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Hi, I have three sections Services, First Level Services and Second Level Services which are linked

Services->First Level Services->Second Level Service

via Select Box Links. I was wondering if there is any way to access all three levels with just one Datasource or will I have to make more and link them with XSLT.

I guess question number one is: is it really necessary that they all be separate sections? Is the data they contain similar?

It is similar, almost exactly the same infact, I wasn't sure how to keep the level structure in symphony the same as the frontend but now that I think of it I guess you're right czheng, its probably not necessary to have them all seperate I could link the Second Level Service to Services just as easy.

Can I then access the handle of the First Level and Second Level links in XSLT to seperate them? I'm still just getting past the basics in XSLT so I'm not sure where I'm restricted.

If a Service, First Level Service and Second Level Service share the same data structure (i.e. if the sections are identical in terms of fields) then use one section "Services". I think you can then use a Select Box Link back to itself (perhaps the Service Name field) and call this field Parent Service. This way to can assign a hierarchy of services and hopefully get that hierarchy out in Data Sources.

I've not tried this before, but it's how I'd attempt it.

Yeah, that's what I had in mind. If the data structure is the same it should just be one section, with a Select Box Link pointing to a title or name, as nickdunn describes. Make sure you set that field to "not required" so you can have top-level Services with no parent. You can then create a flexible hierarchy.

As far as how you return them in a DS and handle them in the XSLT you have several options. You could group output by parent, for instance. Also, any Service that has children should get an XML attribute, I believe, with the number of children. So you could pull them that way. Between that attribute and the contents of the parent field, you should be able to tease out the various levels of the hierarchy.

Hi guys, thanks for the replies, thinking more on linking services to services, wouldn't that give me a huge confusing list of services, I'm trying to make things easier for my client to update the website, I think if they saw a long list of un-grouped services they wouldn't be best pleased.

Am I missing something really obvious here?

Can you tell us a little more about these "Services": what kind of data structure do they have, how will they be maintained (how often, etc), and what do you need to be able to do on the frontend?

Sure. Thanks for your help.

So the Services are basically just sections with the following fields:

Title
Content (HTML Content)
SEO Title
SEO Keywords
SEO Description
Sort Order

I want them to be very easy to update because the data in content could change at any time.

On the frontend these services will be called out by a global navigation menu and on the Services page. The Services page will have the entire hierarchy in a menu on the left of my layout with the main content on the right. The menu on the left will show the active Services children and their children, the other services will just be the top level parent services.

Global Navigation:

Services
    -> Manufacturing
          Courses
                Course 1
                Course 2
                Course 3
                Course 4
           Services
                Service 1
                Service 2
                Service 3
                Service 4
            Resources
            Clients
    -> Supply Chain Management
          Courses
                Course 1
                Course 2
                Course 3
                Course 4
           Services
                Service 1
                Service 2
                Service 3
                Service 4
            Resources
            Clients
    -> Healthcare
          Courses
                Course 1
                Course 2
                Course 3
                Course 4
           Services
                Service 1
                Service 2
                Service 3
                Service 4
            Resources
            Clients
    -> Financial Services
          Courses
                Course 1
                Course 2
                Course 3
                Course 4
           Services
                Service 1
                Service 2
                Service 3
                Service 4
            Resources
            Clients

Any more info I can give to help you help me just ask.

hi, i have exactly same problem, tried what czheng write about select box link, but this field type doesn’t have “required” param

i selected “Allow selection of multiple options”, now i can select 0 or more sections (but that’s not what i really want, because i want to link only to 1 section) and now tried to create DS and group by parent, but… I can’t choose it (it doesn’e exist in “group by” select box)

ok, i’ve outdated extension (strange, cuz was bundled with symphony 2.0.6), downloaded newest, and now it works fine, but i’ve another problem. I use “parent” as page param, but when param is empty page doesn’t show any results… how i could get top level categories/services?

Did you set the parameter to be required in your DS?

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