Dolphin 8: Menus

Updated API in Dolphin 8 - Menus.

Menu uses set of items and the template to display it, so it is possible to have several menus which uses the same set of items but different templates.

Menu is any set of some links or actions, for example menu can be links in site's footer or actions in profile view.

Creating the Menu object

1. Add record to sys_objects_menu table:

• object - name of the menu object, in the format: vendor prefix, underscore, module prefix, underscore, internal identifier or nothing; for example: bx_groups_actions - actions menu in group view.
• title - name of the menu, displayed in the studio menu builder.
• set_name - name of items' set.
• module - the module this menu belongs to.
• template_id - the template to use for menu displaying, this is id from sys_menu_templates table.
• deleteable - it determines if menu can be deleted from the studio menu builder.
• active - it is possible to disable particular menu, then it will not be displayed.
• override_class_name - user defined class name which is derived from BxTemplMenu.
• override_class_file - the location of the user defined class, leave it empty if class is located in system folders.

Menu templates are stored in sys_menu_templates table:

• id - template id.
• template - template file.
• title - template title to display in the studio menu builder.

All menu templates iterate through bx_repeat:menu_items and use the following template variables for each menu item: __link__, __target__, __onclick__, __title__, __class_add__.

2. Add an empty menu set to sys_menu_sets table (if you want to use new set of items for created menu):

• set_name - the set name.
• module - the module this set belongs to.
• title - name of the set, displayed in studio menu builder.
• deletable - it determines if the set can be deleted from menu builder.

3. Add menu items to the set by adding records to sys_menu_items table:

• set_name - the set name this item belogs to.
• module - the module this item belongs to.
• name - name of the item (not displayed to the end user), unique in the particular set.
• title - menu item title to display to the end user, please note that some templates can still display menu as icons without text titles.
• link - menu item URL.
• onclick - menu item onclick event.
• target - menu item target.
• icon - menu item icon, please note that some templates can still display menu as text without icons.
• visibile_for_levels - bit field with set of member level ids. To use member level id in bit field - the level id minus 1 as power of 2 is used, for example:
  • user level id = 1 -> 2^(1-1) = 1
  • user level id = 2 -> 2^(2-1) = 2
  • user level id = 3 -> 2^(3-1) = 4
  • user level id = 4 -> 2^(4-1) = 8
• active - it is possible to disable particular menu item, then it will not be displayed.
• order - menu item order in the particular set.

4. Display Menu.

    bx_import('BxTemplMenu');
    $oMenu = BxTemplMenu::getObjectInstance('sample_menu'); // 'sample_menu' is 'object' field from 'sys_objects_menu' table.
    if ($oMenu)
        echo $oMenu->getCode; // display menu

But in most cases you don't need to use above code to display menu, menu objects are integrated into Pages - there is special menu page block type for it.