New Module: Structure - Uses entries to create a page hierarchy for static and listing pages

smartpill, in the site I’m working on I have a ‘section’ page template and a child ‘detail’ template. I’m using the latter for all the single entry pages which, via the Structure tab, are assigned as children of the parent section page. It’s this structural relationship that is key to getting {exp:structure:nav_sub} working.

The ‘detail’ template has the following approach:

<div id="nav-sub">
<h2><a href="http://foo" title="View the section page">Section title</a></h2>
{exp:structure:nav_sub}
</div>

{exp:structure:nav_sub} generates an unordered list with nested links for all the child pages, including a neat class of “here” for the current page. The only issue I’ve just discovered is that, as Travis says above, ‘index.php’ is removed from all the links. That’s cool with me as I plan to remove ‘index.php’, but it’s clearly a limitation.

Thanks watershed, But I’m not seeing how to get this working for my template. This is what I have:

{exp:weblog:entries weblog="{my_weblog}" limit="1" disable="member_data|trackbacks"}
<div id="left">{exp:structure:nav_sub}</div>{/exp:weblog:entries}
<div id="center">
{exp:weblog:entries weblog="{my_weblog}" sort="desc" dynamic="off" limit="1" disable="member_data|trackbacks"}
{embed="{my_template_group}/.events"}
</div><!-- end center div -->
<div id="right">{if extended}<div id="callout">{extended}</div>{/if}
{if cuz}<h4>Related Information</h4><ul>{related_entries id="cuz"}
<li><a href="http://{title_permalink={my_template_group}/page}">{title}</a></li>
{/related_entries}</ul>{/if}</div><!-- end right div -->
{/exp:weblog:entries}

I’m also previewing it though the “view rendered template” link. Will it show that way?

The key is in the structural relationship between the pages that use your template above and the page that is their parent. Suppose you have the following page entries:

Parent * Child 1 * Child 2 * Child 3

Child 1, 2 and 3 must have Parent assigned as their parent via the Structure tab in Publish/Edit or via the Modules > Structure page. If (and only if) they do, then an instance of {exp:structure:nav_sub} in the shared template that Child 1, 2 and 3 use will work.

Does that make any sense?

I’m also previewing it though the “view rendered template” link. Will it show that way?

Yup.

It would appear that Structure ignores any sort parameters set on {exp:weblog:entries}. I’m guessing it applies the explicit sort arrangement set on the Modules > Structure CP page.

I haven’t got jQuery linked up yet so have no way to play with it. That’s my next step.

@smartpill {exp:structure:nav_sub} should NOT be within a weblog tag. That’s probably why it’s not outputting anything out for you.

RE: The Issue: the top level nav is locked down so clients can’t change nav that may be hardcoded into a template. Right now we don’t have plans to change this.

RE The Request: Structure currently assigns to URLs to everything, you are correct. Events (as in your exmaple) would be a “listing” and not a “page.” Someday, we may include a way to turn off certain weblogs or ignore them, but right now it’s not an option.

@watershed 1. Working on context. I hope to make screencasts soon(ish) 2. Not sure there, but they aren’t intended to work on the same install so you might find weird instances between moving between modules.

Thanks for the feedback!

Why does the “Structure” tab appear on all weblog entries? I would like it to only apply to my static entries (and not dynamic). it seems anytime I click on the “Structure” tab on a dynamic entry, it automatically adds it to the List under the Structure module. Any ideas?

Structure manages ALL entries, so it will show up there. Currently, there’s not a way to turn this off.

Structure manages ALL entries, so it will show up there. Currently, there’s not a way to turn this off.

FWIW, it’d be really great if this could be changed in a subsequent update so that Structure could be turned on/off on a per-weblog basis.

Re: that plugin I mentioned earlier in the week, are folks still having problems with it?

@smartpill {exp:structure:nav_sub} should NOT be within a weblog tag. That’s probably why it’s not outputting anything out for you.

Ok. This is probably what confused me:

Pages can be linked to within {exp:weblog:entries} with the variables {page_uri} and {page_url}.

I did manage to get subnav page links to appear (thanks watershed). I was hoping to get the entire menu to show. I tried frenzal’s code but get a PHP error when I place it. I think it was “unexpected T-VAR” or something like that referring to the 1st line of the new code.

RE: The Issue: the top level nav is locked down so clients can’t change nav that may be hardcoded into a template. Right now we don’t have plans to change this.

My bad. When I checked the “administer” permission preference it worked fine.

You are a god!

Would be pretty helpful if this worked for more than 2 levels. I tried Frenzel’s code and it works, but it shows everything no matter what page you are on, instead of only showing children once you actually click on a page.

I may have a look at the code and see if I can modify it. Either way, nice job on this so far, it’s a great tool that should be built into EE.

Thanks

It would also be great if in the breadcrumb, the “here” was actually the title of the current page (unlinked). “Here” is a bit general.

Thanks again

I’m about to install this module it looks like it should help me achieve what I want. I also like the structure children plugin on page 6.