Dynamic menu links in a module

Posted by emulov on December 24, 2012 at 3:28pm

Hello,

I am using Drupal 6.27. I am trying to develop a module with dynamic links. There are a lot of topics, blog posts etc. for this issue but I couldn't find a solution to my problem.

First of all, the code in consideration is as follows:

<?php
/**
 * Implementation of hook_menu()
 */
function emulov_programs_menu() {
  // Start creating non-admin panel links
  $items['programs'] = array( // Access path, URI, of the item
    'title' => 'Programs',
    'description' => 'Shows academic program information for this department',
    'page callback' => 'emulov_programs_page', // Call this function
    'access callback' => 'user_access', // Let Drupal handle the access permissions using user_access()
    'access arguments' => array('view programs'), // The permissions need to access this menu item
    'file' => 'program.pages.inc', // Call the above function from this file
    'type' => MENU_NORMAL_ITEM, // Drupal defaults to this item.  For details look for hook_menu() in api.drupal.org
    'menu_name' => 'primary-links', // Add to Primary Links menu
  );

/**
 * Implementation of hook_menu_link_alter() 
 */
function emulov_programs_menu_link_alter(&$item, $menu) {
  if ($item['link_path'] == 'programs') {
    $item['expanded'] = 1;
  }
}
}
?>

and program.pages.inc file:

<?php
/**
 * Page callback function for "programs" menu path
 */
function emulov_programs_page() {
  // Return the text in the "Programs page introduction" in the admin panel
  return variable_get('emulov_programs_proghome', '');
}
?>

This function creates a menu item with a static path to mysite.com/programs. However, sometimes emulov_programs_proghome variable is empty and in that case, I want to make /programs link as "nolink".

How I can manage to do this operation?

Thanks,

Comments

What do you mean by "nolink",

Posted by nevets on December 24, 2012 at 5:12pm

What do you mean by "nolink", that the link is hidden?

Absolutely. The link will be

Posted by emulov on December 24, 2012 at 6:06pm

Absolutely. The link will be hidden, however the title will be shown and the menu item can be expanded.

I forgot to mention that I am using Special Menu Items to get this "nolink" functionality.

Hi Emulov, you could tackle

Posted by hapax legomenon on December 26, 2012 at 4:16am

Hi Emulov,

you could tackle it in a number of ways. The approach would of course change depending upon the intended use case.

The menu item can be a variable, this allows any number of dynamic links if placed inside a foreach. $programs would of course need to be populated with the intended menu item(s).

<?php
function emulov_programs_menu() {
$items = array();
$items[$programs] = array(
);
return $items;
?>

Hello hapax legomenon,I have

Posted by emulov on December 26, 2012 at 9:54am

Hello hapax legomenon,

I have modified the code according to your instructions.

<?php
  $field_proghome = variable_get('emulov_programs_proghome_link', 'programs');
  $items[$field_proghome] = array(
    'title' => 'Programs',
    'description' => '',
    'page callback' => 'emulov_programs_page', 
    'access callback' => 'user_access',
    'access arguments' => array('view programs'),
    'file' => 'program.pages.inc', 
    'type' => MENU_NORMAL_ITEM, 
    'menu_name' => 'primary-links', 
  );
?>

I am controlling the "emulov_programs_proghome_link" from the admin panel, I am having no problems in that. However, when I set

emulov_programs_proghome_link = 'nolink'

emulov_programs_proghome_link = '<nolink>'

emulov_programs_proghome_link = '#'

, the menu dissapears and it doesn't work. It is also not possible to edit the path from the Menus admin menu.

I think the module is not calling or processing Special Menu Items functions somehow.