Example in procedural code for a tree parser based on an array that i'd like to implement in ClosureTable It echoes the code that should be executed once implemented.

createFromArray.php

<?php

$data = [
    [ 'id' => 0 ],
    [ 'id' => 1 ],
    [ 'id' => 2,
      'children' => [
        [ 'id' => 3 ],
        [ 'id' => 4,
          'children' => [
            [ 'id' => 5 ],
          ],
        ],
      ],
    ],
  ];



function createFromArray($data = array(), $parent = null)
{
  	$last_id = $parent;
	
	foreach($data as $key => $value)
	{
		if($key == 'id' && !is_array($value))
		{
			$last_id = $value;
			if($parent != null)
			{
				// A parent is set, we can perform the moves
				echo '$page = Page::find('.$value.')'."\n";
				echo '$page->moveTo('.$parent.')'."\n";
			}
		}
		elseif($key == 'children' && is_array($value) && !is_null($parent))
		{
			// A parent is set, we parse the subtree
			createFromArray($value, $last_id);
		}
		elseif(is_array($value) && count($value))
		{
			// Key is not id nor children, we're at the root of the array
			createFromArray($value, $last_id);
		}
	}
}

createFromArray($data);

I rarely use auto-incremented IDs, so my view is biased. But I guess at first we need the most common cases to be solved.