Navigation Custom Control for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS)

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Introduction

For use in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007, this web control is an alternative to the out-of-the-box "Current Navigation" a.k.a. AspMenu. It renders navigational nodes using list tags, like:

• News
• Press Releases
• 2006
• December
• November
• October

Description

The web control uses a PortalSiteMapProvider to render a vertical navigation. Unlike the out-of-the-box AspMenu, it does not emit table tags, but list tags customizable using CSS classes. The navigation expands the root nodes and sibling nodes to the current node and its parent nodes. A node can be a sub-site or a page.

It has several public properties:

• SiteMapProvider - A site map provider of type PortalSiteMapProvider. Default is CurrentNavSiteMapProvider.
• StartNodeKey - Server relative URL for a starting sub-site. For example: /PressReleases/2006. Default is the root site.
• IncludeSubSites - Include sub-sites? Allowed values are True, False, or PerWeb. Default is PerWeb, i.e., a per sub-site setting, configurable in the Modify Navigation Site Actions menu.
• IncludePages - Include pages? Allowed values are True, False, or PerWeb. Default is PerWeb, i.e., a per sub-site setting, configurable in the Modify Navigation Site Actions menu.
• IncludeHeadings - Include headings? Allowed values are True, False.
• IncludeAuthoredLinks - Include authored links? Allowed values are True, False.
• MaxLevels - Maximum number of node levels. Default is 0, i.e., no limit.
• CompactMode - If set to True, the navigation expands the root nodes and all parent nodes to the current node. In the example below, nodes Child1, Child2, and Child3 are the root nodes:

Child1
Child2
    Child21
        Child211 (Current Node)
            Child2111
Child3

If set to False, sibling nodes to the current node and its parent nodes will also be shown. For example:

Child1
Child2
    Child21
        Child211 (Current Node)
            Child2111
        Child212
    Child22
    Child23
Child3

Default is False.

• ListCssClass - CSS class name for the outermost <ul> tag.
• NodeCssClass - CSS class name for regular hyperlinked nodes.
• CurrentNodeCssClass - CSS class name for a selected node.
• CurrentNodeParentCssClass - CSS class name for the lowest level node under which there is a selected node.
• NoUrlNodeCssClass - CSS class name for nodes with no URL, like headings.

The control also uses a resource file to store all messages and property attribute UI strings. It demonstrates how to develop a custom class that inherits CategoryAttribute or DescriptionAttribute and returns a localized string from your own Resource Manager.

The sample Visual Studio 2008 solution includes all the support files you need to build and deploy this web control, minus strong name key files (*.snk). It contains two projects: Deployment and SharePoint.Publishing. The SharePoint.Publishing project contains source codes for the web control. The Deployment project contains a Solution directory where a WSP file is generated and deployed by a post-build script.

Notes

The web control does not fully support site hierarchy containing navigational "headings" because they cannot be clicked to open up child nodes. The navigation will, however, show parent headings if one of the child nodes is a current node.

Installation

Using stsadm, install solution file QuestechNavigation.wsp in \Deployments\Solution\:

stsadm -o addsolution -filename QuestechNavigation.wsp

Go to SharePoint Central Administration/Operations/Global Configuration-Solution Management. Deploy the installed solution to the selected web applications. To insert the web control to a publishing page, modify the appropriate master page or page layout as follows:

...
<%@ Register Tagprefix="QuestechPublishingWebControls"
    Namespace="QuestechSystems.SharePoint.Publishing.WebControls"
    Assembly="QuestechSystems.SharePoint.Publishing.Navigation, Version=1.0.0.0, 
              Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=57d955ce9c425b79" %>
...
...
<QuestechPublishingWebControls:Navigation CompactMode="False" runat="server" />
...

History

• V1.4 - 2010.05.12
  • Removed empty ul tags for expandable nodes that are not expanded
• V1.3 - 2009.05.22
  • Converted Visual Studio solution projects to version 2008
  • New SharePoint Solution QuestechNavigation.wsp and assembly QuestechSystems.SharePoint.Publishing.Navigation.dll. This allows my other sample solutions in CodeProject to co-exist with this web control.
  • Renamed class from VerticalNavigation to Navigation
• V1.2 - 2008.04.21
• Added new property CompactMode
• Included sample Visual Studio 2005 solution for compiling and deploying the web control
• Updated installation instructions
• V1.1 - 2007.09.18
• Added new properties SiteMapProvider, IncludeSubSites, and IncludePages
• Added rendering of sibling nodes if current node is a page or a sub-site with default page only
• Added resource file for property attribute UI strings and error messages
• V1.0 - 2006.12.07 - Base