NAME

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

SYNOPSIS

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

   sub _get_menu_outputs {
      my $self = shift;
   
      my $html_output;
   
      my $menu_main  = $self->menu;
   
      # resolves to a 'Home' link
      $menu_main->add('/');
      
      # makes into runmodelink for CGI::Application 
      # <a href='?rm=view_stats'>View Statistics</a>
      $menu_main->add( view_stats, 'View Statistics'); # with label
      
      # makes into runmodelink for CGI::Application 
      # <a href='?rm=view_history'>View History</a>   
      $menu_main->add('view_history'); # label is optional
         
      
      my $menu_info = $self->menu('info');
      $menu_info->add('/about_us.html');
      $menu_info->add('/contact_info.html');
      
      $html_output .= 
         $menu_main->output
         . $menu_info->output;
   
      return $html_output;   
   }

EXAMPLE USAGE 1

   sub _inject_menus_into_tmpl {
      my ($self,$tmpl) = @_;
   
      my $m = $self->menu;
   
      $m->add('home'); # ?rm=home / 'Home'
      $m->add('account_view'); # ?rm=account_view / Account View
      $m->add('account_edit','edit bogus'); # ?rm=account_edit / edit bogus
      $m->add('account_delete');
      $m->add('/info.html'); # /info.html / Info
   
      $tmpl->param( MENU_LOOP => $m->loop);   
   }

EXAMPLE USAGE 2

   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 of having menus in your cgi apps.

METHODS

menu()

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

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:

   $HTML::Template::Menu::DEFAULT_TMPL

menu_delete()

Argument is menu label, deletes the menu. Returns true, does not check for existance.

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

SEE ALSO

CGI::Application HTML::Template HTML::Template::Menu

AUTHOR

Leo Charre leocharre at cpan dot org

LICENSE

This package is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself, i.e., under the terms of the "Artistic License" or the "GNU General Public License".

DISCLAIMER

This package is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

See the "GNU General Public License" for more details.