Get Parent-Child Categories Hierarchical Tree In Joomla VirtueMart

Obtaining parent-child hierarchical tree for categories in Joomla VirtueMart front-end could be requirement specific. Though Joomla VirtueMart already provides method to get categroy tree listing but it provides different results depending upon the call being made from the back-end or the front-end environemnt. The method it uses is getCategoryTree() of ‘VirtueMart Category’ Model. This method provides tree structure as per parent child hierarchy of categories at the backend and provides sorted data as per categories’ name when called from the frontend.

This behavior of function arises a requirement of creating your own method to get parent child hierarchy of categories if required at front end. The code presented will allow you to achieve that.

/**
* Webkul Software.
*
* @category Webkul
* @author Webkul
* @copyright Copyright (c) 2010-2017 Webkul Software Private Limited (https://webkul.com)
* @license https://store.webkul.com/license.html
*
* return object
*/
class WebkulModelExample extends JModelLegacy
{
    public $childCategoriesId = array();
    /**
    * Webkul Software.
    * Method to get all available categories
    *
    * @category Webkul
    * @author Webkul
    * @copyright Copyright (c) 2010-2017 Webkul Software Private Limited (https://webkul.com)
    * @license https://store.webkul.com/license.html
    *
    * return object
    */
    public function getCategories()
    {
        $categoryData = array();
        $categoryModel=VmModel::getModel('category');
        $categories = $categoryModel->getCategoryTree(0, 0, false);
        foreach ($categories as $category) {
            $categoryData[] = $this->getCategoryData($category->virtuemart_category_id);
        }
        $this->childCategoriesId = array_unique($this->childCategoriesId);
        foreach ($this->childCategoriesId as $childCategoryId) {
            foreach ($categoryData as $catKey => $catValue) {
                if ($catValue['virtuemartCategoryId'] == $childCategoryId) {
                    unset($categoryData[$catKey]);
                }
            }
        }
        $categoryData = array_values($categoryData);
        return $categoryData;
    }

    /**
     * Webkul Software.
     * Get category data
     * This function calls itself recursively to get all related child category data
     *
     * @category Webkul
     * @author Webkul
     * @copyright Copyright (c) 2010-2017 Webkul Software Private Limited (https://webkul.com)
     * @license https://store.webkul.com/license.html
     *
     * @param int $categoryId category id
     * 
     * @return array
     */
    public function getCategoryData($categoryId) 
    {
        $categoryModel=VmModel::getModel('category');
        $categoryData = array();
        $tempCategory=$categoryModel->getCategory($categoryId);

        //fetch all relevant data required
        $categoryData['virtuemartCategoryId']=$categoryId;
        $categoryData['categoryName']= $tempCategory->category_name;
        $categoryData['children'] = array();
        if ($tempCategory->children != null) {
            foreach ($tempCategory->children as $childCatkey => $childCatValue) {
                $this->childCategoriesId[] = $childCatValue->virtuemart_category_id;
                $categoryData['children'][] = $this->getCategoryData($childCatValue->virtuemart_category_id);
            }
        }
        $tempCategory = null;
        return $categoryData;
    }
}

For any query regarding Joomla VirtueMart plug-ins and add-ons, you can communicate with us by creating a ticket at:
https://webkul.uvdesk.com/en/customer/create-ticket/