Parent, child and sibling relationships - Is this possible?

[harvey]

OK, here's the scenario: I've been asked to develop a new site for Ford Motor Co. (yeah riiiiight!).

I have a definition of 'Car' (Fiesta, Focus, Mondeo etc.).

'Car' is a parent definition of 'Model' (1.2 Popular, 2.0 Sport etc.).

'Model' is a parent definition of 'Colour'. I have populated 'Colour' with Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Black, White & Silver.

Now I want to display a content page for each 'Model' which will include the colours available. However, a 1.2 Popular is only available in Red, Blue and Yellow, a 2.0 Sport in Red, Blue, Black and Silver etc.

Have I set up my relationships correctly, and if so how do I specify within the content entry for a 'Model' which colours are available, and how would I then display them on a content page?

Is this even possible?

[Colin]

If I was doing it, I wouldn't have the colour as a separate definition, but would instead have it as a content element of Multi-Defined List - then have a list of all of the colours.

This would allow the selection of multiple colours and you can retrieve them with the contentarray function IIRC.

[harvey]

Originally Posted by Colin

If I was doing it, I wouldn't have the colour as a separate definition, but would instead have it as a content element of Multi-Defined List - then have a list of all of the colours.

This would allow the selection of multiple colours and you can retrieve them with the contentarray function IIRC.

I also want to store a hex value each colour so that I can display a colour swatch for each colour rather than a list, can I do that the way you're suggesting Colin?

[Colin]

I guess I'd have the list pipe separatd:

Red|#ff0000
Blue|#0000ff

etc. Then I'd use some inline PHP to split each element into an array and access it that way. Not ideal though.

[harvey]

I thought I'd read on here that you could have multiple parents and that was how I planned set my colours, but I guess a definition can have multiple parents, an item of content can not.

[harvey]

Originally Posted by Colin

I guess I'd have the list pipe separatd:

Red|#ff0000
Blue|#0000ff

etc. Then I'd use some inline PHP to split each element into an array and access it that way. Not ideal though.

When you say not ideal is that because of the hassle of setting it up or potential performance issues?

[Colin]

Set up - it's a bit messier than it could be, but it'll work and it'd be faster than using definitions.

[Colin]

Originally Posted by harvey

I thought I'd read on here that you could have multiple parents and that was how I planned set my colours, but I guess a definition can have multiple parents, an item of content can not.

Nope, it's something I've got on my to-do list but not been implemented yet.

[harvey]

Originally Posted by Colin

Set up - it's a bit messier than it could be, but it'll work and it'd be faster than using definitions.

OK, thanks very much Colin. I'll have a google and a play, but if you ever get a chance some pointers on the necessary php would be much appreciated.

[harvey]

I think I've worked out the necessary inline php, and created a template that is called by ContentArray:

<div style="width: 100px; height: 100px; float: left; margin-right: 20px;border: 1px solid #000000; background-color: #
%% global $colourtosplit; $colourtosplit = 'red|ff0000'; $splitdata = explode('|', $colourtosplit); addToOutput("$splitdata[1]"); %%
;">
%% global $colourtosplit; $colourtosplit = 'red|ff0000'; $splitdata = explode('|', $colourtosplit); addToOutput("$splitdata[0]"); %%
</div>

I just cant figure out how to replace the 'red|ff0000' i've used for testing purposes with the data pulled from the content.