how to create dynamic menu with sub-menu with php & mysql

Question

I want to have a dynamic menu that feeds from a table using php and mysql.

My table looks like this:

sec_id  sec_name    sec_group
1   section 1   g         


        

Answer 1

$q = mysql_query("SELECT sec_id, sec_name, sec_group FROM tbl_user_sec ORDER BY sec_id");

// prepare data 
$groups = Array();
while($w = mysql_fetch_assoc($q)) {
  if(!isset($groups[$w['sec_group']])) $groups[$w['sec_group']] = Array();
  $groups[$w['sec_group']][] = $w;
}

// display data
echo "<ul>";
foreach($groups as $group_name => $sections) {
  echo '<li><a href="#">'.$group_name.'</a><ul>';
  foreach($sections as $section) {
    echo '<li><a href="#">'.$section['sec_name'].'</a>';
  }
  echo '</ul></li>';
}
echo "</ul>";

There is another solution if you don't care about sorting result by sec_id

Answer 2

$qry_secs="SELECT DISTINCT sec_group FROM tbl_user_sec ORDER BY sec_id ASC";
$result_secs = mysql_query($qry_secs);
echo '<ul>\n';
//echo values
while($row_secs = mysql_fetch_assoc($result_secs)) {
    echo '<li><a href="#">'.$row_secs['sec_group'].'</a></li>\n';
    echo '<ul>\n';
    $newqry = "SELECT sec_name FROM tbl_user_sec WHERE `sec_group` = '" . mysql_real_escape_string($row_secs['sec_group'] . "'";
    $result = mysql_query($newqry);
    while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result) ) {
        echo '<li><a href="#">' . $row['sec_name'] . '</li>\n';
    echo '</ul>\n';
}
echo '</ul>\n';