Download list based tree

Demo

Download script

You can download all the files for this script from this Zip file.

Note! I have used the AJAX code found at http://twilightuniverse.com/projects/sack in this script.

Configuration

Building a tree

The menu is HTML based. You create the tree by building a nested <UL><LI> list. Example:
<ul id="dhtmlgoodies_tree" class="dhtmlgoodies_tree">
  <li><a href="#">Main item</a>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="#">Sub menu item</a>
        <ul>
          <li><a href="#">Sub menu item</a>
            <ul>
              <li class="dhtmlgoodies_sheet.gif"><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
              <li class="dhtmlgoodies_sheet.gif"><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
              <li class="dhtmlgoodies_sheet.gif"><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
              <li class="dhtmlgoodies_sheet.gif"><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
            </ul>
          </li>
          <li class="dhtmlgoodies_sheet.gif"><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
          <li class="dhtmlgoodies_sheet.gif"><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
          <li class="dhtmlgoodies_sheet.gif"><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
          <li class="dhtmlgoodies_sheet.gif"><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
        </ul>
      </li>
      <li><a href="#">Sub menu item</a>
        <ul>
          <li><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
          <li><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
          <li><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
          <li><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
        </ul>
      </li>
      <li><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#">Main item</a></li>
  <li><a href="#">Main item</a>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#">Main item</a>
    <ul>
      <li class="dhtmlgoodies_sheet.gif"><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
      <li class="dhtmlgoodies_sheet.gif"><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">Sub menu item</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>

It's important that you give your tree(s) an ID. In the code above, you will see that I have given it the id dhtmlgoodies_tree. You should also notice that the tree need to be assigned to the CSS class dhtmlgoodies_tree. Example:

Javascript configuration

You have to create a reference to your tree(s) by use of Javascript. This is done by creating an array of the ID(s) of your trees. Example:

var idOfFolderTrees = ['dhtmlgoodies_tree','dhtmlgoodies_tree2'];

In the demo, I have two folder trees. The id of the first one is dhtmlgoodies_tree while my second tree got the id dhtmlgoodies_tree2. You will find the ID in the main <UL> tag. Example: <ul id="dhtmlgoodies_tree">

You will find this array code at the top of the <SCRIPT type="text/javascript"> section.

Icons

The tree will use the icon defined in the Javascript variable folderImage as default. However, you may override it by declaring a class in your <LI>. example:
<li class="dhtmlgoodies_sheet.gif">
Here, the image "dhtmlgoodies_sheet.gif" will be used instead of the default icon.

Javascript variables and functions

You have these variables available at the top of your <SCRIPT> section:
var idOfFolderTrees = ['dhtmlgoodies_tree','dhtmlgoodies_tree2']; var imageFolder = 'images/'; // Path to images
var folderImage = 'dhtmlgoodies_folder.gif'; // Default folder image
var plusImage = 'dhtmlgoodies_plus.gif'; // [+] icon
var minusImage = 'dhtmlgoodies_minus.gif'; // [-] icon
var useAjaxToLoadNodesDynamically = true;
var ajaxRequestFile = 'writeNodes.php';

idOfFolderTrees = An array of the trees on your page
imageFolder = Path to your image folder
folderImage = Name of folder image file
plusImage = Name of file - plus icon
minusImage = Name of file - minus icon
useAjaxToLoadNodesDynamically = Use AJAX to load sub nodes dynamically?
ajaxRequestFile = Name of server side file, i.e. the file Ajax sends requests to

There's also two function you can call to expand or collapse all nodes. The "expandAll()" function expands all nodes, while the "collapseAll()" function collapses all nodes. Send the ID of the tree you want to collapse or expand as argument to these functions. Examples:

expandAll('dhtmlgoodies_tree');
collapseAll('dhtmlgoodies_tree2');

If you use AJAX

If you use Ajax to get nodes dynamically from the server, you can follow this recipe:

Insert nodes in your tree like this:

<li><a href="#">Europe</a>
<ul>
<li parentId="1"><a href="#">Loading...</a></li>
</ul>
</li>

Notice that I have created an <LI> with a "parentId" parameter. The value of this parameter is sent to the file on your server(writeNodes.php). The file on the server will then output the nodes where parent ID = 1. This will be sent back to the script, and the script will replace the "loading.." <LI> with the new content from the server.

The file "writeNodes.php" is only outputting plain HTML. Example:

<li class="dhtmlgoodies_sheet.gif"><a href="#">Bergen</a></li>
<li class="dhtmlgoodies_sheet.gif"><a href="#">Stavanger</a></li>
<li class="dhtmlgoodies_sheet.gif"><a href="#">Trondheim</a></li>
<li class="dhtmlgoodies_sheet.gif"><a href="#">Oslo</a></li>

Look inside the writeNodes.php file for more information. I'm not using a database in this demo. If you use a database, the writeNodes.php file could typically look like this:

<?php
if(isset($_GET['parentId'])){

$res = mysql_query("select * from category where parentId='".$_GET['parentId']."'");
while($inf = mysql_fetch_array($res)){
  echo "<li><a href=\"#\">".$inf["categoryName"]."</a>";

  $resSub = mysql_query("select ID from category where parentId='".$inf["ID"]."'");
  if($infSub = mysql_fetch_array($resSub)){
    echo "<ul><li parentId=\"".$inf["ID"]."\"><a href=\"#\">Loading...</a></li></ul>";
  }

  echo "</li>";

}
?>

Cookies

Cookies are used to remember state of the nodes. This means that when you revisit the page, the script will expand the nodes that were expanded when you last time left the page.

Add/Delete nodes dynamically

New nodes can be added and deleted dynamically from a context menu. You can disable this feature by setting the JS variable contextMenuActive to false at the top of folder-tree-static.js.

When a new node is added, a function called saveNewNode() is called. You will find this function inside folder-tree-static.js. You need to enable the ajax part of this function(it's in comments right now). You also need to add support on your server for saving new nodes. When a node is created a request is sent to the file defined in the variable ajaxRequestFile. Variables sent to this file are:

newNode = Title of new node
parentID = ID of parent node

All you have to do is to have an insert query which inserts this new node in your database.

The same also applies to what's happening when you delete a node. You have to enable the ajax part of the function deleteNodeOnServer. This will send a request to the server where the node to delete is defined in the variable deleteNodeId