categories.. again. confused

I believe I need to assign 2 categories to one entry.

This way I can show a user the top 3 to initially choose from:

Food | Industry | Consumer (top lvl categories I would guess)

Once a choice is made, then I need to display the categories under it, such as:

Food (the chosen link) box containers bag container plastic container etc etc etc etc

and then from the above, yet another choice is made, lets say “box containers” and then it lists out every entry tagged as “food” and as “box containers”

Now, I have it in mind to keep all this on 2 pages. Is that even possible?

I am thinking I need to break out the top level into thier own template page, and just hard-code a category ID in there or something.

Completely confusing for something that should be a walk in the park.

The below code kinda works, I’m just missing the middle step of listing out the sub categories

{if segment_2 == ""} 
   {exp:channel:categories channel="products"}
   <a href="http://{path=products}">{category_name}</a>

   {category_description}
   {/exp:channel:categories}
{if:else}
{/if}




{if segment_2 !=""}
   {exp:channel:entries channel="products"}
   {title}

    {product_image}

    <a href="http://{url_title_path=products/detail}">View Details</a>



   {/exp:channel:entries}
{/if}

But it doesnt make sense that I need to add my sub categories x 3 per top level. There is no what this will work.

top level one box bag plastic

top level two box bag plastic

top level three box bag plastic

That doesnt seem right, does it

Categories were designed as simple filtering mechanisms for blogs - not for developing multi-layer nav for products.

Admittedly they need some functionality love but the reality is that is how they still function.

You could alternatively look to using 2 category groups. One for your “top-level” products and another for your “sub-categories”. Assign both cat groups to the same channel. You can use LowSeg2Cat to find entries that exist in two categories.

Or use relationships instead.

I also get confused (still don’t know all the ins and out) but I think you want to use channels here instead of categories.

If the products all have the same data structure (IE they all use the same fields) then they should be kept in the same channel.

EE is a lot like database building. If you know how to normalize a database think the same way with EE - like gets stored with like. It’ll make your development easier going forward.

The current state of things thus far are kinda what you mentioned above.

I have to categories

Top Level Industry Food Consumer

Then a secondary Category group Boxes Liners Bags etc etc etc etc

The issue now is trying to associate these, my code right now looks like this:

HOME PAGE

{exp:channel:categories channel="products" show_empty="no" category_group="14"}
<a href="http://{path=products/index}">{category_name}</a>

      {category_description}
{/exp:channel:categories}

Then, choosing one of the above, in this example, Industry, Im taken to a product page (cats are industry, food, consumer)

mysite.com/products/category/industry

Now on this products page I need to filter… or display … the proper secondary categories associated with industry.

The problem is, I see all the categories

{if last_segment =="industrial"}
<h1> Industrial categories</h1>
{exp:channel:categories channel="products" show_empty="no" category_group="13"}
    <a href="http://{path=products/index}">{category_name}</a>
{category_description}
{/exp:channel:categories} 
{/if}

im not sure why this is happening.

I’m looking to seg2cat now, but so far the results display the product name, not the secondary category.

I do have just one channel “products”

and two category groups, one is top level, the other is the secondary.

So let me start with a clean slate here. Attached is a graphic of what I am trying to pull off.

I can work out the “home >> products” page. I can work out the “products >> detail page”

I cannot figure out how to list the sub products.

Now, Ive tried a ton of the free category plugins and the only one that gets me close is gwcode_catmenu. but not quite.

How would you tackle this issue? I mean, this has to be a common thing.

My frame of mind is categories for each group (home page and products) however, I think maybe I could break the home categories out into channels, but then I wont be able tag one product into multiple categories. Unless I recreated into the new channel.

Part of the problem may lie in the fact there is way too many paths to create to get the the desired result. I just need a bit of direction.

I have 2 sets of categories

1. Industry Food Industrial Consumer

2. Products Box liners Bags Plastic wrap anti-static etc

Is this wrong to even begin with, just I remove #1 and break those out into separate templates?

But you don’t want to fully fill in your category structure (IE each subcat under each parent cat?).

im not sure I fully understand that question.

I cant believe how complex this has become LOL.

I just want a user to choose one of three top level menu items.

Once a top level menu item is selected, I would like to display a bunch of (sub)categories associated with it.

and once one of those is selected, display a list of products associated to that (sub)category

Click on one of the entries to view details.

Are you willing to fill in the entire category structure under each top-level category?

If so the GWCode Categories will do what you want:

http://gwcode.com/add-ons/gwcode-categories/examples/example9

Thanks, but I’ve gone through that one, I had a few issues.. I tried with no luck to output the entries for the final cat, I couldn’t target them specifically under the proper category, and it seems like I’d be writing an if statement per cat, which is obviously wrong.

It was close. So is category archive.

Even if I hard code the top 3 categories, and just use product categories, I still cant list them out. The above graphic really explains it. It is that third level that confuses the hell out of me. I can get the categories listed out and such with links to detail page just fine

if i could make a channel per top level, I would, just to move this project forward, but there are entries that need to be across the board.

This is day three on this issue, 8 hours a day. :/ I might have to take another look at this whole project from a different perspective.

The examples for that add-on clearly show it doing what you look to be trying, so I’m not sure where you went wrong. It’s hard when you aren’t posting specific code.

Cat-specific if statements are never the answer. You’d use segment variables instead.

I see three templates.

First template could use standard EE categories tag. Link to the second template using a standard category link.

Then the second template would have some verison of this (untested code - just for explaination):

<ul>
{exp:gwcode_categories cat_url_title="{segment_3}"}
  <li>  <a href="http://path-to/entries-template/category/category_url_title"> {cat_name}</a></li>
 {/exp:gwcode_categories}
</ul>

3rd Template would have a standard EE channel:entries loop. It will dynamically pull the entries based on the URL that you are feeding it from template 2.

That should net you the sub cats for the choosen cat.