Styling categories

 <?php
      perch_blog_custom(array(
     'template' => 'categories-dropdown.html',
   ));
 ?>

<perch:before><select></perch:before>
<option style="margin-left: <perch:category id="catDepth" type="hidden" />0px;">
    <h4><perch:category id="catTitle" type="smarttext" label="Title" required="true" /></h4>
    <perch:category id="catSlug" type="slug" for="catTitle" suppress="true" />
    <perch:category id="desc" type="textarea" label="Description" editor="markitup" markdown="true" size="s" />
</option>
<perch:after></select></perch:after>

Clearly, I have little clue how to do this!

Also, when I preview a draft, the preview page is completely unstyled. I cant find anything in documentation that tells me how the preview page is generated so I can make it look like a proper page.

Hi Chris, to output the list of categories as a select list that links to the archive page showing all blogs with that category, you should be able to use something like this:

<!--* Replace YOUR_ID and YOUR_CATEGORY_SET with your values *-->
<perch:categories id="YOUR_ID" set="YOUR_CATEGORY_SET" label="Categories" >

  <perch:before>
    <!--* ONCHANGE makes the browser go to the selected page *-->
    <select ONCHANGE="location = this.options[this.selectedIndex].value;">
    <option value="" selected="selected">Select</option> 
  </perch:before>   

    <!--* if your archive page is in the same directory *-->
    <option value="archive.php?cat=<perch:category id="catPath" />"><perch:category id="catTitle" /></option> 

  <perch:after>
    </select>
  </perch:after>

</perch:categories>

Thank you guys - I'll take a look and see how I get on with this

OK I now have this, but its not working. Not showing anything at all

<!--* Replace YOUR_ID and YOUR_CATEGORY_SET with your values *-->
<perch:categories id="select_list" set="blog" label="Categories" >

  <perch:before>
    <!--* ONCHANGE makes the browser go to the selected page *-->
    <select ONCHANGE="location = this.options[this.selectedIndex].value;">
    <option value="" selected="selected">Select</option> 
  </perch:before>   

    <!--* if your archive page is in the same directory *-->
    <option value="archive.php?cat=<perch:category id="catPath" />"><perch:category id="catTitle" /></option> 

  <perch:after>
    </select>
  </perch:after>

</perch:categories>

<?php perch_categories(array(
      'set' => 'blog',
     'template' => 'blog_select_list.html'
 )); ?>

I have just one set, 'blog' in my categories.

It gives this

Debug Message
Search term:
Using template: /templates/search/search-result.html
SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM perch2_blog_index idx JOIN perch2_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN perch2_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='postDateTime' WHERE 1=1 AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2016-01-28 22:25:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval DESC LIMIT 0, 8
SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM perch2_settings WHERE userID=0
Using template: /templates/blog/post_in_list.html
SELECT * FROM perch2_blog_authors ORDER BY authorFamilyName, authorGivenName ASC
SELECT * FROM perch2_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
SELECT * FROM perch2_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
SELECT setID FROM perch2_category_sets WHERE setSlug='blog' LIMIT 1
SELECT main.* FROM perch2_categories main WHERE 1=1 AND setID=1 ORDER BY catTreePosition ASC
Using template: /templates/categories/blog_select_list.html
Using template: /templates/search/search-form.html
SELECT DISTINCT idx.itemID FROM perch2_blog_index idx JOIN perch2_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND (idx.indexKey='_category' AND idx.indexValue LIKE 'blog/next-meeting/%' OR idx.indexKey='_category' AND idx.indexValue='blog/next-meeting/')
SELECT DISTINCT idx.itemID FROM perch2_blog_index idx JOIN perch2_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND (idx.indexKey='_category' AND idx.indexValue LIKE 'blog/main-featured/%' OR idx.indexKey='_category' AND idx.indexValue='blog/main-featured/')
SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM perch2_blog_index idx JOIN perch2_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN perch2_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='postDateTime' AND idx.itemID IN ('16', '35', '36') AND idx.itemID NOT IN ('1', '39') WHERE 1=1 AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2016-01-28 22:25:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval DESC LIMIT 0, 1
SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
Using template: /templates/blog/sidebar-post-in-list.html
SELECT DISTINCT idx.itemID FROM perch2_blog_index idx JOIN perch2_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND (idx.indexKey='_category' AND idx.indexValue LIKE 'blog/next-meeting/%' OR idx.indexKey='_category' AND idx.indexValue='blog/next-meeting/') OR (idx.indexKey='_category' AND idx.indexValue LIKE 'blog/main-featured/%' OR idx.indexKey='_category' AND idx.indexValue='blog/main-featured/') OR (idx.indexKey='_category' AND idx.indexValue LIKE 'blog/previous-meetings/%' OR idx.indexKey='_category' AND idx.indexValue='blog/previous-meetings/')
SELECT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM perch2_blog_index idx JOIN perch2_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN perch2_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='postDateTime' AND idx.itemID NOT IN ('1', '25', '26', '29', '31', '32', '39', '17', '34', '37', '38', '16', '35', '36') WHERE 1=1 AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2016-01-28 22:25:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval DESC LIMIT 0, 1
Using template: /templates/blog/sidebar-post-in-list.html
SELECT DISTINCT idx.itemID FROM perch2_blog_index idx JOIN perch2_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND (idx.indexKey='_category' AND idx.indexValue LIKE 'blog/previous-meetings/%' OR idx.indexKey='_category' AND idx.indexValue='blog/previous-meetings/')
SELECT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM perch2_blog_index idx JOIN perch2_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN perch2_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='postDateTime' AND idx.itemID IN ('17', '37', '38') WHERE 1=1 AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2016-01-28 22:25:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval DESC LIMIT 0, 1
Using template: /templates/blog/sidebar-post-in-list.html

Thanks Drew this works great.

Just one last quick question, how do I exclude certain categories from appearing on the list?