Chapter 8: Working with the Menu System 219 Note Though an Advanced parameters heading appears on the workspace, in reality there are no advanced parame- ters for this menu item type. Creating multitiered menus The default Joomla! system gives you two methods for creating menus that contain multiple levels of menu items. In short, you can either place all levels of items in one menu or create multiple menus to hold individual levels. Adding all the items to a single menu can be done with the Menu Item Manager alone, but if you want to split the items by level to display them in multiple menus, you will need to work with both the Menu Item Manager and the Module Manager. In either event, you are creating a parent- child relationship between different menu items and this establishes the hierarchy of the menu items. The two formatting options allow you a significant degree of flexibility in displaying your menu items. To make the most of the menu options, however, you will need to configure the items prop- erly and you will need some ability to modify the styling of the menus and items. To create one menu with multiple levels of items, follow these steps: 1. Access the menu you want to modify by clicking the name of the menu under the option Menus on the main admin navigation. The Menu Item Manager opens in your browser. 2. Click the New icon to create a new menu item or click the name of an existing menu item. The Menu Item Editing dialogue opens. 3. In the field marked Parent, select a menu item to be the parent of the item you are editing. 4. Complete any other fields you want to modify. 5. Click the Save icon. The system saves your changes to the item and returns you to the Menu Item Manager. This process can be repeated as needed to create multiple levels of menu items, where each child item is attached to a parent. In this case, all the parents and their children appear inside one menu. If, on the other hand, you want to display the various menus and submenus in separate menu modules, you can do so by following these steps: 1. Assign your menu items to parent/child relationships. 2. Click on Module Manager, under the Extensions menu. The Module Manager loads in your browser. 3. Click the name of the menu you want to divide into multiple modules. The Module Editing dialogue opens in your browser. Part II: Working with Content and Users 220 4. Set the Start Level to zero. 5. Set the End Level to 1. 6. Click the New icon at the top right of the page. Page one of the New Module dialogue opens. 7. Select the module type Menu and then click the Next icon. Page 2 of the New Module dialogue appears in your browser. 8. Type a name for the module in the Title field. 9. Select from the Menu Name combo box under the Module parameters, the name of the menu that contains your submenu items. 10. Set the Start Level to 1. 11. Set the end Level to 2. 12. Set any other options you desire. 13. Click the Save icon. 14. The system creates the new menu module and returns you to the Module Manager. The new Menu module now displays only when the parent menu item is clicked. This approach to creating multi-tier menus enables you to create separate subnavigation menus that appear only when active. Note The options to control whether the menu is expanded to display all the levels by default, or is closed by default and expands only when clicked, are contained in the parameters of each individual menu’s module. Cross-Reference See Chapter 23 for a discussion of menu styling. See Chapter 25 for a discussion of extensions that can be added to your site to enhance the menu functionality. Editing and deleting menu items Existing menu items can be edited from the Menu Item Manager. To edit a menu item, either click the menu item name in the Menu Item Manager, or select the menu item and then click the Edit icon on the Menu Item Manager toolbar. Regardless of which method you use, the system opens the Edit Menu Item dialogue. The Edit Menu Item dialogue is identical to the New Menu Item dialogue, with the same fields and requirements as previously discussed . To make changes to a menu item, simply alter the desired fields in the Edit Menu Item dialogue, then click the Save or Apply icon on the toolbar. Any changes you have made will be applied immediately. Chapter 8: Working with the Menu System 221 The Menu Trash Manager The Trash Manager feature of Joomla! 1.5.x provides you with a way to clean up and remove menu items from the general admin area of the site. Sending a menu item to the trash will result in the menu item being removed from the Menu Item Manager and moved to the Menu Trash Manager. Menu items moved to the Trash Manager are held there indefinitely. The items can be restored or deleted at the option of the administrator. Restored items are moved back to their original loca- tions; deleted items are permanently removed from the system and cannot be restored. Joomla! 1.5’s Menu Trash Manager interface is shown in Figure 8.43. FIGURE 8.43 The Menu Trash Manager interface. The toolbar at the top of the Trash Manager provides quick access to the following functions: l Restore: Select one or more menu items from the list and then click this icon to restore them and remove them from the trash. l Delete: Select one or more menu items from the list and then click this icon to delete the items permanently. l Help: Click to access the online help files related to the active screen. Part II: Working with Content and Users 222 Below the toolbar and above the list of menu items is the Filter field. The filter works like a search box. Type a word or phrase into the field and then click Go. The page reloads and displays the results of the search. To clear the screen and return to a full listing, click the Reset button. The main content area of the screen contains a list of all the menu items in the Trash Manager. The columns provided are: l # : An indexing number assigned by Joomla! This cannot be changed. l Checkbox (no label): Click in a checkbox to select a menu item; this is needed if you want to use several of the toolbar options. l Name: This field displays the name of the menu item. l ID: This is a system-generated ID number for the item and cannot be changed. l Menu: The name of the menu where this item was located when it was moved to the Trash. l Type: Displays the menu item type of the item. Finally, at the bottom of the screen, below the content area, is the Display # option. Change the value in the combo box control to alter the number of menu items that are displayed on the page. The default value can be altered by changing the List Length option on the Global Configuration Manager. To move a menu item to the trash, follow these steps: 1. Access the Menu Item Manager containing the menu items you want to remove. To do this, go to this Menus option on the admin navigation bar and click the name of the menu where the items are located. The Menu Item Manager opens in your browser. 