3.4 Menu editor

Latest revision as of 09:58, 20 June 2025

Introduction

The menu editor is used in various menus of the wiki ― for example in the main navigation ― to set up navigation links. An edit link appears at the end of each menu when you hover over the menu.

Alternatively you can also open the MediaWiki page corresponding to the navigation or menu to edit. If the page doesn't yet exist, a corresponding note will appear and you can create the page.

Edit main navigation

If you have set the navigation type to MediaWiki Sidebar or Extended MediaWiki Sidebar on the main navigation , the navigation links are created using the menu editor.

Editing the default links

A new wiki already has some links created by default. These are displayed as system messages and reference pages with the same name in the MediaWiki namespace (to support the user languages). The entire menu or individual menu links can be deleted.

MediaWiki sidebar

A simple list of links to wiki pages (often to portal pages) and is the standard view of the sidebar. A hierarchical navigation structure is not supported. If you need a more flexible menu, switch to the Enhanced MediaWiki sidebar.

If you have set "MediaWiki Sidebar" as the configuration, proceed as follows:

To add a new heading:

Click Add element.
Add menu heading
Enter the text for the heading. Note: In a multilingual wiki, enter a system message here.

Add links:

Click on the hamburger menu next to the heading.
Select Add sub element.
Add link as sub element
Enter the link target (page name) and the link designation (label).
Create link
Click on Done.
Repeat steps 1-3.
Click Save.

Enhanced MediaWiki sidebar

This view shows a fully customizable multi-hierarchical menu.

Here, you edit the page MediaWiki:Sidebar.json. It has the basic functionality of the standard MediaWiki sidebar. In addition, it distinguishes between the following sub elements (=node types):

Internal Link: Simply provide a link to a wiki page with an additional link label. Both the page name and/or label can be created by using a parser function.
Internal link with a variable.
External Link: Same as internal link, but you need to provide a full url to an external website.
Subpage tree: You can provide the name of a page that has one or more levels of subpages. You can set the depth 6 levels deep. This means, that if you want to show the first level of subpages, you would select a depth of 1.

You cannot use the same link label twice for different subpage trees, because the expand/collapse functionality will break.

It is not possible to change the node type (=item type) after creating it. Instead, create a new item as needed and delete the unwanted item.

Show for groups

In addition, the visibility of a menu item can be limited to certain wiki groups. Enter a comma-separated list of existing wiki groups in the "Show for groups" field.

Css classes

You can also apply css classes to any item for custom styling options. The styles need to be defined on the page MediaWiki:Common.css.

Edit other menus

The following menus are also edited with the menu editor:

Visual editing mode

Click Edit to switch to edit mode.

To add a new menu heading:

Click Add new element.
Enter the text for your menu header. In a multilingual wiki, you can also enter a message key.

Source editing mode

Click Edit source to switch to source edit mode.

Entries starting with a single star ("*") create menu headings or sections while entries with two stars ("**") create links.

