Spry Menu Using Nested XML Dataset (Spry 1.6)

Question

I have a vertical menu with a few items. One of which is
labeled Products which has submenus. I want to have that submenu
read from a Nested XML dataset. Using a single dataset for one
level in a menu is easy enough, but the subenu will have submenus.
Example Menu:
Home
Company
Products
|-- Product 1
|-- Item 1
|-- Item 2
|-- Item 3
|-- Product 2
|-- Item 1
|-- Item 2
|-- Product 3
|-- Item 1
|-- Item 2
|-- Item 3
|-- Item 4
|-- Product 4
|-- Item 1
|-- Item 2
|-- Product 5
I have been looking for an easy way to use the Spry Nested
XML Dataset to create the Product/Item menu. The number of Products
may vary as well as the number of Items in each Product submenu
(also, some Products may not have Items).
I already have an ASP page that creates the XML data from a
database.
Schema follows (XSD ):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsd:schema xmlns:xsd="
http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<xsd:element name="products">
<xsd:complexType>
<xsd:sequence>
<xsd:element name="product_type"
maxOccurs="unbounded">
<xsd:complexType>
<xsd:sequence>
<xsd:element name="type_name" maxOccurs="1"
type="xsd:string"/>
<xsd:element name="type_url" maxOccurs="1"
type="xsd:anyURI"/>
<xsd:element name="product_name"
maxOccurs="unbounded">
<xsd:complexType>
<xsd:sequence>
<xsd:element name="item_name" maxOccurs="1"
type="xsd:string"/>
<xsd:element name="item_url" maxOccurs="1"
type="xsd:anyURI"/>
</xsd:sequence>
</xsd:complexType>
</xsd:element>
</xsd:sequence>
</xsd:complexType>
</xsd:element>
</xsd:sequence>
</xsd:complexType>
</xsd:element>
</xsd:schema>
I have been programming for 17 years but am new to Spry. If
this cannot be done easily with the Spry framework, I'll probably
wind up splitting the XML data into 2 files (Products and Items)
then writing a nested loop and call each by row, but then I have to
find out how Spry Datasets reference XML data. Figuring out how to
call rows from the XML data shouldn't be so bad, but this method
just seems like such a hassle for something that should be easy.
Pseudocode follows:
j=1
i=1 to TotalNumberProducts
display Product i from Products
ItemsExist=true
While ItemsExist
if j > TotalNumberItems | Item j is not for Product then
ItemsExist=false
else
display Item j from Items
j++
Wend
Next
Thanks in advance for any help or direction!

Answer 1

That's exactly what I'm trying to do. However, I implemented
that code and the submenus won't appear. I suspect the submenus
aren't finding the field names from the Nested XML Dataset. The
first level of Product menus work great (this is a submenu of the
overall menu) and correctly identify products that do not have
submenus, so I know it's picking up the number of records in the
Nested Dataset correctly - it just won't display the data in the
next level of menu.
variable and script declarations:
<script src="SpryAssets/SpryMenuBar.js"
type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="SpryAssets/xpath.js"
type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="SpryAssets/SpryData.js"
type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="SpryAssets/SpryNestedXMLDataSet.js"
type="text/javascript"></script>
<link href="SpryAssets/SpryMenuBarVertical.css"
rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
var productMenuData = new
Spry.Data.XMLDataSet("products.asp", "products/product_type");
var productMenuDataItems = new
Spry.Data.NestedXMLDataSet(productMenuData, "product_name");
//-->
</script>
Code for menus:
<ul id="NavMenu" class="MenuBarVertical">
<li><a
href="index.html">Home</a></li>
<li><a
href="company.html">Company</a></li>
<li><a href="franco_giberti.html">Franco
Giberti</a></li>
<li><a class="MenuBarItemSubmenu"
href="products.asp">Products</a>
<ul spry:region="productMenuData
productMenuDataItems">
<li spry:repeat="productMenuData"><a
class="MenuBarItemSubmenu" href="{type_url}"
spry:if="{productMenuDataItems::ds_RowCount} !=
0">{type_name}</a> <a href="{type_url}"
spry:if="{productMenuDataItems::ds_RowCount} ==
0">{type_name}</a>
<ul spry:if="{productMenuDataItems::ds_RowCount} !=
0">
<li spry:repeat="productMenuDataItems"><a
href="{productMenuDataItems::item_url}">{productMenuDataItems::item_name}</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="contact.html">Contact Us</a>
<!-- end #sidebar1 -->
</li>
</ul>
XML:
<products
xsi:noNameSpaceSchemaLocation="products.xsd">
−
<product_type>
<type_name>Pasta Sauce</type_name>
<type_url>pt_2.asp</type_url>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Putenesca</item_name>
<item_url>pn_3.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Arrabiata</item_name>
<item_url>pn_4.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Pesto</item_name>
<item_url>pn_5.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Basil and Tomato</item_name>
<item_url>pn_6.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Bolognese</item_name>
<item_url>pn_7.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Carboniera</item_name>
<item_url>pn_8.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
</product_type>
+
<product_type>
<type_name>Organic Olive Oil</type_name>
<type_url>pt_3.asp</type_url>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Original</item_name>
<item_url>pn_9.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Basil</item_name>
<item_url>pn_10.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Herbs</item_name>
<item_url>pn_11.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Sun Dried Tomato</item_name>
<item_url>pn_12.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
</product_type>
+
<product_type>
<type_name>Organic Spreads</type_name>
<type_url>pt_4.asp</type_url>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Putenesca</item_name>
<item_url>pn_13.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Arrabiata</item_name>
<item_url>pn_14.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Pesto</item_name>
<item_url>pn_15.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Basil and Tomato</item_name>
<item_url>pn_16.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Bolognese</item_name>
<item_url>pn_17.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Carboniera</item_name>
<item_url>pn_18.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
</product_type>
+
<product_type>
<type_name>Organic Grilled Vegetables</type_name>
<type_url>pt_5.asp</type_url>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Putenesca</item_name>
<item_url>pn_19.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Arrabiata</item_name>
<item_url>pn_20.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Pesto</item_name>
<item_url>pn_21.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Basil and Tomato</item_name>
<item_url>pn_22.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Bolognese</item_name>
<item_url>pn_23.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
−
<product_name>
<item_name>Carboniera</item_name>
<item_url>pn_24.asp</item_url>
</product_name>
</product_type>
−
<product_type>
<type_name>Truffle Products</type_name>
<type_url>pt_6.asp</type_url>
</product_type>
</products>
Any further guidance would be very much appreciated!