Creating a forum tab in main OG navigation

I'm wanting the top navigation to be persistent across all group information. I remembered I can use views to create a menu item in a tab, and with an argument will display a custom view of my forums in a tab in the group node.

But, the moment you click on a topic, you're in the 'forum' area, and the group navigation is gone.

Is this persistent effect achieved through theme templates using arguments for context instead of anything within og or panels?

So, it looks like the group block uses this bit of code to persist inside the group context: if (($node = og_get_group_context()) && node_access('view', $node))

Any way to keep the group's node menu visible in a similar way? Perhaps even defining a region in the top of the content and building a group menu inside that region, which would then persist in the same way the group block does based on the group context.

Just doing some open musing in this thread. I've decided on two approaches:

1.) Moving the group block to a new region above the content area of the page template, and theming it for horizontal dropdowns. Would have to add a couple links but probably not too difficult.

2.) Building a static menu template for my groups that uses the same path for every single group, with with the group id being the argument, and putting this code in my new region. Since all my groups will be the same in terms of pages, layout, and content types, it seems like this could work (and looks kinda like what mothersclick.com did. )

Should I succeed, I will return and demonstrate with screenshots and code :) In the meantime, comments or suggestions are welcome

Hey guys, sorry I didn't respond earlier

I did actually make a custom control area for my organic groups, kinda similar to mothersclick. Since all my groups are homogenous and don't have other pages, it was easy for me to do this, but in a setup that needs flexibility I don't think it would work for you.

I've attached an image of what mine looks like - I think it looks pretty good, but I was on a deadline, so I added the code below to my page tpl and called it good. So, if you're looking for a completely custom control area and your groups all have the same pages/features, this might be a good starting area for you? idk

          <?php if (($node = og_get_group_context()) && node_access('view', $node)) : ?>

          <?php $group_nid = og_get_group_context()->nid; ?>

          <?php $forum_link = og_forum_get_forum_container($group_nid); ?>

          <div id="OGControl">
             <span class="og_span"><a href="/node/<?php print $group_nid;?>" class="og_link">Home</a></span>
             <span class="og_span"><a href="/forum/<?php print $forum_link;?>" class="og_link">Forums</a></span>
             <span class="og_span"><a href="/og_calendar/<?php print $group_nid;?>" class="og_link">Events</a></span>
             <span class="og_span"><a href="/node/<?php print $group_nid;?>/broadcast" class="og_link">Broadcast</a></span>
             <span class="og_span"><a href="/og/users/<?php print $group_nid;?>" class="og_link">Members</a></span>

          <div style="clear:both; height:22px; margin-top:2px; padding-top:8px;">

          <form action="/og/search/<?php print $group_nid;?>"  accept-charset="UTF-8" method="get" id="og-search-form">
             <div class="og_search_line"><input type="text" maxlength="255" name="filter0" id="edit-filter0"  size="19" value="" class="form-text" />
             <input type="submit" name="op" id="edit-submit" value="Search"  class="form-submit" />           
             <span class="og_add_forum" style="float:left; margin-left:20px;"><a href="/node/add/forum?gids[]=<?php print $group_nid;?>" class="og_link_forum">add a new forum topic</a></span>
             <span class="og_add_event" style="float:left; margin-left:15px;"><a href="/node/add/event?gids[]=<?php print $group_nid;?>" class="og_link_event">add a new event</a></span>   </div>
          </form>

          </div>
          </div>

         <?php endif; ?>

If you want the css and images to go along with it, here you go. It's specific to my theme and solution, but maybe it'll help you have a working base. Using the code shown above, along with additional or fewer links depending on your OG needs, you can create any html/css you want to make your control box :)

I've set the normal organic groups region in the page to be visible only to admins on the site, so regular uses just see my control box when browsing a group

/* ************** Organic Groups Control Box ************ */
#OGControl {
	background: url(images/og_box.gif);
	height: 86px;
	width: 671px;
	padding-left:5px;
	margin-bottom:15px;
	clear:both;
}
#OGControl .og_link {
	background:url(images/og_button.gif); 
	width:95px; 
	height:24px; 
	line-height:24px; 	
	display:block; 
	margin-top:23px; 
	text-align:center;
	color:#fff;
	font-weight:bold;
}

.og_span {
	float:left;
	margin-right:1px;
}
.og_link_forum {
	background:url(images/og_add.gif) no-repeat left center; 
	display:block; 
	padding-left:20px; 
	height:22px;
	line-height:22px;
	_display: inline
}
.og_link_event {
	background:url(images/og_event.gif) no-repeat left center; 
	display:block; 
	padding-left:23px; 
	height:22px;
	line-height:22px;
	_display: inline
}
#OGControl .form-submit {
	width:56px;
	height:22px;
	background:#656250;
	border:0px solid #28261b;
	color:#fff;
	text-align:center;	
	float:left;
	margin-left:3px;
	clear:right;
	margin-right:10px;
}
#OGControl .form-text {
	width:96px;
	float:left;
	background:url(images/mg.gif) no-repeat 2px center;
	padding-left:20px;
	clear:left;
}
.og_search_line {
	line-height:23px;
}