View Helper - Menu

Introduction

The Menu helper is used for rendering menus from navigation containers. By default, the menu will be rendered using HTML UL and LI tags, but the helper also allows using a partial view script.

Methods in the Menu helper:

  • {get|set}UlClass() gets/sets the CSS class used in renderMenu().

  • {get|set}OnlyActiveBranch() gets/sets a flag specifying whether only the active branch of a container should be rendered.

  • {get|set}RenderParents() gets/sets a flag specifying whether parents should be rendered when only rendering active branch of a container. If set to FALSE, only the deepest active menu will be rendered.

  • {get|set}Partial() gets/sets a partial view script that should be used for rendering menu. If a partial view script is set, the helper’s render() method will use the renderPartial() method. If no partial is set, the renderMenu() method is used. The helper expects the partial to be a String or an Array with two elements. If the partial is a String, it denotes the name of the partial script to use. If it is an Array, the first element will be used as the name of the partial view script, and the second element is the module where the script is found.

  • htmlify() overrides the method from the abstract class to return span elements if the page has no href.

  • renderMenu($container = null, $options = array()) is the default render method, and will render a container as a HTML UL list.

    If $container is not given, the container registered in the helper will be rendered.

    $options is used for overriding options specified temporarily without resetting the values in the helper instance. It is an associative array where each key corresponds to an option in the helper.

    Recognized options:

    • indent; indentation. Expects a String or an int value.
    • minDepth; minimum depth. Expects an int or NULL (no minimum depth).
    • maxDepth; maximum depth. Expects an int or NULL (no maximum depth).
    • ulClass; CSS class for ul element. Expects a String.
    • onlyActiveBranch; whether only active branch should be rendered. Expects a Boolean value.
    • renderParents; whether parents should be rendered if only rendering active branch. Expects a Boolean value.

    If an option is not given, the value set in the helper will be used.

  • renderPartial() is used for rendering the menu using a partial view script.

  • renderSubMenu() renders the deepest menu level of a container’s active branch.

Basic usage

This example shows how to render a menu from a container registered/found in the view helper. Notice how pages are filtered out based on visibility and ACL.

In a view script or layout:

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<?php echo $this->navigation()->menu()->render() ?>

Or simply:
<?php echo $this->navigation()->menu() ?>

Output:

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<ul class="navigation">
    <li>
        <a title="Go Home" href="/">Home</a>
    </li>
    <li class="active">
        <a href="/products">Products</a>
        <ul>
            <li class="active">
                <a href="/products/server">Foo Server</a>
                <ul>
                    <li class="active">
                        <a href="/products/server/faq">FAQ</a>
                    </li>
                    <li>
                        <a href="/products/server/editions">Editions</a>
                    </li>
                    <li>
                        <a href="/products/server/requirements">System Requirements</a>
                    </li>
                </ul>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a href="/products/studio">Foo Studio</a>
                <ul>
                    <li>
                        <a href="/products/studio/customers">Customer Stories</a>
                    </li>
                    <li>
                        <a href="/products/studio/support">Support</a>
                    </li>
                </ul>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a title="About us" href="/company/about">Company</a>
        <ul>
            <li>
                <a href="/company/about/investors">Investor Relations</a>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a class="rss" href="/company/news">News</a>
                <ul>
                    <li>
                        <a href="/company/news/press">Press Releases</a>
                    </li>
                    <li>
                        <a href="/archive">Archive</a>
                    </li>
                </ul>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="/community">Community</a>
        <ul>
            <li>
                <a href="/community/account">My Account</a>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a class="external" href="http://forums.example.com/">Forums</a>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
</ul>

Calling renderMenu() directly

This example shows how to render a menu that is not registered in the view helper by calling the renderMenu() directly and specifying a few options.

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<?php
// render only the 'Community' menu
$community = $this->navigation()->findOneByLabel('Community');
$options = array(
    'indent'  => 16,
    'ulClass' => 'community'
);
echo $this->navigation()
          ->menu()
          ->renderMenu($community, $options);
?>

Output:

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                <ul class="community">
                    <li>
                        <a href="/community/account">My Account</a>
                    </li>
                    <li>
                        <a class="external" href="http://forums.example.com/">Forums</a>
                    </li>
                </ul>

Rendering the deepest active menu

This example shows how the renderSubMenu() will render the deepest sub menu of the active branch.

