Building navigation structure for multiple users by adding values to multiple arrays at once

Question

I have a multidimensional array with associative values... I want to add some information to multiple arrays at the same time. Doing $array1=$array2=array(... seems to work but I'm worried that it's too easy. Will any array get extra data or have data overwritten by doing this? What kind of unexpected behavior might I expect from this kind of code? Al should have 3 entries in it, while Bob and Chris will each have two... right? It seems to work, but I'm worried I'm overlooking something.

<? $content['Al'][]= array(
 "link"=>"/admin.php",
 "text"=>"Admin Login",
 "icon"=>"wp.png");
 $content['Al'][]=$content['Bob'][]=$content['Chris'][] = array(
 "link"=>"/Wordpress/wp-login.php",
 "text"=>"Login to Wordpress",
 "icon"=>"wp.png");
 $content['Al'][]=$content['Bob'][]=$content['Chris'][] = array(
 "link"=>"/Gallery/Login.php",
 "text"=>"Login to Gallery",
 "icon"=>"picutres.jpg");
function userbox($heading,$contents){
 if($contents=="") return;
 echo "<div class=\"refbox\">
 <h2>".$heading."</h2>
 <p>";
 foreach ($contents as $key){
 if($key['link']!="")echo "<a href=\"".$key['link']."\">";
 if($key['icon']!="")echo"<img src=\"/images/icons/".$key['icon']."\" alt=\"".$key['text']."\" class=\"icons\">";
 echo $key['text'];
 if($key['link']!="")echo "</a>";
 if($key['updated']!="")echo " <span style=\"float:right;\">(".$key['updated'][0].")</span>";
 echo "<br>"; 
 } 
 echo "</p>
 </div>"; 
}
?>

Then in the content of the page I have

<?userbox($user,$content[$user]);?>

This should show a 'refbox' div with the users links in it within the page.

• xDaevax: It now makes much more sense, and appears to now be review-able. Watch the hypothetical words though, people see those and move on (Say I have...), instead focus on the actual concern you have. For example: "This code works, but it seems like a hack", "I'm worried my solution will be difficult to maintain / read", "It does what I expect, but seems to perform slowly, how could it be optimized", etc... Also, thanks for caring and taking the time to fix up the question.
• aslum: Thanks for the suggestions! I've cleaned it up a bit further... Afraid I'm a bit used to Stackoverflow so posted the bare minimum.

Answer 1

It works and I can't see any side effects, but it is unusual to see code like this, and I am not sure of the point of creating all 3 user arrays at once.

Do you intend to display all 3 user menu options at the same time, or can only 1 user be logged in at once?

This is my preference for readability, also if you create a menu array and need items in a different order for different users, it would be difficult to achieve using the current code.

<?php
function build_menu($user)
{
 // ### clearly show what each test is and what menu options are being set
 $menu = array();
 if ($user == 'Al') {
 $menu[] = array(
 "link" => "/admin.php",
 "text" => "Admin Login",
 "icon" => "wp.png");
 }
 if (in_array($user, array('Bob', 'Chris'))) {
 // menu options for multiple users can use in_array test
 }
 // default menu options for all users
 $menu[] = array(
 "link" => "/Wordpress/wp-login.php",
 "text" => "Login to Wordpress",
 "icon" => "wp.png");
 $menu[] = array(
 "link" => "/Gallery/Login.php",
 "text" => "Login to Gallery",
 "icon" => "picutres.jpg");
 return $menu;
}
function userbox($heading, $contents)
{
 // ### contents is supposed to be an array, why test it for being a blank string?
 // ### use {} to show scope
 if ($contents == "") {
 return;
 }
 // ### escape heading, what if it has html chars
 echo "<div class=\"refbox\">
 <h2>" . htmlspecialchars($heading). "</h2>
 <p>";
 /// ### think about your variable naming, $contents is actually menu items
 /// ### and $key is ambiguous, key of what?
 /// ### what if you used foreach ($menu_items as $menu_item) {
 foreach ($contents as $key) {
 // ### use {} around if statements, it is easier to see the scope of what is effected
 // ### use not empty instead of != "", that way if an array key doesn't exist like the 'updated' key below, your program won't generate a warning
 // ### use single quotes if you don't want to escape every double quote
 // if($key['link']!="")echo "<a href=\"".$key['link']."\">";
 if (!empty($key['link'])) {
 echo '<a href="' . $key['link'] . '">';
 }
 // ### i have given an example above, I will leave these ones for you to change
 if($key['icon']!="")echo"<img src=\"/images/icons/".$key['icon']."\" alt=\"".$key['text']."\" class=\"icons\">";
 // ### escape html incase there are special characters
 // echo $key['text'];
 echo htmlspecialchars($key['text']);
 if($key['link']!="")echo "</a>";
 if($key['updated']!="")echo " <span style=\"float:right;\">(".$key['updated'][0].")</span>";
 echo "<br>";
 }
 echo "</p>
 </div>";
}
$user = 'Al';
$menu = build_menu($user);
userbox($user, $menu);