Adding menu blocks

To add new menu blocks, use the "Add menu block" link on the administer blocks page. You will then be able to configure your menu block before adding it.

Configuring menu blocks

When adding or configuring a menu block, several configuration options are available:

Basic options

Block title

For menu trees that start with the 1st level, the default block title will be the menu name. For menu trees that start with the 2nd level or deeper, the default block title will be the title for the parent menu item of the specified level.

For example, if the active menu trail for the Mangement menu is: Administer › Structure › Menus › Main menu, then a menu block configured to start with the 1st level of the Management menu will display a block title of “Management”. And a menu block configured to start with the 3rd level of the Management menu will display a block title of “Structure”.

Block title as link

For menu trees that start with the 2nd level or deeper, the default block title will be the title for the parent menu item of the specified level. If this option is checked, the block title will be a link to that menu item.

Administrative title

To help identify the block on the administer blocks page, you can specify a unique title to be used on that page. If blank, the regular title will be used.

Menu name

Select the menu to use for the tree of links.

Starting level

Blocks that start with the 1st level will always be visible. Blocks that start with the 2nd level or deeper will only be visible when the trail to the active menu item is in the block’s tree.

Maximum depth

From the starting level, specify the maximum depth of the tree. Blocks with a maximum depth of 1 will just be a single un-nested list of links with none of those links’ children displayed.

Advanced options

Make the starting level follow the active menu item

If the active menu item is deeper than the level specified above, the starting level will follow the active menu item. Otherwise, the starting level of the tree will remain fixed.

Expand all children

All children of this menu will be expanded.

Sort

Sort each item in the active trail to the top of its level. When used on a deep or wide menu tree, the active menu item’s children will be easier to see when the page is reloaded.

Fixed parent item

If you select a specific menu item, you alter the “starting level” and “maximum depth” options to be relative to the fixed parent item. The tree of links will only contain children of the selected parent item.

Styling menu blocks

Themers should be aware of the myriad of classes, templates and theme functions available to them. See the online documentation or the README.txt file for detailed information about each of them.

Menu block API

Developers can use the API of this module to create their own menu trees outside the confines of blocks. All of the publicly available API functions are documented in the menu_block.module file.

In addition, Menu block implements HOOK_get_menus() and HOOK_menu_block_tree_alter(). See menu_block.api.php for documentation.