ADDING MENU BLOCKS ------------------ To add new menu blocks, use the "Add menu block" tab (or button) on the administer blocks page, admin/build/block. You will then be able to configure your menu block before adding it. CONFIGURING MENU BLOCKS ----------------------- When adding or configuring a menu block, several configuration options are available: Block title For menu trees that start with the 1st level, the default block title will be the menu name. For menu trees that start with the 2nd level or deeper, the default block title will be the title for the parent menu item of the specified level. For example, if the active menu trail for the Navigation menu is: Administer > Site building > Menus > Primary links, then a menu block configured to start with the 1st level of the Navigation will display a block title of "Navigation". And a menu block configured to start with the 3rd level of the Navigation menu will display a block title of "Site building". Block title as link For menu trees that start with the 2nd level or deeper, the default block title will be the title for the parent menu item of the specified level. If this option is checked, the block title will be a link to that menu item. Administrative title To help identify the block on the administer blocks page, you can specify a unique title to be used on that page. If blank, the regular title will be used. Menu name Select the menu to use for the tree of links. Starting level Blocks that start with the 1st level will always be visible. Blocks that start with the 2nd level or deeper will only be visible when the trail to the active menu item is in the block's tree. Make the starting level follow the active menu item If the active menu item is deeper than the level specified above, the starting level will follow the active menu item. Otherwise, the starting level of the tree will remain fixed. Maximum depth From the starting level, specify the maximum depth of the tree. Blocks with a maximum depth of 1 will just be a single un-nested list of links with none of those links' children displayed. Expand All children of this menu will be expanded. Sort Sort each item in the active trail to the top of its level. When used on a deep or wide menu tree, the active menu item's children will be easier to see when the page is reloaded. Fixed parent item If you select a specific menu item, you alter the "starting level" and "maximum depth" options to be relative to the fixed parent item. The tree of links will only contain children of the selected parent item. STYLING MENU BLOCKS ------------------- Classes: Themers should look at the myriad of classes added to the
,
  • and elements.
    The
    wrapped around the menu tree has a class for several of the configurable options of the block: menu-block-[block id number] menu-name-[menu name] parent-mlid-[menu link ID] menu-level-[level number]
  • The
  • elements of the menu tree can have an extended list of classes (compared to standard menu trees): first last menu-mlid-[menu link ID] has-children active active-trail The elements of the menu tree can have: active active-trail Templates: In addition, the wrapper
    for the block is generated using the menu-block-wrapper.tpl.php template. And Menu block provides several theme hook suggestions for that template: - menu-block-wrapper--[block id number].tpl.php - menu-block-wrapper--[menu name].tpl.php For example, a file in your theme called menu-block-wrapper--primary-links.tpl.php can be used to override the
    for just the "Primary links" menu blocks. Theme functions: Menu block uses Drupal core's menu theme functions. However, it also provides theme hook suggestions that can be used to override any of the theme functions called by it. - theme_menu_tree() can be overridden by creating one of: - [theme]_menu_tree__menu_block() - [theme]_menu_tree__menu_block__[menu name]() - [theme]_menu_tree__menu_block__[block id number]() - theme_menu_item() can be overridden by creating one of: - [theme]_menu_item__menu_block() - [theme]_menu_item__menu_block__[menu name]() - [theme]_menu_item__menu_block__[block id number]() - theme_menu_item_link() can be overridden by creating one of: - [theme]_menu_item_link__menu_block() - [theme]_menu_item_link__menu_block__[menu name]() - [theme]_menu_item_link__menu_block__[block id number]() For example, if you created a garland_menu_tree__menu_block() function, it would override theme_menu_tree() any time it was used by this module, but not when used by any other module. Similarly, a garland_menu_item__menu_block__1() function would override theme_menu_item(), but only for the first menu block in your system (the menu block with an ID of 1). MENU BLOCK API -------------- Developers can use the API of this module to create their own menu trees outside the confines of blocks. All of the publicly available API functions are documented in the menu_block.module file. In addition, Menu block implements HOOK_menu_block_get_menus(), HOOK_menu_block_get_sort_menus() and HOOK_menu_block_tree_alter(). See menu_block.api.php for documentation.