Wrapping link and .sub-menu with wp_nav_menu

Question

I want to wrap each sub-menu ul and the tag just before it with a div.

I can create the opening tag using the 'before' attribute of wP-nav_menu like this:

wp_nav_menu(array(
    'before' => '<div class="child-wrap">'
));

The div then needs to close after the link but also after the submenu so the output is:

<ul>
    <li>
        <div class="child-wrap">
            <a href="...">Menu Item</a>
        </div>
    </li>
    <li>
        <div class="child-wrap">
            <a href="...">Menu Item</a>
            <ul class="sub-menu">
              ....
            </ul>
        </div>
    </li>
</ul>

I know I can use a Walker but I really don't understand how it works (inside the walker class) so any help would be appreciated...

Answer 1

Ifigured it out myself, thanks to reading this: http://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/understanding-the-walker-class--wp-25401

I created a custom walker:

class Child_Wrap extends Walker_Nav_Menu
{
    function end_el(&$output, $item, $depth)
    {
        $indent = str_repeat("\t", $depth);
        $output .= "$indent</div></li>\n";
    }
}

And used wp_nav_menu:

function main_nav() {
wp_nav_menu(array(
    'before' => '<div class="child-wrap">',       // before the menu
    'walker' => new Child_Wrap 
));
}

Answer 2

http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_get_nav_menu_items

You can use this example to get started:

    // Get the nav menu based on $menu_name (same as 'theme_location' or 'menu' arg to wp_nav_menu)
// This code based on wp_nav_menu's code to get Menu ID from menu slug

$menu_name = 'custom_menu_slug';

if ( ( $locations = get_nav_menu_locations() ) && isset( $locations[ $menu_name ] ) ) {
$menu = wp_get_nav_menu_object( $locations[ $menu_name ] );

$menu_items = wp_get_nav_menu_items($menu->term_id);

$menu_list = '<ul id="menu-' . $menu_name . '">';

foreach ( (array) $menu_items as $key => $menu_item ) {
    $title = $menu_item->title;
    $url = $menu_item->url;
    $menu_list .= '<li><a href="' . $url . '">' . $title . '</a></li>';
}
$menu_list .= '</ul>';
} else {
$menu_list = '<ul><li>Menu "' . $menu_name . '" not defined.</li></ul>';
}
// $menu_list now ready to output