# Class yii\widgets\Menu

Inheritance | yii\widgets\Menu » yii\base\Widget » yii\base\Component » yii\base\BaseObject
Implements | yii\base\Configurable, yii\base\ViewContextInterface
Subclasses | yii\jui\Menu
Available since version | 2.0
Source Code | https://github.com/yiisoft/yii2/blob/master/framework/widgets/Menu.php

Menu displays a multi-level menu using nested HTML lists.

The main property of Menu is $items, which specifies the possible items in the menu. A menu item can contain sub-items which specify the sub-menu under that menu item.

Menu checks the current route and request parameters to toggle certain menu items with active state.

Note that Menu only renders the HTML tags about the menu. It does do any styling. You are responsible to provide CSS styles to make it look like a real menu.

The following example shows how to use Menu:

    echo Menu::widget([
        'items' => [
            // Important: you need to specify url as 'controller/action',
            // not just as 'controller' even if default action is used.
            ['label' => 'Home', 'url' => ['site/index']],
            // 'Products' menu item will be selected as long as the route is 'product/index'
            ['label' => 'Products', 'url' => ['product/index'], 'items' => [
                ['label' => 'New Arrivals', 'url' => ['product/index', 'tag' => 'new']],
                ['label' => 'Most Popular', 'url' => ['product/index', 'tag' => 'popular']],
            ]],
            ['label' => 'Login', 'url' => ['site/login'], 'visible' => Yii::$app->user->isGuest],
        ],
    ]);

## Public Properties

Hide inherited properties

Property | Type | Description | Defined By
--- | --- | --- | ---
$activateItems | boolean | Whether to automatically activate items according to whether their route setting matches the currently requested route. | yii\widgets\Menu
$activateParents | boolean | Whether to activate parent menu items when one of the corresponding child menu items is active. | yii\widgets\Menu
$activeCssClass | string | The CSS class to be appended to the active menu item. | yii\widgets\Menu
$autoIdPrefix | string | The prefix to the automatically generated widget IDs. | yii\base\Widget
$behaviors | yii\base\Behavior[] | List of behaviors attached to this component. This property is read-only. | yii\base\Component
$counter | integer | A counter used to generate $id for widgets. | yii\base\Widget
$encodeLabels | boolean | Whether the labels for menu items should be HTML-encoded. | yii\widgets\Menu
$firstItemCssClass | string | The CSS class that will be assigned to the first item in the main menu or each submenu. | yii\widgets\Menu
$hideEmptyItems | boolean | Whether to hide empty menu items. | yii\widgets\Menu
$id | string|null | ID of the widget. Note that the type of this property differs in getter and setter. See getId() and setId() for details. | yii\base\Widget
$itemOptions | array | List of HTML attributes shared by all menu $items. | yii\widgets\Menu
$items | array | List of menu items. | yii\widgets\Menu
$labelTemplate | string | The template used to render the body of a menu which is NOT a link. | yii\widgets\Menu
$lastItemCssClass | string | The CSS class that will be assigned to the last item in the main menu or each submenu. | yii\widgets\Menu
$linkTemplate | string | The template used to render the body of a menu which is a link. | yii\widgets\Menu
$options | array | The HTML attributes for the menu's container tag. | yii\widgets\Menu
$params | array | The parameters used to determine if a menu item is active or not. | yii\widgets\Menu
$route | string | The route used to determine if a menu item is active or not. | yii\widgets\Menu
$stack | yii\base\Widget[] | The widgets that are currently being rendered (not ended). | yii\base\Widget
$submenuTemplate | string | The template used to render a list of sub-menus. | yii\widgets\Menu
$view | yii\web\View | The view object that can be used to render views or view files. Note that the type of this property differs in getter and setter. See getView() and setView() for details. | yii\base\Widget
$viewPath | string | The directory containing the view files for this widget. This property is read-only. | yii\base\Widget

