Add and configure menu items

13 min

MenuItem attribute

Use MenuItem on MVC controllers. MenuItem adds links to the top menu (and requires the module to be registered; see Configure Shell modules. The required menuPath parameter is a logical path of the menu element in the menu. The Url parameter can optionally be added to specify the linked URL to the interface. By default, the URL is set to the registered shell route for the module (/EPiServer/{ShellModule}/{controller}/{action} for protected modules and /modules/{ShellModule}/{controller}/{action} for public modules).

The following example adds a menu item to the top menu bar with the text Start, and the URL is inferred from the registered route for the shell module:

public class DashboardController : Controller {
  [MenuItem("/global/dashboard", Text = "Start")]
  public ActionResult Index() {
  }
}

When you have added menu items, you need to implement the page to include CMS's styling for Shell and also render the menu so you can navigate back.

The key function to render a menu is @Html.CreatePlatformNavigationMenu().

Note that the calls to Html.ShellInitializationScript() might still be needed depending on what content you are showing in addition to the navigation menu. It is not necessary for the navigation menu itself.

In addition to Html.CreatePlatformNavigationMenu, you must also wrap content below the menu in an element decorated by using this HTML helper html.ApplyPlatformNavigation().

Note The Platform Navigation font sizing uses REM and expects the root element to have size 16px (browser default). Some style frameworks, such as Bootstrap 3, override the root font size while others, like Bootstrap 4, do not.

To adapt the example above to work with CMS versions 11.21 and higher, you need to start using CreatePlatformNavigationMenu() and ApplyPlatformNavigation().

Note You no longer need @Html.Raw(ClientResources.RenderResources("Navigation")) nor @Html.Raw(Html.ShellInitializationScript()).

@using EPiServer.Framework.Web.Resources
@using EPiServer.Shell.Navigation

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>@ViewBag.Title</title>
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=Edge" />
    
    <!-- Shell -->
    @ClientResources.RenderResources("ShellCore")
    
    <!-- LightTheme -->
    @ClientResources.RenderResources("ShellCoreLightTheme")
  </head>
  <body>
    @Html.CreatePlatformNavigationMenu()
    <div @Html.ApplyPlatformNavigation()>
        @RenderBody()
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

You can localize menu items by specifying TextResourceKey. By default, is the key resolved against LocalizationService. Alternatively attribute ResourceType can be specified that then should be a class with a static property named TextResourceKey that returns the localized text.

Example:

[MenuItem("/global/dashboard", 
  TextResourceKey = "Start", 
  ResourceType = typeof(MenuResources))]

The menu path is used to organize menu items in a tree structure. Menu items in the top menu are in the /global bucket. The next segment is the name of the menu section, for example, /global/cms. The last segment represents the actual user interface, for example, /global/cms/edit.

Permissions with the MenuItem attribute

By default, a security policy is applied to controllers for a shell module. You can configure the policy to use through _authorizationPolicy_ in module.config. The availability of the menu item is then evaluated through the policy. You can apply the AuthorizeAttribute to specify a custom authorization to complement the default policy that applies to the module. However, if there is a policy for the shell module, then that policy is also evaluated for the request.

public class DashboardController : Controller {
  [MenuItem("/global/dashboard")]
  [Authorize(Roles = "SomeGroup")]
  public ActionResult Index() {
  }
}

The following examples show how to add menu items.

namespace Alloy.Business {
  public class EpiServerWorldGlobalMenuItem: Controller {
    [MenuItem(MenuPaths.Global + "/globalLink",
      SortIndex = SortIndex.First - 10,
      Text = "Optimizely world",
      Url = "https://world.episerver.com/cms/")]
    public ActionResult Index(string viewName) {
      return View();
    }
  }
}

namespace Alloy.Business {
  [MenuProvider]
  public class CmsMenuProvider: IMenuProvider {
    private readonly ModuleTable _modules;

    public CmsMenuProvider(ModuleTable modules) {
      _modules = modules;
    }

    public IEnumerable<MenuItem> GetMenuItems() {
      var menuItems = new List<MenuItem>();
      menuItems.Add(new UrlMenuItem("Another link to Admin",
        MenuPaths.Global + "/cms" + "/cmsMenuItem",
        Path.Combine(_modules.FindModule("EPiServer.CMS.UI.Admin").ResourceBasePath, "default")) {
        SortIndex = SortIndex.First + 25,
          AuthorizationPolicy = CmsPolicyNames.CmsAdmin
      });

      return menuItems;
    }
  }
}

The following example adds a second-level menu to the existing admin menu.