* Bookmarks
** Wiki_Page1|Label
** https://externallink.com|Label

Related info

Technical Reference: MenuEditor

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@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 The menu editor is used in various menus of the wiki ― for example in the [[Manual:Extension/BlueSpiceDiscovery/Main navigation|main navigation]] ― to set up navigation links. An edit link appears at the end of each menu when you hover over the menu.
-[[File:MenuEditor edit link.png|alt=menu items and activated edit link of the main navigation|center|thumb|201x201px|"Edit"-link of the menu editor]]Alternatively you can also open the MediaWiki page corresponding to the navigation or menu to edit
+[[File:MenuEditor edit link.png|alt=menu items and activated edit link of the main navigation|center|thumb|201x201px|"Edit"-link of the menu editor]]Alternatively you can also open the MediaWiki page corresponding to the navigation or menu to edit.
 If the page doesn't yet exist, a corresponding note will appear and you can create the page.[[File:menuEditor menu does not exist.png|alt=Note for the initial creation of the sidebar page|center|thumb|650x650px|Seite ''MediaWiki:Sidebar'' anlegen.]]
@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 A new wiki already has some links created by default. These are displayed as system messages and reference pages with the same name in the MediaWiki namespace (to support the user languages). The entire menu or individual menu links can be deleted.
 [[File:MenuEditor getting started links.png|alt=View of the standard links system messages in edit mode|center|thumb|650x650px|The default links in the "Getting started" menu]]
 === MediaWiki sidebar ===
-A simple list of links to wiki pages (often to portal pages) and is the standard view of the sidebar.
+A simple list of links to wiki pages (often to portal pages) and is the standard view of the sidebar. A hierarchical navigation structure is not supported. If you need a more flexible menu, switch to the [[Manual:Extension/MenuEditor#Enhanced MediaWiki sidebar|Enhanced MediaWiki sidebar]].
-A hierarchical navigation structure is not supported.
+If you have set "MediaWiki Sidebar" as the configuration, proceed as follows:
-If you need a more flexible menu, switch to the [[Manual:Extension/BlueSpiceDiscovery/Main navigation#Enhanced MediaWiki sidebar|Enhanced MediaWiki sidebar]].
+'''To add a new heading''':
-=== Namespace main page list ===
+# '''Click''' ''Add element''.  [[File:Manual:Manual Extension MenuEditor 1750412382223.png|alt=Add menu heading|center|thumb|500x500px|Add menu heading]]
+# '''Enter''' the text for the heading. Note: In a multilingual wiki, enter a [[mediawikiwiki:Help:System_message|system message]] here.
-* This view automatically displays the Main Page of each content namespace in the wiki. So every page using the syntax namespace prefix:mainpage (e.g., QM:mainpage)is displayed.
+[[File:Manual:Manual Extension MenuEditor 1750412334804.png|alt=Text for menu heading|center|thumb|500x500px|Text for menu heading]]
-* No combination with other menu elements is possible.
+'''Add links:'''
+# '''Click''' on the hamburger menu next to the heading.
-=== Subpage tree (context-sensitive) ===
+# '''Select''' ''Add sub element''. [[File:Manual:Manual Extension MenuEditor 1750412543194.png|alt=Add link as sub element|center|thumb|500x500px|Add link as sub element]]
+# '''Enter''' the link target (page name) and the link designation (label). [[File:Manual:Manual Extension MenuEditor 1750412644530.png|alt=Create link|center|thumb|500x500px|Create link]]
-* This view automatically shows the subpages  of a page if that page has subpages. Multi-level subpages are supported.
+# '''Click''' on ''Done''.
-* No combination with other menu elements is possible.
+# '''Repeat''' steps 1-3.
-* Useful in a wiki that primarily structures pages using subpages.
+# '''Click''' ''Save''.
 === Enhanced MediaWiki sidebar ===
 This view shows a fully customizable multi-hierarchical menu.
-Here, you edit the page MediaWiki:Sidebar.json. It has the basic functionality of the [[Manual:Extension/BlueSpiceDiscovery/Main navigation#MediaWiki sidebar|standard MediaWiki sidebar]]. In addition, it distinguishes between the following sub elements (=node types):
+Here, you edit the page MediaWiki:Sidebar.json. It has the basic functionality of the [[Manual:Extension/MenuEditor#MediaWiki sidebar|standard MediaWiki sidebar]]. In addition, it distinguishes between the following sub elements (=node types):
-* Internal Link
-** Simply provide a link to a wiki page with an additional link label. Both the page name and/or label can be created by using a parser function.[[File:EnhancedMenuEditor-internal_link.png|alt=Internal link with a variable.|center|thumb|550x550px|Internal link with a variable.]]
-* External Link
-** Same as internal link, but you need to provide a full url to an external website.
-* Subpage tree
-** You can provide the name of a page that has one or more levels of subpages. You can set the depth <code>6</code> levels deep. This means, that if you want to show the first level of subpages, you would select a depth of <code>1</code>.
+* '''Internal Link''': Simply provide a link to a wiki page with an additional link label. Both the page name and/or label can be created by using a parser function. [[File:EnhancedMenuEditor-internal_link.png|alt=Internal link with a variable.|center|thumb|550x550px|Internal link with a variable.]]
+* '''External Link''': Same as internal link, but you need to provide a full url to an external website.
+* '''Subpage tree''': You can provide the name of a page that has one or more levels of subpages. You can set the depth <code>6</code> levels deep. This means, that if you want to show the first level of subpages, you would select a depth of <code>1</code>.
 [[File:EnhancedMenuEditor-subpage_tree.png|alt=Screenshot of the edit window for a subpage tree item.|center|thumb|550x550px|Creating a subpage tree with the Enhanced MenuEditor.]]
 {{Textbox|boxtype=important|header=|text=You cannot use the same link label twice for different subpage trees, because the expand/collapse functionality will break.|icon=yes}}
 It is not possible to change the node type (=item type) after creating it. Instead, create a new item as needed and delete the unwanted item.
+==== Show for groups ====
+In addition, the visibility of a menu item can be limited to certain wiki groups. Enter a comma-separated list of existing wiki groups in the "Show for groups" field.
+==== Css classes ====
+You can also apply css classes to any item for custom styling options. The styles need to be defined on the page <code>MediaWiki:Common.css.</code>
 == Edit other menus ==
@@ Line 74: / Line 75: @@
 ** https://externallink.com|Label
 </pre>
+{{Box Links-en
+|Topic1=[[Manual:Menus_-_Overview|Menu overview]]
+|Topic2=|Topic3=}}
-== Show for groups ==
-In addition, the visibility of a menu item can be limited to certain wiki groups. Enter a comma-separated list of existing wiki groups in the "Show for groups" field.
-== Css classes ==
+{{translation}}
-You can also apply css classes to any item for custom styling options. The styles need to be defined on the page <code>MediaWiki:Common.css.</code>{{translation}}