When I to set and read my own variables using b@se tags the data is lost

Paul Lennox (1378)

In the following code I am displaying a category menu and trying to save the second level URL to use in the third level later but when I read the variable in the third level it isn't the one I saved in the second level??

 

My Code:

[%/cache%]

<div class="burger-menu d-block d-md-none">

       <div class="">

       <ul class="nav navbar-nav">

       [%cache type:'cmenu' id:'web_burgermenu'%]

       [%content_menu content_type:'category' sortby:'sortorder,name' show_empty:'1'%]

         [%param *level_1%]

<script>

console.log("level 1");

</script>

           <li class="[%if [@next_level@]%]dropdown dropdown-hover[%/if%]"> <a href="[%if [@next_level@]%]javascript:;[%else%][@url@][%/if%]&quot; [%if [@next_level@]%]class=&quot;dropdown-toggle"[%/if%]>[@name@] [%if [@next_level@]%]&lt;span><i class="fa fa-plus"></i></span>[%/if%]</a>

             [%if [@next_level@]%]

                <ul class="nav navbar-nav d-none">

                 [@next_level@]

                </ul>

             [%/if%]

           </li>

           [%/param%]

         [%param *level_2%]

<script>

console.log("level 2");

</script>

           <li class=""> <a href="[%if [@next_level@]%]javascript:;[%else%][@url@][%/if%]&quot; class="[%if [@next_level@]%]dah_subcat [%/if%] nuhover dropdown-toggle">[@name@] [%if [@next_level@]%]&lt;span><i class="fa fa-plus"></i></span>[%/if%]</a>

             [%if [@next_level@]%]

[%set [@^MyLevel2_URL@] %][@url@][%/set%]

<script>

console.log("Saved level 2 URL =", "[@MyLevel2_URL@]&quot;

</script>

                <ul class="nav navbar-nav d-none">

                 [@next_level@]

                </ul>

             [%/if%]

           </li>

           [%/param%]

         [%param *level_3%]

<script>

console.log("Read level 2 URL =", "[@MyLevel2_URL@]&quot;

</script>  

[%if [@MH_BURGLevel3_count@] < 1%]

<li><a href="[@MyLevel2_URL@]&quot;>- ALL ITEMS</a></li>

<li><a href="[@url@]&quot;>- [@name@]&lt;/a></li>

[%set [@^MH_BURGLevel3_count@] %]1[%/set%]

[%else%]

<li><a href="[@url@]&quot;>- [@name@]&lt;/a></li>

[%/if%]   

         [%/param%]

       [%/content_menu%]

       [%menu id:'web_header'%]

Erik Merkley

There's a few things going on here. B@SE has a concept of "scope" kinda like other programming languages, but here it has quirks.

 

When you create a variable, it exists in that scope and is almost always inherited into child scopes. You create a new child scope when you use a tag that splits out params, like content_menu, thumb_list, etc. (I'm pretty sure it's actually the asterisk in [%param *level_3%] that creates the new scope)

 

In the case of content_menu, each of the params (level_1, level_2, etc) are separate child scopes. So they would be able to see any variable declared before content_menu, but for example level_2 can't see variables in level_1.

 

Also, the levels don't actually execute top-down as you're expecting. For example, Neto would need to have already evaluated the level_3 param to know the value for [@next_level@] in the level_2 block. So it's actually executed bottom-up, although I'm not sure on the exact order of all the branches of the tree (and it shouldn't be relied on anyway).

 

You can share variables with other scopes by "hoisting" them. Adding a carat (^) to the variable name refers to that variable in the parent scope. And you can add multiple carats to go up multiple ancestor scopes. I see you're using this to keep track of a counter.

 

That's also really useful in a situation like this:

[%content_path content_id:'[@content_id@]'; show_path:'y' %]

[%param *body%]

[%set [@^catpath@]%][@^catpath@], [@content_name@][%/set%]

[%/param%]

[%/content_path%]

 

Category path: [@catpath@]

 

Here I want to build up a category path by appending each content name onto the variable. Using [@^catpath@] means I refer to the parent scope instead of the current (child) scope which only exists for that iteration and is then destroyed.

 

 

Unfortunately, using hoisting would be very complex and error-prone in something like content_menu because it's rendering a whole tree, and you can't rely on the child params evaluating in any particular order.

 

I think you're probably approaching this way more complex than it needs to be. Do you just want an "All Items" link at the top of your level_3 menu?

 

I would just add this line to the level_2 param:

 

        <ul class="nav navbar-nav d-none">

<li><a href="[@url@]&quot;>- ALL ITEMS</a></li>

                [@next_level@]

 

Does that do what you want?