Array inside array (comment system with 2 levels)

Question

I have a comment system on 2 levels (like Blizzard http://eu.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/7935264/#c-7257875753), it's working fine but my code is a bit dirty :

// $datacoms array from mysql_query 
foreach($datacoms as $com){
    if(!$com->parent_id){
        $level_id = $com->id;
        // include the view (display the comment)

        foreach($datacoms as $com){
            if($com->parent_id == $level_id){
                // include the view (display the comment)
            }
        }
    }
}

Any better way to do it ?

Answer 1

Depends on how your data is modeled. I dont know that, but I can assume that you use three relational tables. Something along these lines:

Post [parent]
+-------------+---------+
|    Field    |  Type   |
+-------------+---------+
| id          | int     |
| value       | varchar |
+-------------+---------+

Comment [parent-child]
+-------------+---------+
|    Field    |  Type   |
+-------------+---------+
| id          | int     |
| foreign_key | int     |
| value       | varchar |
+-------------+---------+

Comment->Comment [child]
+-------------+---------+
|    Field    |  Type   |
+-------------+---------+
| id          | int     |
| foreign_key | int     |
| value       | varchar |
+-------------+---------+

You are looking to potentially run three queries. An easy fix would be to add a has_children field to each parent table. With that you would save a potential checkup and easily release some complexity in the PHP loop.

    [parent-child]
    +--------------+---------+
    |    Field     |  Type   |
    +--------------+---------+
    | id           | int     |
    | foreign_key  | int     |
    | has_children | bool    | <===
    | value        | varchar |
    +--------------+---------+

I can provide the PHP code if you like, but I'm assuming that you get the general idea.