Hi everybody,

I just released version 0.2.0 of the extended menu module which comes with the extended menu pathway module (this requires the extended menu beeing installed)... and well I thought I let you know.

It is maybe easier to start with what this menu is NOT: It is no JavaScript menu... I MAY one day release also some JavaScipt to improve user experience but it will always work without. So if you are looking for a DHTML - this one is not for you (at least not now).

So original reason of life for this module was to give the option to have something like "Flat List" which works with sub menu items... looking at the source I decided to redesign it (hence it is not a hack and the code looks quite different)... yet it should offer all options the default mainmenu offers which should make it easier to play around with it.

This is what it mainly adds:

It adds menu styles:

• Tree List - like Flat List but with sub menus
• CSS Tree - makes it possible to show a DHTML Tree like Tree without DHTML (of course it behaves different)

Since 0.2.0:

• Ability to split the menu... either within the module itself or in different modules - the pathway shows as if it were a single menu
• access key support - you can assign access keys to menu items by marking up the menu items name
• patTemplate support... a template may design the HTML-output if necessary
• more control over the output - you can make each menu item get an hierarchy/position based id... that way you could style a menu item individually

(there are a few other parameters as well)

Links:

• http://de.siteof.de/extended-menu.html
• http://developer.joomla.org/sf/sfmain/do/viewProject/projects.extended_menu

Daniel

Hi Daniel
I would like to know if it is possible
when somebody click a main level display the sub levels without any change on frontpage content
for example

Mainlevel a
Mainlevel b

somebody click Mainlevel a  and no changes  on frontpage content only show sublevel a1 and 2

Mainlevel a
Sublevel a1
Sublevel a2

if somebody click  Sublevel a1  at this moment frontpage changes to show content related to sublevel a1

Thank you, I hope you understand my english

Hmm... you could probably have the two mainlevel items linked to the same item/component which would maybe have a similiar effect but would still reload the page.

For you one of the other modules may work probably better. There are quite a lot DHTML menues out there which should have the desired effect... but, some (or actually most I think) are not accessible without JavaScript (this affects accessibility and search engines crawling)... I don't know which other module is both accessible and uses JavaScript wisely at the same time.

you got the point, I am looking for an accessible multi level menu  for people with disabilities like me
Thank you for your answer.

It is definitely multi level and I try to have it accessible as possible (things which you usually archive with JavaScript/DHTML has a much lower priority)...
If you recognize anything which could improve accessibility please let me know (by myself I am just trying to use common sense and keep reading from time to time... but don't have first hand experience with it).

Sorry about my answer
Extended Menu is multi level and it is easier to have a list of options always present when it is clicked, what I mean was the specific need of a menu with some main level options that only give a description of the sub level options group and display them.
for example

main level Clubs
sub level Theater
sub level soccer
sub level photography


however, I will try Extended Menu with a content as description on main level
f.e. "You can reed more about the Clubs we offer, choose an option"


Thank  you

Hi Daniel,

I don't understand it well enough.
1. In the parameters I set Active Menu Class to 'yes' and Element ID to 'No', but the following code is generated: . It has both a class and an id.

2. I use many menu's in my site. To change them to Extended menu's, I havd to make copies of the Extended menu module and assing each of them to a seperate mainmenu?

3. I also don't understand the 'split menu'. If I want to asign a  mainlevel_active to both the topmenu item and the submenu in the left column, what do I have to do?

Thanks, Tom

Hi Tom,

1. I could not think of a better short name for what I just called "Element ID"... it is not for the active_menu id... but when set to yes it will add an id to all elements which let you design each element individually. The consequence is that there will not be the active_menu id anymore because only one id can be assigned. Currently there is no option to turn off the active_menu id... is this important?

2. Yes. Could probably even use SQL to change it and execute something like (untested):

If you want to change the default menu module to use you could hack the Core...
/administrator/components/com_menu_manager/admin.menumanager.php line 189 (Joomla 1.0.2)... change it from:

to:

But with the split menu capability you may not need that many individual menus and menu modules anymore. (Which would maybe even improve your pathway)

3. I may better direct you to the following thread: http://forum.joomla.org/index.php?topic=9977
If you set "Active Menu Class" for both to "Yes" then they should show for both... the split of a menu however requires you that both menu modules use a single menu... but the top shows for example the first level of your menu and the left menu shows all other starting from the second level.