Calling renderSubMenu($container, $ulClass, $indent) is equivalent to calling renderMenu($container, $options) with the following options:

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array(
    'ulClass'          => $ulClass,
    'indent'           => $indent,
    'minDepth'         => null,
    'maxDepth'         => null,
    'onlyActiveBranch' => true,
    'renderParents'    => false
);
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<?php
echo $this->navigation()
          ->menu()
          ->renderSubMenu(null, 'sidebar', 4);
?>

The output will be the same if ‘FAQ’ or ‘Foo Server’ is active:

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    <ul class="sidebar">
        <li class="active">
            <a href="/products/server/faq">FAQ</a>
        </li>
        <li>
            <a href="/products/server/editions">Editions</a>
        </li>
        <li>
            <a href="/products/server/requirements">System Requirements</a>
        </li>
    </ul>

Rendering with maximum depth

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<?php
echo $this->navigation()
          ->menu()
          ->setMaxDepth(1);
?>

Output:

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<ul class="navigation">
    <li>
        <a title="Go Home" href="/">Home</a>
    </li>
    <li class="active">
        <a href="/products">Products</a>
        <ul>
            <li class="active">
                <a href="/products/server">Foo Server</a>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a href="/products/studio">Foo Studio</a>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a title="About us" href="/company/about">Company</a>
        <ul>
            <li>
                <a href="/company/about/investors">Investor Relations</a>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a class="rss" href="/company/news">News</a>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="/community">Community</a>
        <ul>
            <li>
                <a href="/community/account">My Account</a>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a class="external" href="http://forums.example.com/">Forums</a>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
</ul>

Rendering with minimum depth

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<?php
echo $this->navigation()
          ->menu()
          ->setMinDepth(1);
?>

Output:

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<ul class="navigation">
    <li class="active">
        <a href="/products/server">Foo Server</a>
        <ul>
            <li class="active">
                <a href="/products/server/faq">FAQ</a>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a href="/products/server/editions">Editions</a>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a href="/products/server/requirements">System Requirements</a>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="/products/studio">Foo Studio</a>
        <ul>
            <li>
                <a href="/products/studio/customers">Customer Stories</a>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a href="/products/studio/support">Support</a>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="/company/about/investors">Investor Relations</a>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a class="rss" href="/company/news">News</a>
        <ul>
            <li>
                <a href="/company/news/press">Press Releases</a>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a href="/archive">Archive</a>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="/community/account">My Account</a>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a class="external" href="http://forums.example.com/">Forums</a>
    </li>
</ul>

Rendering only the active branch

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<?php
echo $this->navigation()
          ->menu()
          ->setOnlyActiveBranch(true);
?>

Output:

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<ul class="navigation">
    <li class="active">
        <a href="/products">Products</a>
        <ul>
            <li class="active">
                <a href="/products/server">Foo Server</a>
                <ul>
                    <li class="active">
                        <a href="/products/server/faq">FAQ</a>
                    </li>
                    <li>
                        <a href="/products/server/editions">Editions</a>
                    </li>
                    <li>
                        <a href="/products/server/requirements">System Requirements</a>
                    </li>
                </ul>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
</ul>

Rendering only the active branch with minimum depth

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<?php
echo $this->navigation()
          ->menu()
          ->setOnlyActiveBranch(true)
          ->setMinDepth(1);
?>

Output:

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<ul class="navigation">
    <li class="active">
        <a href="/products/server">Foo Server</a>
        <ul>
            <li class="active">
                <a href="/products/server/faq">FAQ</a>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a href="/products/server/editions">Editions</a>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a href="/products/server/requirements">System Requirements</a>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
</ul>

Rendering only the active branch with maximum depth

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<?php
echo $this->navigation()
          ->menu()
          ->setOnlyActiveBranch(true)
          ->setMaxDepth(1);
?>

Output:

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<ul class="navigation">
    <li class="active">
        <a href="/products">Products</a>
        <ul>
            <li class="active">
                <a href="/products/server">Foo Server</a>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a href="/products/studio">Foo Studio</a>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
</ul>

Rendering only the active branch with maximum depth and no parents

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<?php
echo $this->navigation()
          ->menu()
          ->setOnlyActiveBranch(true)
          ->setRenderParents(false)
          ->setMaxDepth(1);
?>

Output:

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<ul class="navigation">
    <li class="active">
        <a href="/products/server">Foo Server</a>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="/products/studio">Foo Studio</a>
    </li>
</ul>

Rendering a custom menu using a partial view script

This example shows how to render a custom menu using a partial view script. By calling setPartial(), you can specify a partial view script that will be used when calling render(). When a partial is specified, the renderPartial() method will be called. This method will assign the container to the view with the key container.

In a layout:

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$this->navigation()->menu()->setPartial('my-module/partials/menu');
echo $this->navigation()->menu()->render();

In module/MyModule/view/my-module/partials/menu.phtml:

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foreach ($this->container as $page) {
    echo $this->navigation()->menu()->htmlify($page) . PHP_EOL;
}

Output:

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<a title="Go Home" href="/">Home</a>
<a href="/products">Products</a>
<a title="About us" href="/company/about">Company</a>
<a href="/community">Community</a>
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