Navigation

Plugins can extend the backend navigation menus by overriding the registerNavigation method of the plugin registration file. This section shows you how to add menu items to the backend navigation area. The following is an example of registering a top-level navigation menu item with two sub-menu items.

public function registerNavigation()
{
    return [
        'blog' => [
            'label' => 'Blog',
            'url' => Backend::url('acme/blog/posts'),
            'icon' => 'icon-pencil',
            'permissions' => ['acme.blog.*'],
            'order' => 500,

            'sideMenu' => [
                'posts' => [
                    'label' => 'Posts',
                    'icon' => 'icon-copy',
                    'url' => Backend::url('acme/blog/posts'),
                    'permissions' => ['acme.blog.access_posts'],
                ],
                'categories' => [
                    'label' => 'Categories',
                    'icon' => 'icon-copy',
                    'url' => Backend::url('acme/blog/categories'),
                    'permissions' => ['acme.blog.access_categories'],
                ]
            ]
        ]
    ];
}

When you register the backend navigation you can use localization strings for the label values. Backend navigation can also be controlled by the permissions values and correspond to defined backend user permissions. The order in which the backend navigation appears on the overall navigation menu items, is controlled by the order value. Higher numbers mean that the item will appear later on in the order of menu items while lower numbers mean that it will appear earlier on.

To make the sub-menu items visible, you may set the navigation context in the backend controller using the BackendMenu::setContext method. This will make the parent menu item active and display the children in the side menu.

The following are system generated value and are not provided when registering the navigation items.

# Navigation Counters

Navigation items support specifying a counter to indicate that there are items that require attention. These properties are available to parent and child menu items alike. Use the counter and counterLabel to show a numeric counter.

'blog' => [
    // ...
    'counter' => [\Author\Plugin\Classes\MyMenuCounterService::class, 'getCounterMethod'],
    'counterLabel' => 'Label describing a dynamic menu counter',
],

# Item Display Types

Sub-menu items support different display types using the itemType property, including user-interface elements. Set the type to section to display a navigation section. Prefixing the key name with an underscore (_) is a good way to communicate that it is a UI element.

'_section1' => [
    'itemType' => 'section',
    'label' => 'Advanced',
],

It might be useful to combine a section with a navigation divider placed above it. Set the type to ruler to display a divider.

'_ruler1' => [
    'itemType' => 'ruler',
],

To display a call to action, set the type to primary to display the link as a primary button.

'people_create' => [
    'label' => 'New Person',
    'icon' => 'icon-plus',
    'url' => Backend::url('acme/blog/people/create'),
    'itemType' => 'primary',
],

If displaying a button for the create action of a controller, change the side-menu context using the BackendMenu facade before inheriting the parent logic.

public function create()
{
    BackendMenu::setContextSideMenu('people_create');

    return $this->asExtension('FormController')->create();
}

# Extending the Backend Menu

The backend.menu.extendItems event listener can be used to modify the existing navigation items, after the system and plugins have registered their navigation items. The event returns a navigation $manager instance that supports the following methods.

When retrieving a menu item, the object supports method chaining to update its properties. The following example will replace the label for the Editor with Code Editor.

Event::listen('backend.menu.extendItems', function($manager) {
    $manager->getMainMenuItem('October.Editor', 'editor')->label('Code Editor');
});

The next example will change the label to News and add a 9 counter to the Acme Blog plugin.

Event::listen('backend.menu.extendItems', function($manager) {
    $manager->getMainMenuItem('Acme.Blog', 'blog')
        ->getSideMenuItem('posts')
        ->label('News')
        ->counter(9);
});

Similarly, we can remove the menu items using the same event. The following example will remove all items, remove a single item, and remove multiple items, respectively.

Event::listen('backend.menu.extendItems', function($manager) {
    $manager->removeMainMenuItem('Acme.Blog', 'blog');

    $manager->removeSideMenuItem('Acme.Blog', 'blog', 'posts');

    $manager->removeSideMenuItems('Acme.Blog', 'blog', [
        'posts',
        'categories'
    ]);
});