Menu element design examples

You format the look and feel of menu elements using HTML and placeholder tags.

Simple menu design

This example shows the basic structure of the element design used by a menu to format the search data. You enter the following tags into the Design for each menu search result section of the menu element form.

Table 1. Design for each menu search result
Design Details
<a href="
[placeholder 
tag="href" ] 
">
Instead of a URL, use an href placeholder.
[placeholder 
tag="title" ] 
</a><br>
Instead of text, insert a title placeholder.

This is repeated for every link returned by the search query defined in the menu element. You can also use a TitleLink tag:

Table 2. Design for each menu search result
Design details
[placeholder 
tag="titlelink" ] 
<br>
This produces the same result as the previous example.

When creating menus for use in rendering portlets, a URLCmpnt tag is used to create a link instead of a placeholder.

Design for each menu search result:
<a HREF=
"[URLCmpnt context="autofill" type="content" mode="portal" portalTarget="URLMap">"
target="_blank"> [Property context="autofill" type="content" field="title"] </a>
<br>

Using a menu to display images

To display images in a menu instead of text, replace the name placeholder with a reference to an Image element selected from content or site areas.

Table 3. Design for each menu search result
Design Details
<a href="
[placeholder 
tag="href" ] 
">
Instead of a URL, use an href placeholder. This is where the URL of the menu item is inserted in the rendered menu.
[element 
type="sitearea" 
context="autofill" 
key="Image"
]
</a></br>
Instead of a name placeholder (as in the previous example), insert an element tag. The source type can either be content or site area. The context is autofill.

In this example, the field being referenced is "Image". The site areas or content being returned must also contain an image element named "Image". The images you store in the site area or content can be different, but they must all have the same label.

Adding a page navigation element to a menu design

To add navigation controls to a menu you add a reference to a page navigation element in either the footer or header.

Header
<div>
Menu results
Table 4. Design for each menu search result. This creates a new table row for every item listed in the menu.
Design Details
<span>
<a href="
[placeholder 
tag="href" ] 
">
Instead of a URL, insert a URL placeholder here. This is where the URL of the menu item is inserted in the rendered menu.
[placeholder 
tag="name"
 ] </a><br>
</span>
Instead of text, insert a name placeholder.
Footer
Table 5. Footer
Design Details
<span>
[component name=
"pagenav" ]
</span>
</div>
Add a reference to a previously created page navigation element to add navigation features to a menu design. In this example, the page navigation element is referenced from a page navigation component called "pagenav".