Menus
Menus are the navigation items shown in the sidebar. Each menu item links to a filtered list of entities. They are entities of type menu — create them in the Configuration area.
When a menu item is active (current page URL matches its query), entity types whose add_from references that menu will show a "New …" button in the toolbar.
Entity types can also set add_from to reference another entity type or a specific entity instance — in that case an "Add …" button appears when viewing an instance of that type or that specific entity, respectively, for users with _expander rights on it. Types that reference the specific entity take precedence: types that reference its entity type are offered only when none do. This makes add_from work across two contexts: menu-level creation and parent–child creation.
Menu Parameters
| Param | Description |
|---|---|
name | Display name shown in the sidebar. |
group | Groups menu items under a named section header. Items with the same group value are shown together. |
ordinal | Numeric sort order within the group. Lower numbers appear first. Groups are ordered by the average ordinal of their items. |
query | URL query string that defines what entities this menu shows. When the current page URL starts with this query, the menu item is highlighted as active. A value starting with http or / makes the item a link that opens in a new tab instead; {DATABASE} and {LOCALE} in it are replaced with the current database and UI language. |
The query parameter uses the standard entity filter syntax. See API → Query Reference for the full syntax.
Example Menu Setup
A typical sidebar for a project management application:
name | group | ordinal | query |
|---|---|---|---|
| Projects | Work | 1 | _type.string=project&sort=name.string |
| Tasks | Work | 2 | _type.string=task&status.string.in=active,pending |
| Invoices | Finance | 1 | _type.string=invoice&sort=-date.date |
| People | Admin | 1 | _type.string=person&sort=name.string |
To allow creating entities of a type from a menu, set the entity type's add_from to reference the menu entity. When that menu is active, the "New …" button appears in the toolbar.
Access Control
Menu entities use the same rights and sharing model as all other entities — the sidebar only shows menu items the current user can access.
Set _sharing: domain on a menu entity to show it to every user of the database, or _sharing: public to show it also to visitors who are not signed in. Such users see the menu's domain or public view, so the menu entity type and its property definitions must share name, group, ordinal and query too — see Entity Types → Visibility. Leave it private and assign explicit _viewer (or higher) rights to restrict it to specific people.
This makes it straightforward to build role-based navigation: an Admin menu visible only to administrators, a Finance section visible only to the finance team, and a Projects menu open to everyone.
TIP
The recommended pattern is to grant rights on the menu entity itself — a user only needs _viewer rights to see a menu item. Use _inheritrights on the menu entity if you want it to inherit access from a parent container.