dotCMS - Open Source Content Management System, Ondemand CMS, and Professional Support

Adding a Menu Link

The example HTML page navigation menu (shown right), utilizes a Template that has a left hand navigation menu that is controlled by a Navigation Macro.  The Macro code being used in the Template is shown here:  

For more information on how navigation menus are built, please see the Navigation Menu Builder documentation section.

If there is an HTML page or document that lies outside the parameters of the navigation menu, creating a Menu Link will allow that page or document to be displayed on the navigation menu(s) of other HTML pages created in the same directory. Changing the scope of the navigation menu used by the template might cause other unwanted items to display on our current webpage and would effect all of the other webpages using that template. In this case, the best option is to add a menu link to the desired "Registration Form"

Creating a Menu Link will allow the desired "Registration Form" HTML page to display in ALL of the web pages that share the same directory as the Menu Link. To create a Menu Link, simply locate the folder in the Website browser where you would like to place the Menu Link, right-click that folder --> New --> Menu Link.

The following fields are displayed when creating a new menu link:

• Title - text that will display in the navigation menu on HTML page(s)
• Folder - the folder location where the menu link is located
• Type - "Internal Link" refers to a dotCMS page or document; "External Link" refers to an HTML Page outside the current domain; "Code Link" refers to programming code that will be run when the menu link is selected on an HTML page.
• Target - select "Same Window", "New Window", or "Parent Window" to determine how the browser will open and display the Menu Link URL in the browser
• Sort Order - This is the numeric value that will be used by navigation menu to sort the order of objects that have the "Show On Menu" property
• Show on Menu - Checking this option allows the Menu Link to appear in the navigation menus that display the current directory

Click "save and publish" to finish creating the Menu Link.

As in the example to the left, the Menu Link now exists on the navigation menu of all HTML pages that share the directory with the Menu Link.  Clicking on the Menu Link takes the user to the associated page/document.  In this example, clicking on the Menu Link leads to the desired registration form shown below.