Btw. when adding "Active Menu Class" I think I forgot something... thats why I will probabably add "mainlevel_current" and "sublevel_current" for the item which also gets the active_menu id. So if you are creating your CSS you could just add them as well already.

I hope that explains it a bit better.
Daniel

This is a great feature: we will be able to use for instance color as a navigation method, as is used on joomla.org. However I still can't get the double highlighting working, I'll have another look at the split menu settings.
Thanks so far, it certainly looks like a very usefull module  .

I still can't get the double highlighting working. I'll attach the parameters settings for both the main navigation menu and the submenu. Can you please have a look to see whether I'm doing something wrong?

Thanks, Tom

What is the URL of your site? Did you check the browser source to see whether it rendered the mainlevel_active/sublevel_active but your CSS may not style it or override it?

I'm testing it localy, not on the actual site. The source tells me the mainlevel_active/sublevel_active doesn't work, it renders mainlevel_active only. Do if I click an item in the submenu that items gets mainlevel_active in stead of sublevel_active.

For the second menu the first rendered level is also "mainlevel"... so you should get "mainlevel_active" two times when a item in the second (sub) menu is selected.

Structure could be like this:

top menu:

• mainlevel_active 1
• mainlevel 2

second menu:

• mainlevel_active 1.1
  
  • sublevel_active 1.1.1
  • sublevel 1.1.2
• mainlevel 1.2

In this example sublevel_active 1.1.1 would be the current page.
(In a later version this will probably becom sublevel_current 1.1.1 instead)

Is this maybe the case?

I set up a test site: http://tastytest.wormstation.nl/. When you click menu item menutest1 in the top navigation, you get a submenu. When you click one of the items of this menu, the item will be highligted, but the menutets1 not anymore. I could pm you an account to the testsite.

I see that the first menu looses it... and you are sure the first menu module is really the "extended menu" and not the default mainmenu module? If you send me access by PM that would be cool.

Ok, looked again... its a bug... which comes due to "optimization"... so for Horizontal and Flat List where only one level is shown the modules loads only the top level elements... but this is not enough for this highlighting. I could send you a temporary fix if you like or you wait for the next release. (I will not release this fix immediately)

Yes, please I would like to receive the fix .

Just an additional note for those coming along:
The fix is only needed for the menu type "Horizontal" or "Flat List" (or max depth=0)... since you should try to avoid tables ("Horizontal") and "Flat List" is just a limited version of "Tree List"... I don't consider it very important and will implement other features before releasing a new version (which will probably in more than a week).
(For some reasons each day a new line is magically added to my local TODO file)

Ok, I uploaded a new version (0.3.0)... (I had/have some hardware problems which caused some more delay than planned)...
The new improved version of the Extended Menu has a few more parameters for confusion... it may now be used with MambleFish, you are able to display a certain sub menu, its parent or even a list of content items (beta). In addition the pathway module gives you now the option to transform the pathway to a list.

The complete changelog:
# fixed optimization error with horizontal and flat list (affected active menu classes when splitting the menu)
# spacer were placed wrong for "Horizontal"
+ mamblefish support
+ optional call to getItemid - parameter: Resolve Itemid By Content Item
+ active menu style to li/td - parameter: Active Menu Class = "to li/td/div-Element"
+ image parameter for patTemplate
+ mainlevel_current/sublevel_current for the currently selected menu item
+ optional parent - parameter: Show Parent
+ select a certain menu item - parameter:  Parent Menu Item
+ section/category as source - parameter: Source Type / Source Value (currently beta)

Thanks for the update Daniel!
I have one problem: I use a mainmenu and a submenu, when I click a mainmenu item I go to the new page and the submenu shows allright, but when I click a submenu item and go to the page I loose my submenu. This may be caused by the new Parent Menu Item? I don't understand which values must be entered there, the submenu has to show up under the mainmenu item 'TEAM', which has the following url: /index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35&Itemid=50. Can you tell what I should enter as Parent Menu Item value? Or am I overseeing something else?

