NAME

CGI::Application::Plugin::Menu - manage navigation menus for cgi apps

SYNOPSIS

   use base 'CGI::Application';   
   use CGI::Application::Plugin::Menu;

   sub _set_menus_in_template {
      my $self = shift;

      my $m = $self->menu('main');
         
      $m->add('home','home page');
      $m->add('view_stats');
      $m->add('http://cpan.org','visit cpan');

      $m->name; # returns 'main', for this example

      # GETTING THE HTML TEMPLATE LOOP
         
      my $main_menu_loop = $m->loop; 
         
      my $tmpl = $self->this_method_returns_HTML_Template_object;
      
      $tmpl->param( 'MAIN_MENU' => $main_menu_loop );
         
      #or
      $tmpl->param( 'MAIN_MENU' => $self->menu_get('main_menu')->loop );

      # IN YOUR HTML TEMPLATE:
      # 
      # <ul>
      #  <TMPL_LOOP MAIN_MENU>  
      #  <li><a href="<TMPL_VAR URL>"><TMPL_VAR LABEL></a></li>
      #  </TMPL_LOOP>
      # </ul>

      return 1;
         }

DESCRIPTION

This is a simple way ot having menus in your cgi apps.

METHODS

menu()

if you don't provide an argument, the default is used, which is 'main'. returns A MENU OBJECT

menus()

returns array ref of names of menus that exist now. They are in the order that they were instanced

   my $m0 = $self->menu('main');
   $m0->add('home');
   $m0->add('news');
   
   my $m1 = $self->menu('session');
   $m1->add('logout');
   $m1->add('login_history');
   
   for ( @{$self->menus} ){
      my $m = $_;
      my $menu_name = $m->name;
      my $loop_for_html_template = $m->loop;
   }

A MENU OBJECT

Are instances of CGI::Application::Plugin::MenuObject.

METHODS

name()

returns name of the menu.

add()

argument is url or runmode optional argument is label

If the first argument has no funny chars, it is treated as a runmode.

The label is what will appear in the link text If not provided, one will be made. If you have a runmode called see_more, the link text is "See More".

The link will be

   <a href="?=$YOURRUNMODEPARAMNAME=$ARG1">$ARG2</a>

So in this example:

   $m->add('view_tasks');

The result is:

   <a href="?rm=view_tasks">View Tasks</a>

loop()

get loop suitable for HTML::Template object See SYNOPSIS.

output()

If you just want the output with the default hard coded template. The default template code is stored in:

   $CGI::Application::Plugin::MenuObject::DEFAULT_TMPL

ADDING MENU ITEMS

   my $m = $self->menu_get('main menu');

   $m->add('home');   
   $m->add('http://helpme.com','Need help?');
   $m->add('logout');
   
   Elements for the menu are shown in the order they are inserted.

AUTOMATICALLY GENERATING A MENU

See CGI::Application::Plugin::AutoMenuitem

AUTHOR

Leo Charre leocharre at cpan dot org

SEE ALSO

CGI::Application HTML::Template LEOCHARRE::DEBUG