Fixed parent item ignored when using menu blocks with minipanels [#1253540]

I have a problem that is quite similar to #331934: Add option to select parent item of menu tree in that I'm trying to display multiple menu blocks with fixed parent items. The difference is that my implementation displays these blocks in minipanel panes within a mega menu. I'm using the Menu Minipanels module to do this.

An example menu structure would be organized as follows.

Primary links
--Home
--Departments
----Dept A
------A1
------A2
----Dept B
------B1
------B2
--And so on

In this example, there is a minipanel pane for each department, and each pane contains a menu block that should be set to point to the department as the Fixed Parent Item. They should display as follows.

Dept A
A1
A2

Dept B
B1
B2

On adding the menu blocks, I used the following options.

Block title as link:	Yes (checked)
Menu:	Primary links
Starting level:	3rd level (tertiary)
Make the starting level follow the active menu item:	No (NOT checked)
Maximum depth:	2
Expand all children of this tree:	No (NOT checked)
Sort menu tree by the active menu item’s trail:	No (NOT checked)
Fixed parent item:	Dept x (selected from the Primary links menu tree)

When I visit a page that is not under one of those departments in the Primary links menu, none of the menu blocks appear; however, when I visit one that is, both blocks show the menu for the same department, as below.

Dept B
B1
B2

On top of this, when I revisit the settings for one of the menu blocks, the value that I've selected for the Fixed parent item has been replaced by the value "the menu selected by the page".

I don't believe that this has anything to do with the Menu Minipanels module, because the same problem occurs in the preview provided on the minipanel content page.

Comments

Comment #1

pbfleetwood CreditAttribution: pbfleetwood commented 29 August 2011 at 14:01

I guess that no one else has run into this. :(

Comment #2

pbfleetwood CreditAttribution: pbfleetwood commented 7 September 2011 at 13:19

In case anyone else should run into a similar problem, I'll describe my solution. Since I was unable to find a work around for the problem and, as no one cared to comment, I could expect no remedy in the near term--perhaps my description was too detailed--I had no choice but to abandon using the Menu Block module. Instead, I hard coded the links in the mini panel in unordered lists, which I styled as menus. This was very disappointing, because this will lead to a recurring maintenance nuisance, and Menu Block really should have been the perfect solution for this implementation. :(

Comment #3

drupalok CreditAttribution: drupalok commented 12 September 2011 at 11:33

same problem here, but i found another workaround:

create a regular BLOCK with the menu tree and add the block to the (mini-)panel

Comment #4

pbfleetwood CreditAttribution: pbfleetwood commented 19 September 2011 at 19:32

I have it working now, and would like to leave some notes for anyone else that comes upon problems like this.

It is most important when adding content to the minipanel to not be tempted to use the Menu option and select a menu tree. That option does provide all of the Menu Block configuration options, but it leads to the problem that this issue was about.

Instead, use the Miscellaneous option, under which any menu blocks that you've defined using the Add Menu Block option will appear. (I see now that this is what was referred to by drupalok in #3.)

I also changed some of the options for my menu blocks, as follows.

Block title:	(Remember to leave this blank, or the next option will be unavailable. Though I don't really see why it should be so.)
Block title as link:	Yes (checked)
Menu:	Primary links
Starting level:	1st level (primary) (I had this set to 3rd level, and was getting nothing.)
Make the starting level follow the active menu item:	No (NOT checked)
Maximum depth:	Unlimited (I'm using the Primary menu only to define the contents of this minipanel, so the tree is shallow.)
Expand all children of this tree:	Yes (checked)
Sort menu tree by the active menu item’s trail:	No (NOT checked)
Fixed parent item:	Dept x (Selected from the Primary links menu tree as in the original example.)

I did not test these options exhaustively--I just got it working, then had to move on to another part of my project--so you may find that other settings will work equally well for you. Don't give up on this module until you've given it a fair try by working through the options. I would have made that mistake if I'd not been encouraged by drupalok's helpful comment.

This is a very nice module, even if it is a bit fiddly. I'll try to remember to add a link to the site that I've added this to once it goes live.

Comment #5

drupalok CreditAttribution: drupalok commented 20 September 2011 at 08:54

sorry if my explanation was a bit confusing... :)

i have to add one information: adding menu blocks in panels USED TO WORK! actually i still got some working ones left in my panels... but when i try to change anything and save, the parent level gets lost...

i dont know which update stopped this from working...

Comment #6

pbfleetwood CreditAttribution: pbfleetwood commented 20 September 2011 at 12:33

@drupalok, your explanation would have been fine for anyone other than a complete newbie like me, who is too easily confused about which options to take. :/

For the benefit of others like me, the steps are: Use admin/build/blocks/add-menu-block to create your block; then when adding content to your minipanel, click on the gear icon for the region where you wish to place the block, select Add Content, and then when the Add Content dialog opens, click on Miscellaneous to find and select the block that you've created. Beyond that, it's down to tinkering with the Menu Block options, which you can get to by going to admin/build/blocks, finding your block, and clicking on its Configure link.

Hopefully, the functionality mentioned in #5 will be restored in a future update, because it would reduce the steps and avoid adding more clutter to the Blocks page.