add_sub_cat(new CategoryTree($categoriesArray[0]->name));                           //Category A
$x->add_sub_cat(new CategoryTree($categoriesArray[1]->name));                           //Category B
$x->add_sub_cat(new CategoryTree($categoriesArray[2]->name));                           //Category C
$x->subCats[1]->add_sub_cat(new CategoryTree($categoriesArray[3]->name));               //Sub-Cat F
$x->subCats[1]->add_sub_cat(new CategoryTree($categoriesArray[4]->name));               //Sub-Cat G
$x->subCats[2]->add_sub_cat(new CategoryTree($categoriesArray[5]->name));               //Sub-Cat H

subCats can be unlimited hierarchy, so I don't know how many levels there will be. I understand, that recursion is required, but I have no idea how to convert it to that.

I need this because I am doing category tree and I'am trying to make a form, to add categories (by entering name and selecting parent).

If there is any way to add category to something like my second example, it would help me alot.

Answer 1

Apparently you have a class like this (I leave out private member declarations here):

class Category {
        static function create($id, $parentId, $name) {
                $category = new Category();
                $category->id = $id;
                $category->parentId = $parentId;
                $category->name = $name;
                return $category;
        }
        function add_sub_cat($cat) {
                $cat->parentId = $this;
        }
}

That works with your posted code:

$categoriesArray = [];
$categoriesArray[] = Category::create(1,   0,       "Category A");
$categoriesArray[] = Category::create(2,   0,       "Category B");
$categoriesArray[] = Category::create(3,   0,       "Category C");
$categoriesArray[] = Category::create(4,   2,       "Sub-cat F");
$categoriesArray[] = Category::create(5,   2,       "Sub-Cat G");
$categoriesArray[] = Category::create(6,   3,       "Sub-Cat H");

And you seem to have a Category Tree class which seems to be similar to this:

class CategoryTree {
    function __construct($name) {
        $this->name = $name;
    }
    function add_sub_cat($catTree) {
        $this->subCats[] = $catTree;
    }
}

Again your posted code:

$x = new CategoryTree("Main");
$x->add_sub_cat(new CategoryTree($categoriesArray[0]->name));                           //Category A
$x->add_sub_cat(new CategoryTree($categoriesArray[1]->name));                           //Category B
$x->add_sub_cat(new CategoryTree($categoriesArray[2]->name));                           //Category C
$x->subCats[1]->add_sub_cat(new CategoryTree($categoriesArray[3]->name));               //Sub-Cat F
$x->subCats[1]->add_sub_cat(new CategoryTree($categoriesArray[4]->name));               //Sub-Cat G
$x->subCats[2]->add_sub_cat(new CategoryTree($categoriesArray[5]->name));               //Sub-Cat H

You get this:

object(CategoryTree)#7 (2) {
  ["name"]=>
  string(4) "Main"
  ["subCats"]=>
  array(3) {
    [0]=>
    object(CategoryTree)#8 (1) {
      ["name"]=>
      string(10) "Category A"
    }
    [1]=>
    object(CategoryTree)#9 (2) {
      ["name"]=>
      string(10) "Category B"
      ["subCats"]=>
      array(2) {
        [0]=>
        object(CategoryTree)#11 (1) {
          ["name"]=>
          string(9) "Sub-cat F"
        }
        [1]=>
        object(CategoryTree)#12 (1) {
          ["name"]=>
          string(9) "Sub-Cat G"
        }
      }
    }
    [2]=>
    object(CategoryTree)#10 (2) {
      ["name"]=>
      string(10) "Category C"
      ["subCats"]=>
      array(1) {
        [0]=>
        object(CategoryTree)#13 (1) {
          ["name"]=>
          string(9) "Sub-Cat H"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

The latter code can be replaced by this code that does it dynamically:

// You need to make sure the array defines all parent categories first before
// sub categories can refer to them. This might already be the case, but we
// make that sure by sorting by parentId.
usort($categoriesArray, function($c1, $c2) { return $c1->parentId-$c2->parentId; });
// The trick is to build up a (flat) registry where you can simply add children
$x = new CategoryTree("Main");
$registry = [0 => $x]; // One entry: Main (parentId = 0)
foreach ($categoriesArray as $c) {
    $catTree = new CategoryTree($c->name);
    $registry[$c->id] = $catTree;
    $registry[$c->parentId]->add_sub_cat($catTree);
}

BTW: You don't have a class array, categoriesArray is a simple (object) array.