## Public Methods

Hide inherited methods

Method | Description | Defined By
--- | --- | ---
__call() | Calls the named method which is not a class method. | yii\base\Component
__clone() | This method is called after the object is created by cloning an existing one. | yii\base\Component
__construct() | Constructor. | yii\base\BaseObject
__get() | Returns the value of a component property. | yii\base\Component
__isset() | Checks if a property is set, i.e. defined and not null. | yii\base\Component
__set() | Sets the value of a component property. | yii\base\Component
__unset() | Sets a component property to be null. | yii\base\Component
afterRun() | This method is invoked right after a widget is executed. | yii\base\Widget
attachBehavior() | Attaches a behavior to this component. | yii\base\Component
attachBehaviors() | Attaches a list of behaviors to the component. | yii\base\Component
beforeRun() | This method is invoked right before the widget is executed. | yii\base\Widget
begin() | Begins a widget. | yii\base\Widget
behaviors() | Returns a list of behaviors that this component should behave as. | yii\base\Component
canGetProperty() | Returns a value indicating whether a property can be read. | yii\base\Component
canSetProperty() | Returns a value indicating whether a property can be set. | yii\base\Component
className() | Returns the fully qualified name of this class. | yii\base\BaseObject
detachBehavior() | Detaches a behavior from the component. | yii\base\Component
detachBehaviors() | Detaches all behaviors from the component. | yii\base\Component
end() | Ends a widget. | yii\base\Widget
ensureBehaviors() | Makes sure that the behaviors declared in behaviors() are attached to this component. | yii\base\Component
getBehavior() | Returns the named behavior object. | yii\base\Component
getBehaviors() | Returns all behaviors attached to this component. | yii\base\Component
getId() | Returns the ID of the widget. | yii\base\Widget
getView() | Returns the view object that can be used to render views or view files. | yii\base\Widget
getViewPath() | Returns the directory containing the view files for this widget. | yii\base\Widget
hasEventHandlers() | Returns a value indicating whether there is any handler attached to the named event. | yii\base\Component
hasMethod() | Returns a value indicating whether a method is defined. | yii\base\Component
hasProperty() | Returns a value indicating whether a property is defined for this component. | yii\base\Component
init() | Initializes the object. | yii\base\Widget
off() | Detaches an existing event handler from this component. | yii\base\Component
on() | Attaches an event handler to an event. | yii\base\Component
render() | Renders a view. | yii\base\Widget
renderFile() | Renders a view file. | yii\base\Widget
run() | Renders the menu. | yii\widgets\Menu
setId() | Sets the ID of the widget. | yii\base\Widget
setView() | Sets the view object to be used by this widget. | yii\base\Widget
trigger() | Triggers an event. | yii\base\Component
widget() | Creates a widget instance and runs it. | yii\base\Widget

## Protected Methods

Hide inherited methods

Method | Description | Defined By
--- | --- | ---
isItemActive() | Checks whether a menu item is active. | yii\widgets\Menu
normalizeItems() | Normalizes the $items property to remove invisible items and activate certain items. | yii\widgets\Menu
renderItem() | Renders the content of a menu item. | yii\widgets\Menu
renderItems() | Recursively renders the menu items (without the container tag). | yii\widgets\Menu

## Events

Hide inherited events

Event | Type | Description | Defined By
--- | --- | --- | ---
EVENT_AFTER_RUN | yii\base\WidgetEvent | An event raised right after executing a widget. (available since version 2.0.11) | yii\base\Widget
EVENT_BEFORE_RUN | yii\base\WidgetEvent | An event raised right before executing a widget. (available since version 2.0.11) | yii\base\Widget
EVENT_INIT | yii\base\Event | An event that is triggered when the widget is initialized via init(). (available since version 2.0.11) | yii\base\Widget

## Property Details

$activateItems public property

Whether to automatically activate items according to whether their route setting matches the currently requested route.

See also isItemActive().

public boolean $activateItems = true
$activateParents public property

Whether to activate parent menu items when one of the corresponding child menu items is active. The activated parent menu items will also have its CSS classes appended with $activeCssClass.

public boolean $activateParents = false
$activeCssClass public property

The CSS class to be appended to the active menu item.

public string $activeCssClass = 'active'
$encodeLabels public property

Whether the labels for menu items should be HTML-encoded.

public boolean $encodeLabels = true
$firstItemCssClass public property

The CSS class that will be assigned to the first item in the main menu or each submenu. Defaults to null, meaning no such CSS class will be assigned.

public string $firstItemCssClass = null
$hideEmptyItems public property

Whether to hide empty menu items. An empty menu item is one whose `url` option is not set and which has no visible child menu items.

public boolean $hideEmptyItems = true
$itemOptions public property

List of HTML attributes shared by all menu $items. If any individual menu item specifies its `options`, it will be merged with this property before being used to generate the HTML attributes for the menu item tag. The following special options are recognized:

- tag: string, defaults to "li", the tag name of the item container tags. Set to false to disable container tag. See also yii\helpers\Html::tag().