2. Click the checkboxes next to the items you want to remove. 3. Click the Trash icon on the top-right toolbar. The system removes the items to the Trash Manager. Note Any menu items moved to the trash will be instantly unpublished and not visible to site visitors. Caution Deleting a menu item involves moving the Item to the trash, then deleting it permanently from the Trash Manager. Note that there is no confirmation dialogue prior to moving an Item to the trash. Alternatively, you can delete an entire menu and its items simultaneously from the Menu Manager dialogue. Restoring items from the trash Menu items moved to the trash are held there indefinitely until further action is taken by the administrator. Any menu item can be restored at any time. The process of restoring an item is sim- ple and the result instantaneous: The item is removed from the Trash Manager and returned to where it was located when it was moved to the trash. Chapter 8: Working with the Menu System 223 Menu items restored from the menu trash are moved back to the menu where they were located at the time they were moved to the trash. Menu items restored from the menu trash will be unpub- lished and pushed to the bottom of the order of items on the menu. To manage the items, access the Menu Item Manager. To restore a menu item from the trash, follow these steps: 1. Click the checkbox next to the item you want to restore. 2. Click the Restore icon on the top-right toolbar. The Restore Confirmation dialogue opens, as shown in Figure 8.44. FIGURE 8.44 The Restore Confirmation dialogue. 3. Check the information; if correct, click the Restore button; otherwise click the Cancel icon. A confirmation window opens. 4. Click OK. The system removes the item from the trash, restores it to its previous loca- tion, and returns you to the Trash Manager. Part II: Working with Content and Users 224 Permanently deleting items Menu items held in the Trash Manager can be removed from the system by deleting them. Deleting an item from the Trash Manager results in the item’s permanent removal from the system; it cannot be restored once deleted. To permanently delete a menu item from the trash, follow these steps: 1. Click the checkbox next to the item you want to delete. 2. Click the Delete icon on the top-right toolbar. The Delete Confirmation dialogue opens, as shown in Figure 8.45. FIGURE 8.45 The Delete confirmation dialogue. 3. Check the information; if correct, click the Delete button; otherwise click the Cancel icon. The system removes the item from the trash, restores it to its previous loca- tion, and returns you to the Trash Manager. Chapter 8: Working with the Menu System 225 Controlling Access to Menus and Menu Items Both menus and menu items are subject to access level controls. The visibility of menus and menu items can be controlled either in tandem or individually, given certain logical constraints. As a gen- eral rule, where there is a conflict between the access level settings of a menu and those of an item on that menu, the more restrictive access level will be applied. By way of example: If the access level of the items of a particular menu are set to Public, but the access level of the menu itself is set to Restricted, nonauthenticated users (Public users) will not be able to see either the menu or the individual menu items. In contrast, if the access level of the menu is set to Public, but the access levels of the items are set to Restricted, the menu will be visi- ble, but the menu items will not. Menu access levels are set via the relevant menu module. To set access to a menu as a whole, fol- low these steps: 1. Click Module Manager, under the Extensions menu. The Module Manager loads. 2. Identify the menu module that provides the menu you want to edit. 3. Click the name of the relevant menu module. The Module Editing dialogue opens in your browser. 4. Change the access level control to suit your needs — Public, Registered, or Special. 5. Click the Save icon. The system saves the changes and returns you to the Module Manager. Menu item access levels are set inside the Menu Item Edit dialogue. To set access to a menu item, follow these steps: 1. Under the menus option on the admin navigation bar, select the name of the menu that contains the item you want to edit. The Menu Item Manager opens in your browser. 2. Click the name of the item you want to edit. The Menu Item Editing dialogue appears in your browser. 3. Change the access level control to suit your needs — Public, Registered, or Special. 4. Click the Save icon. The system saves the changes and returns you to the Menu Item Manager. Note The access levels for articles and many other functionalities can also be set via the parameters specific to that article or functionality. This means you may in some cases have a third level of access controls that you must consider. Regardless, the general rule remains the same: Where there is a conflict, the more restrictive access level applies. Part II: Working with Content and Users 226 Summary In this chapter, we have covered the use of both the Menu component and the Menus module. You learned the following: l How to create, edit, and delete menus l How to configure the Menus Manager to work in concert with the Menus module l How to create and edit a menu module l How to create and edit menu items l How to create multitiered menus l How to control access to menus and menu items . that contains your submenu items. 10 . Set the Start Level to 1. 11 . Set the end Level to 2. 12 . Set any other options you desire. 13 . Click the Save icon. 14 . The system creates the new menu. applied immediately. Chapter 8: Working with the Menu System 2 21 The Menu Trash Manager The Trash Manager feature of Joomla! 1. 5 .x provides you with a way to clean up and remove menu items from. Manager. The columns provided are: l # : An indexing number assigned by Joomla! This cannot be changed. l Checkbox (no label): Click in a checkbox to select a menu item; this is needed if you