public class ExtendedAdminController : Controller {
  [MenuItem("/global/cms/admin/extension", Text = "Admin Extension", SortIndex = 60)]
  public IActionResult Index() {
    return View();
  }
}

While the example below works, you should not use the main navigation for external links. A better example for external links could be the following example (Extending the User Settings menu using menu provider).

using System.Collections.Generic;
using EPiServer.Security;
using EPiServer.Shell.Navigation;

namespace Alloy.Business {
  [MenuProvider]
  public class GlbalSectionMenuProvider: IMenuProvider {
    const string MainMenuPath = MenuPaths.Global + "/customSection";

    public IEnumerable<MenuItem> GetMenuItems() {
      var menuItems = new List<MenuItem>();

      menuItems.Add(new SectionMenuItem("Optimizely Forum", MainMenuPath) {
        SortIndex = SortIndex.Last + 10
      });

      menuItems.Add(new UrlMenuItem("CMS", MainMenuPath + "/item1",
        "https://world.episerver.com/forum/developer-forum/-Optimizely-75-CMS/") {
        SortIndex = 1,
      });

      menuItems.Add(new UrlMenuItem("Commerce", MainMenuPath + "/item2",
        "https://world.episerver.com/forum/developer-forum/Optimizely-Commerce/") {
        SortIndex = 2,
      });

      menuItems.Add(new UrlMenuItem("Forms", MainMenuPath + "/item3",
        "https://world.episerver.com/forum/developer-forum/episerver-forms/") {
        SortIndex = 3,
      });

      return menuItems;
    }
  }
}

using System.Collections.Generic;
using EPiServer.Shell.Navigation;

namespace Alloy.Business {
  [MenuProvider]
  public class UserSettingsMenuProvider: IMenuProvider {
    public IEnumerable<MenuItem> GetMenuItems() {
      var menuItems = new List<MenuItem>();
      var item = new UrlMenuItem("Documentation",
        MenuPaths.User + "/episerver2", "https://world.episerver.com/documentation/") {
        SortIndex = SortIndex.Last + 10
      };
      menuItems.Add(item);
      return menuItems;
    }
  }
}

using EPiServer.Shell.Navigation;

namespace Alloy.Business {
  /// <summary>
  ///  Menu item under User Settings menu (menu added using controller action)
  /// </summary>
  /// <returns></returns>
  public class EpiServerWorldMenuItem: Controller {
    [MenuItem(MenuPaths.UserSettings, SortIndex = SortIndex.First - 10, Text = "About Optimizely",
      Url = "https://www.episerver.com/about/company/overview/")]
    public ActionResult Index(string viewName) {
      return View();
    }
  }
}

using System.Collections.Generic;
using EPiServer.Shell.Navigation;

namespace Alloy.Business {
  [MenuProvider]
  public class DropdownMenuProvider: IMenuProvider {
    const string DropdownMenuPath = MenuPaths.Global + "/customDropdownMenu";

    public IEnumerable<MenuItem> GetMenuItems() {
      var menuItems = new List<MenuItem>();

      var userMenu = new DropDownMenuItem("Optimizely blogs", DropdownMenuPath) {
        SortIndex = SortIndex.Last - 20,
          Alignment = MenuItemAlignment.Right
      };
      menuItems.Add(userMenu);

      menuItems.Add(new UrlMenuItem("CMS", DropdownMenuPath + "/item1",
        "https://world.episerver.com/blogs/?type=cmsblog&page=1") {
        SortIndex = 1,
      });

      menuItems.Add(new UrlMenuItem("Commerce", DropdownMenuPath + "/item2",
        "https://world.episerver.com/blogs/?type=commerceblog&page=1") {
        SortIndex = 2,
      });

      menuItems.Add(new UrlMenuItem("Find", DropdownMenuPath + "/item3",
        "https://world.episerver.com/blogs/?type=findblog&page=1") {
        SortIndex = 3,
      });

      return menuItems;
    }
  }
}

Add and configure menu items

MenuItem attribute

Localize menu items with the MenuItem attribute

Organize menu items

Permissions with the MenuItem attribute

Add menu item examples

Global menu button

Extend the CMS menu section

Add a second-level menu

Global menu section

Use MenuProvider to extend the User Settings menu

Extend the User Settings menu using controller action

Drop-down menu with items