All the details about our Application Menu feature and how you can build custom menus for your web applications.

1. Introduction

Each model has an Application Menu definition that will be available in the Application, exposing its options to the user. The menu can be customized or you can leave to the Platform the responsibility of generating a proposal at Build time.

In case of a customized Application Menu, a new menu entry will be automatically added to the menu root when a new Entity or Dashboard is created.

It’s only possible to have one menu in the Application.

2. How to customize a Menu?

Before you start, make sure that you have at least one successful build of your model. The customization is based on the menu proposed at build time.

By accessing User Interface / Menu in the sidebar, you will have access to the Menu modeling screen.

A Menu is a hierarchical structure composed by nested menu entries. Each Menu Entry is defined by:

  • name: the entry name (should be unique in a menu);
  • label: the element caption;
  • row: the layout row in which the element will be placed;
  • column: the layout column in which the element will be placed;
  • size: the element size on a scale of 1 (the smaller size) to 12 (the bigger size);
  • actionType/actionLocation: the menu entry type. The type defines which action should happen when the user clicks;
  • Icon: You can consult the available icons at Font Awesome version 4.7.0;
  • color: color to display when hovering the menu entry;
  • isHidden: the visibility of the element (hidden or visible);

The menu can be configured to start collapsed or expanded, by changing the value of the isCollapsed attribute. By default the menu starts expanded.

3. User Interface Behaviours

User Interface / Menu / User Interface Behaviours

In order to extend your application’s user interface you can add new behaviours to your menu’s user interface.

Click here, to know more about user interface behaviours.

4. Breadcrumb

The application will use the menu definition to calculate breadcrumb labels. The Rules to calculate the label are:

  1. Use the menu entry label if the definition is a member of the Menu.
  2. Use the Dashboard label if the definition is a Dashboard and not a member of the Menu.
  3. Use the Form label if the definition is a Form and not a member of the Menu.