I've been thinking on a relatively decent approach that would be flexible and that wouldn't require a core hack. I couldn't find one that fulfills both requirements. So I went for the one that doesn't require a core hack.
1. Edit the qa-theme/<your-theme>/qa-theme.php file
2. Locate the doctype() function. If it doesn't exist then just add it as explained in step 3
3. Change it so that it looks like this:
public function doctype() {
if ($this->template === 'ask' && isset($this->content['form']['fields']['category']['options'])) {
$categories = $this->content['form']['fields']['category']['options'];
$categoryId = null;
if (!isset($categoryId)) {
foreach ($categories as $catId => $catName) {
if (is_numeric($catId)) {
$categoryId = $catId;
break;
}
}
}
if (isset($categoryId)) {
$categoryPath = qa_db_select_with_pending(qa_db_category_nav_selectspec($categoryId, true, false, true));
$categoryPath = qa_category_path($categoryPath, $categoryId);
$categoryPath = array_keys($categoryPath);
$categoryPath = '/' . implode('/', $categoryPath);
$templateLine = " qa_category_select('category', %s);";
$emptyLine = sprintf($templateLine, qa_js(''));
$categoryLine = sprintf($templateLine, qa_js($categoryPath));
foreach ($this->content['script'] as &$line) {
if ($line === $emptyLine) {
$line = $categoryLine;
break;
}
}
}
}
parent::doctype();
}
4. This will select the first category from top to bottom in the combobox. If you want to select a particular one, even if it is a child category, this does the magic too. You just need to input the appropriate category ID. For example, if you want to open category ID 5 then you should replace this line:
$categoryId = null;
with this one
$categoryId = 5;
In order to find out the category ID of a category just navigate to admin/categories. In there browse the categories until you find the one you want to default to. Check the URL in the location bar of your browser. It should look like this admin/categories?edit=X . The category ID is the number X.