See also yii\helpers\Html::renderTagAttributes() for details on how attributes are being rendered.

public array $itemOptions = []
$items public property

List of menu items. Each menu item should be an array of the following structure:

- label: string, optional, specifies the menu item label. When $encodeLabels is true, the label will be HTML-encoded. If the label is not specified, an empty string will be used.
- encode: boolean, optional, whether this item`s label should be HTML-encoded. This param will override global $encodeLabels param.
- url: string or array, optional, specifies the URL of the menu item. It will be processed by yii\helpers\Url::to(). When this is set, the actual menu item content will be generated using $linkTemplate; otherwise, $labelTemplate will be used.
- visible: boolean, optional, whether this menu item is visible. Defaults to true.
- items: array, optional, specifies the sub-menu items. Its format is the same as the parent items.
- active: boolean or Closure, optional, whether this menu item is in active state (currently selected). When using a closure, its signature should be `function ($item, $hasActiveChild, $isItemActive, $widget)`. Closure must return `true` if item should be marked as `active`, otherwise - `false`. If a menu item is active, its CSS class will be appended with $activeCssClass. If this option is not set, the menu item will be set active automatically when the current request is triggered by `url`. For more details, please refer to isItemActive().
- template: string, optional, the template used to render the content of this menu item. The token `{url}` will be replaced by the URL associated with this menu item, and the token `{label}` will be replaced by the label of the menu item. If this option is not set, $linkTemplate or $labelTemplate will be used instead.
- submenuTemplate: string, optional, the template used to render the list of sub-menus. The token `{items}` will be replaced with the rendered sub-menu items. If this option is not set, $submenuTemplate will be used instead.
- options: array, optional, the HTML attributes for the menu container tag.

public array $items = []
$labelTemplate public property

The template used to render the body of a menu which is NOT a link. In this template, the token `{label}` will be replaced with the label of the menu item. This property will be overridden by the `template` option set in individual menu items via $items.

public string $labelTemplate = '{label}'
$lastItemCssClass public property

The CSS class that will be assigned to the last item in the main menu or each submenu. Defaults to null, meaning no such CSS class will be assigned.

public string $lastItemCssClass = null
$linkTemplate public property

The template used to render the body of a menu which is a link. In this template, the token `{url}` will be replaced with the corresponding link URL; while `{label}` will be replaced with the link text. This property will be overridden by the `template` option set in individual menu items via $items.

public string $linkTemplate = '<a href="{url}">{label}</a>'
$options public property

The HTML attributes for the menu's container tag. The following special options are recognized:

- tag: string, defaults to "ul", the tag name of the item container tags. Set to false to disable container tag. See also yii\helpers\Html::tag().

See also yii\helpers\Html::renderTagAttributes() for details on how attributes are being rendered.

public array $options = []
$params public property

The parameters used to determine if a menu item is active or not. If not set, it will use `$_GET`.

See also:

- $route
- isItemActive()

public array $params = null
$route public property

The route used to determine if a menu item is active or not. If not set, it will use the route of the current request.

See also:

- $params
- isItemActive()

public string $route = null
$submenuTemplate public property

The template used to render a list of sub-menus. In this template, the token `{items}` will be replaced with the rendered sub-menu items.

public string $submenuTemplate = "\n<ul>\n{items}\n</ul>\n"

## Method Details

isItemActive() protected method

Checks whether a menu item is active.

This is done by checking if $route and $params match that specified in the `url` option of the menu item. When the `url` option of a menu item is specified in terms of an array, its first element is treated as the route for the item and the rest of the elements are the associated parameters. Only when its route and parameters match $route and $params, respectively, will a menu item be considered active.

protected boolean isItemActive ( $item )
$item | array | The menu item to be checked
return | boolean | Whether the menu item is active

normalizeItems() protected method

Normalizes the $items property to remove invisible items and activate certain items.

protected array normalizeItems ( $items, &$active )
$items | array | The items to be normalized.
$active | boolean | Whether there is an active child menu item.
return | array | The normalized menu items

renderItem() protected method

Renders the content of a menu item.

Note that the container and the sub-menus are not rendered here.

protected string renderItem ( $item )
$item | array | The menu item to be rendered. Please refer to $items to see what data might be in the item.
return | string | The rendering result

renderItems() protected method

Recursively renders the menu items (without the container tag).

protected string renderItems ( $items )
$items | array | The menu items to be rendered recursively
return | string | The rendering result

run() public method

Renders the menu.

public void run ( )