Thanks, Tom

Hi Tom,
I have to admit I do not quite follow you... so you are making use of the new "Parent Menu Item" parameter? If your mainlevel menu is "TEAM" with the URL posted (and it is not a URL-Link)... and you want to have a (second) menu module to always show the sub menu items of that menu the correct value for "Parent Menu Item" should be "50" (the same value you should see next to the menu item in the menu manager).
Do you have something online?
Daniel

Hi Daniel,
No I didn't want to use the Parent Menu Item persé, I thought I had too. I did another test wth the new module on a different site&server and it worked fine there. So it must be something else that doesn't work. I'll integrate it in a production site asap.

Thanks, Tom

Daniel,

I am building a Web site based on mambo 4.5.2 and am using the extended menu module (which is awesome).  I have nearly 500 static content pages and hence several menu items going as deep as 7 levels.  When I click on a parent item (level 1 say), the page refreshes to show the level 1 items and the level 2 items under that parent menu item.  I only want it to show the level 2 items and NOT the level 1 items.  MORE IMPORTANTLY, I would like this for every level of the menu i.e. if I click on level 6 menu item, the page reloads to show the level 6 items and level 7 items under that particular level 6 menu item.  I only want it to show the level 7 items and NOT the level 6 items.

I hope I'm being clear but just to assure myself that I'm explaining every properly - here's an example:

Let's say I'm on the homepage of my Web site.  If I consider the 4 items below to constitute my main menu with children as indicated:

*Home (children: none)
Food (children: fruits, vegetables, meat)
Liquid (children: water, juice, wine)
Contact Us (children: none)

So, the user does not see the children.  Only the parent items.

Now I click on "Food".  With the current settings, the "Food" menu collapses to show "fruits", "vegetables", "meat" like this:

Home
*Food
    Fruits
    Vegetables
    Meat
Liquid
Contact Us

INSTEAD, I want it to show the CHILDREN ONLY, like this: showing the content of the "Food" main page in the main content area)

Fruits
Vegetables
Meat

When I click on "Fruits" (and it's the last level), then the page reloads to show the content of the "Fruits" page and the menu will completely disappear.

I know this can be possible if I have only 2 levels but I have multiple.  I think the answer lies in setting the "level_begin" to the previous level of the menu item, so that it changes every time you go down (or up) one level.  This will be in lieu of allowing the administrator to set the level at which it begins.

Sorry about the long posting but I hope this can be figured out easily.  Thank you for all your work.

-suthram

Maybe you missed my answer over there: http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,6640.0.html

Extended Menu 0.3.1 just released...

This minor release fixes a bug with patTemplate support (if you use that at all), gives more control over the menu image, lets you create a relative menu using "Begin With Current Item Level" , adds the menu style "Select List" (drop down box) and for section/category/content ids you may now use the name/alias instead.

download:
http://developer.joomla.org/sf/frs/do/v ... menu.0_3_1

changelog:
# fixed patTemplate bug
! merged Show Menu Icons / Menu Icon Alignment
+ parameter value: Image Only for Show Menu Icons
+ menu images may also be linked
+ parameter: Begin With Current Item Level
+ menu style: Select List
+ ids for section/category/content may also be the name/alias instead

One word: Nice. 

After digging through all related threads als well as the extended menu docs, I'm still absolutely lost. I created a 2-level menu and two ex_menu modules, each displaying one level. but selecting something in the submenu doesn't keep the toplevel menu item highlighted. Writing the submenus's toplevel parent item into to field "parent item" leads to the submenu completely disappearing. I would be very grateful if someone could point me at what I'm doing wrong.

Thanks,
oLi

The "parent item" is only useful when you want to display sub menu items of a certain menu item - not level... instead you should use "Begin With Level".

ok, that's what I've already done, set the submenu "begin with level" property to 1. The menu is displaying as it should, but the top level item doesn't stay active when a submenu item is selected. I expected this to work with this component, so I'm wondering if the desired behavior depends on some setting that I have not understood yet

Ok... the id="active_menu" is only assigned to the current menu item... none of its parent in no case.
There is however the parameter "Active Menu Class".. with this the top menu item which is a parent of the current item gets class="mainlevel_active".
So instead of just styling #active_menu you may also want to style .mainlevel_active for beeing bold (or whatever).