Just not understanding how to set up Category menus

Thanks! :) Glad we could help!

Hi Chris,
Finally getting to work on this again...Okay...what you wrote works for what you wrote...I think I either misunderstood or wasn't clear so let me explain what I need in more detail:

I want to list Inventory records. Inside those records I have a field called "Make" or "Manufacturer". When I'm adding an inventory record for an item for sale and click on "Inventory" to start the record in CMSB, then when I get to the Manufacturer's field I want that to be a dropdown (obviously) list of manufacturer's...then dependent upon the manufacturer, I need a sublist of models for that manufacturer. Fill in the rest of the fields like description, title, content, etc. and save.

THEN, I need the visual menus that visitors get to use in their browser to reflect what is in the manufacturer's fields and then the corresponding models...and be able to click on them to get the inventory records that have those.

Does that make more sense?

Unless I'm missing something obvious, what you offered doesn't quite provide that. Please help me understand better.

Thanks,

Terry[:(]

Hi equinox69,

I must have misunderstood your original question.

Here's a step by step for you:

1) Create three Multi Record sections: "Inventory", "Manufacturer", and "Model"

2) Modify the Model section and add a "manufacturer" field:

Field Label: Manufacturer
Field Name: manufacturer
Field Type: list

Field Options:
Display As: pulldown
List Options: Get options from database (advanced)
Section Tablename: manufacturers
Use this field for option values: num
Use this field for option labels: title

3) Modify the Inventory section and add a "manufacturer" field with exactly the same settings as above

4) Also, add another field to the Inventory section called "model":

Field Label: Model
Field Name: model
Field Type: list

Field Options:
Display As: pulldown
List Options: Get options from MySQL query (advanced)
Advanced Filter: Refresh list when this field changes: manufacturer

And paste this into the box below "Get options from MySQL query":

SELECT num, title
FROM `<?php echo $TABLE_PREFIX ?>model`
WHERE manufacturer = '<?php echo $ESCAPED_FILTER_VALUE ?>'

5) Test it! Create at least two Manufacturers and at least one Model for each of them, then create an Inventory record. When you select a manufacturer, the options in the model pulldown will change dynamically.

I hope this helps. Please let us know if you have any questions or comments.

Chris,
Perfect execution inside the Inventory record and output page(s). I'm starting to learn the logic of how it works. Thanks.

Now the other 1/2 for me, maybe related to the earlier post, is how to get an html/php menu to for the website visitors that shows the options we just created for manufacturer/models? and for possible other fields like "equipment types" - so the options display on the menu, and when clicked on provide search results for those options from the database.

I would like to create a menu on the left hand side of the pages the visitors see that will allow them to click on the manufacturers, models and equipment type...and anytime the fields for manufacturers, models and equipment type are updated in CMSB the menu the visitor sees changes also...and when they click on any option, they get the inventory record list page as searched for that option.

So, on the menu the visitor rolls over "manufacturer" and they get a list with all the manufacturers, and when they roll over the manufacturers they get a sublist of all the models for each manufacturer. Let's say they roll over "Dodge" as the manufacturer and then "Avenger" as a model for Dodge and they click on "Avenger"...then they get a search result or inventory list page that has "Avenger" results. Does that make sense? Am I asking too much here for CMSB?

Thanks again.

Thanks,

Terry

Hi equinox69,

Can you explain how you'd show "equipment types" in your menu?

Hi Chris,
Thanks...and thanks for replying so quickly too!

Okay, "Equipment Type" is also a field in the Inventory section. This particular site is for a variety equipment and vehicle site so there are different types of equipment that get listed. For example, equipment types can be "Forestry", "Fire", "Paving" or "Service Truck". Some equipment can be cross-type, so there's a multi-pulldown on that field. A "service truck" can also be a "water vehicle" or "fire" truck.

So, on the visitors menu, akin to the way manufacturers work there would be a button called "Equipment Type" (corresponding to the field under Inventory Record) and then there may be a few dozen types of equipment that should list.

Does that make sense?
Terry

Hi Terry,

So your visitors will be searching either by Manufacturer/Model or by Equipment Type?

Hi Terry,

I'm going to do some research on the best way to approach this and get back to you tomorrow. Stay tuned. :)