Extended Menu Parameters

description

Here you should find information for the module parameter of the Extended Menu. They are sorted by occurrence. (Parameters already present in the default mainmenu module may not be listet here)

general

The following parameters have the same meaning accross any module. (see also the Joomla documentation)

Menu Class Suffix

A suffix to be applied to the css class of the menu items.

Module Class Suffix

A suffix to be applied to the css class of the module (table.moduletable), this allows individual module styling.

Enable Cache

Select whether to cache the content of this module.
(Not recommended for menus)

source fields

Menu Name

The name of the menu (default is "mainmenu"). (see also the Joomla documentation)

Source Type

Defines where to retrieve menu items from.

Menu (Auto Expand Sections/Categories)

Like "Menu" but section and category links are expanded to show there content items.

Sections

All published sections, categories and/or content items which are assigned to one of the section with a id specified by "Source Value" are displayed.

Content Items

All published content items with a id specified by "Source Value" are displayed.

Plugin

When this source is selected the plugin listening to the name given by the parameter "Source Value" is called to load the menu.

The meaning of the Source Value depends on "Source Type". Multiple values may be separated by a comma (","). Instead of the database id you could also use the name/alias or title instead. Wildcards are also allowed. If you prefix an entry with minus ("-") it will be excluded. Leaving Source Value empty will have the same effect as entering "*".
Examples:

"*" - this will include all published entries.
"*,-a*" - this will include all published entries except those starting with an "a" (name/alias or title).

Note: this parameter is currently not implemented properly for all Source Types (e.g. regular menu items).

Show Section

Defines whether the section link should be displayed.

Show Category

Defines whether the category link should be displayed.

Show Content Item

Defines whether the content item link should be displayed.

Order

Defines how the items should be sorted.

Default Itemid

This parameter is relevant for a source type other than "Menu" only. You may define the Itemid of a hidden category menu item for example, "0" or "1" for the front page.

style fields

Menu Style

Defines how the menu should be rendered.

Tree List

This menu style is like "Flat List" but renders also sub-menus.

HTML Tree

Renders a menu which looks like a tree (similiar to other JavaScript menus but without any JavaScript).
The images are expected to be in the folder /templates/currenttemplate/images/ and the following images are used:
base.gif, line.gif, join.gif, join_last.gif, minus.gif, minus_last.gif, plus.gif, folder.gif, folder_last.gif, folder_open.gif, document.gif, document_open.gif
Note: The preferred menu style is "CSS Tree" (please use this instead).

CSS Tree

Renders a menu which looks like a tree (similiar to other JavaScript menus but without any JavaScript). While "HTML Tree" renders image references directly, "CSS Tree" renders elements using the style classes.
The following style classes are used:
tree, start, noline, line, join, join_last, minus, minus_last, plus, folder_last, folder_open, document, document_open
You may want to have a look at the menu template "csstree" for a sample CSS file and images.

Select List

This menu styles makes the menu appear as a select (also known as drop-down) list with a submit button. This may be useful as a quick navigation without displaying all menu items once.

Plugin

When this menu style is selected the plugin listening to the name given by the parameter "Menu View Plugin Name" is called to display the menu.

Vertical

A vertical menu using tables - not recommended. Use another menu style instead which allows you to render a (nested) list and use CSS to apply a vertical appearance.

Horizontal

A horizontal menu using tables - not recommended. Use another menu style instead which allows you to render a list and use CSS to apply a vertical appearance.

Show Menu Icons

This parameter controls whether and how menu images should be displayed.

No

No menu image should be displayed.

Left Aligned

No menu image should be displayed left aligned.

Left Aligned (Linked)

Like "Left Aligned" but the image will be part of the link.

Right Aligned

No menu image should be displayed right aligned.

Right Aligned (Linked)

Like "Right Aligned" but the image will be part of the link.

Image Only

The image should be displayed only (no text).

Image Only (Linked)

Like "Image Only" but the image will be part a link.

Expand Menu

Expand the menu and make its sub-menus items always visible (otherwise only selected sub-menus will get expanded). (see also the Joomla documentation)

Expand Until Level

If you want that your menu expands until a certain level you could set the level until you want it to expand. Any value >= 2 will have an effect.

Maximum Depth

Using this parameter, you are able to limit the amount of levels rendered. (Usually you should not have that many anyway).

Hide First Entry

Joomla/Mambo uses the first menu entry as the homepage. But if you do not want to display that link in your menu, you may set this parameter to "Yes".

Show Parent

You may want to set this parameter to "Yes" if the parent of the menu items should be displayed. The parent will be empty for the menu root, the parent menu item in case you are displaying sub menu items or the section/category of the content items.

split fields

Parent Menu Item

If you want to display the children of a certain menu item this parameter may become useful. (Make sure the menu item is part of the selected menu defined by "Menu Name").

Begin With Current Item Level

If this parameter is set to "Yes" the menu begins with the level of the currently selected menu item.

Begin With Level

The menu will rendered starting with the given level. This parameter may be used to split the menu into different modules while this parameter would be set for the 2nd menu for example to 1.

Split Menu

The parameter defines the amount of levels rendered until a new menu will be rendered within this module.

Menu Count

The parameter defines the maximum amount of menus rendered within this module.

Enable Query Cache

Select whether to cache the query of this module (may be useful for menus splitted into modules). The cache is a per page load cache only.

output fields

Parse Access Key

The parameter defines how to parse/strip the access key markup. You can define access key using square bracket within the menu item's name. For example "[T]est" will define "t" as the access key.

None

No access key will be parsed.

Parse

The access key will be parsed as described above but the menu item's name will not change.

Strip

The access key will be parsed as described above and will be removed from the name. That way "[T]est" becomes "est". When the access key is prefixed by "-" this mode will be forced for the menu item only.

Strip Markup

The access key will be parsed as described above and the markup will be removed from the name. That way "[T]est" becomes "Test".

Strip And Emphase

The access key will be parsed as described above, the markup will be removed from the name while the access key will be emphased. That way "[T]est" becomes "Test".

Link Title

A title attribute may be added to links (useful in combination to show the access key). The title will be the name shown with the access key displayed at the end. The title for "[T]est" will be "Test [t]".

Level Class

Defines which level class should be applied (mainlevel/sublevel). (This parameter has no effect when a template file is used)

Default

The same classes will be used like in the default mainmenu module.

Mainlevel and Sublevel

Using this value you have more control over look using CSS.

Active Menu Class

All active menus (not only the current one) may get other style classes.

No

This is the default value. No extra style classes will be generated.

to a-Element

The classes to the a-elements will be set to "mainlevel_active"/"sublevel_active" for the active parent and "mainlevel_current"/"sublevel_current" for the current menu items .

to li/td/div-Element

Like "to a-element" but the classes will be set to the containing Element (li, td or div) instead.

Both

The extra class will be set to both element types.

Element Id

Each element may get an id based on the hierarchy... for example "menuitem_2_5" for the 5th sub menu item of the 2nd menu item. (Note: this conflicts with the active_menu id which will get removed... use the above setting instead). This way you are able to design each item individually based on its position/hierarchy.

Enable Menu Template

Enables the use of a template file (if any exists).

Template Name

The file name of the template file to use. This parameter is only used if the previous parameter is set to "Yes". This template file name is either relative to the root of the (active / default) site templates directory (e.g. /htdocs/joomla/templates/rhuk_solarflare_ii) or in the sub directory "tmpl" (e.g. /htdocs/joomla/templates/rhuk_solarflare_ii/tmpl) or specifies an absolute path. An example template file is part of the zip archive or in most of the available menu templates.

Extended Menu Parameters

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