Theming Drupal primary links with child sub-menus
Using 'Primary links' for your Drupal site's main navigation menu is a great idea. However, most themes by default display primary links in such a way that if the menu has sub-child menus, they will not be displayed. Fortunately, the solution is much easier that you'd think.
First off, the way that most themes generate primary links is like so:
As mentioned, this will only output the top-level menu items, like so:
That's not very useful for sites with a robust navigation tree.
To get around this, the simplest way is to remove the original theme() function outputing the primary links, and create a new region in your template where you'd like your navigation menu to show up. Then, you can assign the 'Primary links' block to that region, and the entire menu tree will be displayed there.
To create a region in Drupal 5:
You'll need to modify your theme's template.php file. If it doesn't yet have one, create it, and enter the following:
To create a region in Drupal 6:
In your theme's '.info' file, you'll need to define your new region. Put something like this:
Be sure to replace 'name_of_theme' with the name of your theme, and 'name_of_new_region' with the name of your new region.
Outputting content of the new region
The key of the array item (or value in between brackets for Drupal 6) will be used as the variable name in your theme files, like '$name_of_new_region'.
The value of the array item (or value to the right of the equals sign for Drupal 6) will be used as the title of the region on the '/admin/build/block' page.
In your page.tpl.php file, output the content of the region like so:
Then, head over to '/admin/build/block' and set the 'Primary links' block to the region you just created.
Done!
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19 Comments
Where is the 'admin/build/block' ?
BTW, I'm a newbie, even to web hosting (just purchased my first domain a few weeks ago).
Daniel,
You would find that page at:
http://domain.com/admin/build/block
if 'domain.com' where the domain where you installed your Drupal codebase.
Nick
Thanks Nick. I also have another question: in the page.tpl.php file, where do I put the new php line
Currently, I have this in the body section (I commented out the theme ('links')... which is in the same section.
Not sure if this matters, but I am using the theme Garland.
Thanks.
Daniel,
Within your page.tpl.php file, you'll want to put the 'print $name_of_new_region' code wherever you want the navigation to show up.
Nick
Hi Nick, thanks for the article :)
I found a typo:
BAD
regions[name_of_new_region] = name of new region
GOOD
regions[name_of_theme] = name of new region
Niels,
Could you clarify what you mean? In the .info file, the value within the brackets after 'regions' should be the name of the variable you'll be referencing in your templates. This value should be the name of the region, not the theme.
Nick
disreguard niels Bom's comment, he doesnt know what hes talking about. the author has it correct
Why is the function outputing always the primary links instead of the child nodes of current page?
Alex,
Not sure I understand your question – could you clarify?
Nick
Awesome article Nick. I've been searching for just how to do drop down menus in drupal with using a third party module, and this method finally solved that problem.
That should read *without using a third party module* my bad
This sounds neat, i can't figure out why primary links are not drop down by default.. Looks like lots people are trying to figure it out from all the results on a google search.
Is there some other method that will work? I have been messing with this for days with no success.
This topic is really still a mess in Drupal 6. It should be the main function, but I've searched for hours now - no solution. I just want my navigation with nested lists show on all pages with a simple css class in the first ul. No chance.
Another reason to hate Drupal. The most basic thing must be extraordinarily difficult to achieve.
@Computer Faxing:
http://www.djangoproject.com/
I'm a bit confused when it comes to page.tpl.php
the syntax
<? if ($name_of_new_region) print $name_of_new_region;
doesn't work for me
so i tried
<? if ($name_of_new_region) print $name_of_new_region; ?>
and
<?php if ($name_of_new_region) print $name_of_new_region; ?>
But it didn't work either, i don't see where is the block on the page :-( can you help me with it ? What did i do wrong ?
Ok i found how to correct the syntax (only through trying ..; i don't know anything about code and theming).
It seems that the syntax which would work is
<?php if ($name_of_new_region):?>
<?php print $name_of_new_region; ?>
<?php endif; ?>
Yet i still have a problem because my theme seems to behave strangely with primary link (like it's a menu class, and actually in drupal primary links appear as not assigned to any block ...
Here is how it calls the links, apparently :
">
<?php if ($primary_links): ?>
<?php print theme('menu_links', $primary_links); ?>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php if ($secondary_links): ?>
<?php print theme('menu_links', $secondary_links); ?>
<?php endif; ?>
If you have an idea let me know.
I hope this little piece of code i put above may help someone newbie stuck like i was ;-)
Thanks
sorry, somehow some piece of code got chunked in the previous post, i hope this one will work
">
<?php if ($primary_links): ?>
<?php print theme('menu_links', $primary_links); ?>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php if ($secondary_links): ?>
<?php print theme('menu_links', $secondary_links); ?>
<?php endif; ?>
nope, didn't work ... ok sorry, well if you have any idea please contact me by email, i'll send you the code calling the primary links in my theme. Thanks and sorry for double postings :-/
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