j2.5 : 3. Adding a menu item type

Adding a menu item type

In the Joomla framework, components are executed using menu items. If you go in the menu manager of your Joomla installation a HelloWorld menu item type does not yet exist. Adding this functionality is easy in Joomla. Simply put a site/views/helloworld/tmpl/default.xml file containing:
site/views/helloworld/tmpl/default.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<metadata>
        <layout title="COM_HELLOWORLD_HELLOWORLD_VIEW_DEFAULT_TITLE">
                <message>
                        <![CDATA[COM_HELLOWORLD_HELLOWORLD_VIEW_DEFAULT_DESC]]>
                </message>
        </layout>
</metadata>

For the moment the strings won't be translated in the administrator interface. We will see in a later article how translation is performed.
Also modify your helloworld.xml file to indicate a new version:
helloworld.xml

<extension type="component" version="2.5.0" method="upgrade">
 
        <name>Hello World!</name>
        <!-- The following elements are optional and free of formatting constraints -->
        <creationDate>November 2009</creationDate>
        <author>John Doe</author>
        <authorEmail>john.doe@example.org</authorEmail>
        <authorUrl>http://www.example.org</authorUrl>
        <copyright>Copyright Info</copyright>
        <license>License Info</license>
        <!--  The version string is recorded in the components table -->
        <version>0.0.3</version>
        <!-- The description is optional and defaults to the name -->
        <description>Description of the Hello World component ...</description>
 
        <update> <!-- Runs on update; New in 2.5 -->
                <schemas>
                        <schemapath type="mysql">sql/updates/mysql</schemapath>
                </schemas>
        </update>
 
        <!-- Site Main File Copy Section -->
        <!-- Note the folder attribute: This attribute describes the folder
                to copy FROM in the package to install therefore files copied
                in this section are copied from /site/ in the package -->
        <files folder="site">
                <filename>index.html</filename>
                <filename>helloworld.php</filename>
                <filename>controller.php</filename>
                <folder>views</folder>
        </files>
 
        <administration>
                <!-- Administration Menu Section -->
                <menu>Hello World!</menu>
                <!-- Administration Main File Copy Section -->
                <!-- Note the folder attribute: This attribute describes the folder
                        to copy FROM in the package to install therefore files copied
                        in this section are copied from /admin/ in the package -->
                <files folder="admin">
                        <!-- Admin Main File Copy Section -->
                        <filename>index.html</filename>
                        <filename>helloworld.php</filename>
                        <!-- SQL files section -->
                        <folder>sql</folder>
                </files>
        </administration>
 
</extension>

Packaging the component

Content of your code directory

• helloworld.xml
• site/index.html
• site/helloworld.php
• site/controller.php
• site/views/index.html
• site/views/helloworld/index.html
• site/views/helloworld/view.html.php
• site/views/helloworld/tmpl/index.html
• site/views/helloworld/tmpl/default.xml
• site/views/helloworld/tmpl/default.php
• admin/index.html
• admin/helloworld.php
• admin/sql/index.html
• admin/sql/updates/index.html
• admin/sql/updates/mysql/index.html
• admin/sql/updates/mysql/0.0.1.sql

Selecting the Menu Item Type

Create a compressed file of this directory or directly download the archive and install it using the extension manager of Joomla. You can add a menu item of this component using the menu manager in the backend. To do so select "Add New Menu Item" from the one of the menus in the "Menus" menu; then you can select COM_HELLOWORLD_HELLOWORLD_VIEW_DEFAULT_TITLE for Menu Item Type. Once selected you can see the Link information is populated with the URL for the view.

Navigate

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