Magento: Can't get categories children - magento

Question

For some reason this code is returning NULL when trying to get a categories subcategories.
<?php var_dump($_category->getChildrenCategories()); ?>
Here is the full code from a .phmtl file.
<ul id="nav_vert">
<?php foreach ($this->getStoreCategories() as $_category): ?>
<?php if ($_category->getIsActive()) { ?>
<?php $open = $this->isCategoryActive($_category); ?>
<?php $potential = $_category->hasChildren(); ?>
<li><a href="<?php echo $this->getCategoryUrl($_category); ?>"<?php if($open) { echo ' class="open"'; } ?><?php if($potential) { echo ' class="potential"'; } ?> ><?php if($potential&&$open) { echo 'v '; } elseif($potential) { echo '> '; }else{ echo ' '; }?><?php echo $_category->getName();?></a>
<?php if ($open && $potential): ?>
<?php var_dump($_category->getChildrenCategories()); ?>
<ul>
<?php foreach ($_category->getChildrenCategories() as $subcategory): ?>
<?php $subCat = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($subcategory); ?>
<?php $open = $this->isCategoryActive($subCat); ?>
<?php $potential = $subCat->hasChildren(); ?>
<li><a href="<?php echo $this->getCategoryUrl($subCat); ?>"<?php if($open) { echo ' class="subopen"'; } ?><?php if($potential) { echo ' class="potential"'; } ?><?php if(!$potential&&$open) { echo ' class="final"'; } ?> ><?php if($potential&&$open) { echo ':: '; } elseif($potential) { echo '> '; }?><?php echo $subCat->getName(); ?> (<?php echo $subCat->getProductCount(); ?>)</a>
<?php if ($open && $potential): ?>
<ul>
<?php foreach ($subcategory->getChildrenCategories() as $subsubcategory): ?>
<?php $subsubCat = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($subsubcategory); ?>
<?php $open = $this->isCategoryActive($subsubCat) ?>
<li><a href="<?php echo $this->getCategoryUrl($subsubCat); ?>" <?php if($open) { echo ' class="final"'; } ?>><?php echo $subsubCat->getName(); ?> (<?php echo $subsubCat->getProductCount(); ?>)</a></li>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>
<?php endif; ?>
</li>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>
<?php endif; ?>
</li>
<?php } ?>
<?php endforeach ?>
</ul>
This line always returns true
<?php $potential = $_category->hasChildren(); ?>
And I know that the category has children.
Can anyone suggest why this doesn't work?
This is how I place the phtml in the page:
<reference name="left">
<block type="catalog/navigation" name="catalog.vertnav" template="catalog/navigation/vert_nav.phtml" before="-" />
</reference>
Magento version 1.5.1.0

Answer 1

Try using $_category->getChildren() (instead of $_category->getChildrenCategories() )
Have an easy day,
Pesach

Answer 2

You might also like to try this,
foreach ($_category->getCategories($_category) as $subcategory):
getCategories() is a more complex form but it allows you more control too. By specifying a recursion level you can retrieve not just the children but grand-children too...

Answer 3

Try with this code,
$this->getCurrentCategory()->getChildrenCategories()
Hope this helps

Answer 4

<?php $helper = $this->helper('catalog/category') ?>
<?php $categories = $this->getStoreCategories() ?>
<?php foreach($categories as $category): ?>
<?php $subcategories = $category->getChildren() ?>
<?php foreach($subcategories as $subcategory): ?>
<?php $subsubcategories = $subcategory->getChildren() ?>
<?php foreach($subsubcategories as $subsubcategory): ?>
<?php endforeach; ?><!-- end foreach subsubcategories -->
<?php endforeach; ?><!-- end foreach subcategories -->
<?php endforeach; ?><!-- end foreach categories -->
This is the basic idea behind extracting children categories.
So accordingly you can work on it.