Function: popupMenu

The popupMenu PHP function will generate a popup menu from a text file. If the file cannot be read or found the function will return a regular text field. The purpose of this function is to generate a menu with a long list of options. Another benefit of this function is to reuse it in different views, but to only have to maintain the list of item in one place – the text file.

Source Code

/* popupMenu
 * Developer: Alexandar Tzanov
 * Revised: 2013-08-28
 * Version: 1.0
 */
 
function popupMenu($fileName = '', $relevantPath = '', $value = '', $name = 'popupMenu', $id = 'popupMenu', $size = 40)
{
    // Get working directory path.
    $workDir = getcwd();
    $dataFile = "$workDir/$relevantPath/$fileName";
 
    // Make sure the file exist, then read it.
    if (!empty($fileName) && file_exists($dataFile))
    {
        $popupMenu = "';
 
        // Return popup menu code.
        return $popupMenu;
    }
    else
    {
        // Return an input field with a value, if any.
        return "";
    }
}

Usage

string popupMenu( string $fileName[,string $relevantPath[, string $value[, string $name = popupMenu[, string $id = popupMenu[, int $size = 40]]]]])

Parameters

Name	Definition	Default Value
$fileName	The name of the text file with the items. One option item per line.	N/A
$relevantPath	The local path to the file starting from the product’s work directory. The work directory is automatically detected.	N/A
$value	The value to match agains to preselect a on option.	N/A
$name	The name attribute of the select/input HTML element.	popupMenu
$id	The id attribute of the select/input HTML element.	popupMenu
$size	The size of the input text field.	40

Return

The popupMenu function will return one of two possible form field.

A popup menu, i.e. a select with options, if a readable text file with a name and at location specified by the developer is found.
A text field, if the file specified by the developer is either not readable or cannot be found.

Examples

// Example 1 - Generate the options menu.
echo popupMenu('list-of-items.txt', 'bin');

// Example 2 - Generate the options menu with a preselected option.
print popupMenu('itemslist.txt', '', 'Apple');

Revision History

Date	Version	Changes
2013-08-28	01.00.00	Initial release.

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