Problem getting top level category id for sub item

[whizkid]

Background is: I want to use NAV_TABLE_COLUMN:x dynamically on the left to display the menu for the top level category, selected from a breadcrumb menu.

I have read several postings here about getting the current category id using $GLOBALS['content']['cat_id']; The problem is, it always returns the category of the actual item in the site structure.

For example:
1 (top level, cat_id=1)
1.1 (sub level, cat_id=3)
1.1.1 (sub sub level, cat_id=5)
2 (top level, cat_id=2)
2.1 (sub level, cat_id=4)

For 1 and 2 it returns the correct value, but for 1.1 and 2.1 it returns 3 or 4, but I need the top level (1 or 2).

I hope somebody can understand what I mean. I always need to get the top level ID to display the correct submenu.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[nekket]

same problem here ..

[whizkid]

Solved it yesterday... here is the result:

create a file sample_ext_php/dyn-nav.php with the following content:

---
<?php
// used to return the code for menu based on given ID
// always returns top level id, can be used to use only 1 template for all

// get the current level ID (layout item id)
$check_id = $GLOBALS['content']['cat_id'];

// get the parent structure id
$struct_id = $GLOBALS['content']['struct'][$check_id]['acat_struct'];

// init nav_id with category id
$nav_id = $check_id;

while ($struct_id != 0) {
// save last nav_id
$nav_id = $struct_id;
// get parent of struct_id
$struct_id = $GLOBALS['content']['struct'][$struct_id]['acat_struct'];
}

// output replacement tag
echo '{NAV_TABLE_COLUMN:' . $nav_id . '}';
?>
---

Then in the template include the replacement tag:
{PHP:sample_ext_php/dyn-nav.php}


Works like a charm

-whiz