category level dependant archive output

<?php
switch(count(explode('|', get_category_parents(get_query_var('cat'),false,'|') ) )-1) {
    case 1:
        echo "ancestor";
        /*the code for the 'parent' list with descriptions here;
        i.e. get_categories('parent=' . get_query_var('cat') ); etc*/
        break;
    case 2:
        echo "parent";
        /*the code for the 'category' list with descriptions here;
        i.e. get_categories('parent=' . get_query_var('cat') ); etc*/
        break;
    case 3:
        echo "category";
        /*the code for the loop with posts of the category here;
        i.e. query_posts(array('category__in' => array( get_query_var('cat') ) ) ); etc*/
        break;
}
?>