Customize menu items in EJ2 JavaScript Menu control

2 May 202317 minutes to read

Add or remove menu items

Menu items can be added or removed using the insertAfter, insertBefore and removeItems methods.

In the following example, the Europe menu items are added before the Oceania item, the Africa menu items are added after the Asia, and the South America and Mexico items are removed from menu.

ej.base.enableRipple(true);

//Menu datasource
var data = [
    {
        continent: 'Asia',
        countries: [
            { country: 'China' },
            { country: 'India' },
            { country: 'Japan' }
        ]
    },
    {
        continent: 'North America',
        countries: [
            { country: 'Canada' },
            { country: 'Mexico' },
            { country: 'USA' }
        ]
    },
    {
        continent: 'South America',
        countries: [
            { country: 'Brazil' },
            { country: 'Colombia' },
            { country: 'Argentina' }
        ]
    },
    {
        continent: 'Oceania',
        countries: [
            { country: 'Australia' },
            { country: 'New Zealand' },
            { country: 'Samoa' },
        ]
    },
    { continent: 'Antarctica' }
];

//Menu fields definition
var menuFields = {
    text: ['continent', 'country'],
    children: ['countries']
};

// Initialize Menu component.
var menuObj = new ej.navigations.Menu({ items: data, fields: menuFields }, '#menu');

var insertItem = [
    {
        continent: 'Europe',
        countries: [
            { country: 'Finland' },
            { country: 'Austria' }
        ]
    }
];

//Add items before to 'Oceania'
menuObj.insertBefore(insertItem, 'Oceania', false);

insertItem = [
    {
        continent: 'Africa',
        countries: [
            { country: 'Nigeria' }
        ]
    }
];

//Add items after to 'Asia'
menuObj.insertAfter(insertItem, 'Asia', false);

//Remove items
menuObj.removeItems(['South America', 'Mexico'], false);
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>Essential JS 2</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no">
    <meta name="description" content="Essential JS 2">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/ej2-popups/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/ej2-navigations/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">

    <!--style reference from app-->
    <link href="styles.css" rel="stylesheet">

    <!--system js reference and configuration-->
    
    
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
    
    <div id="container">
        <div class="control-section">
            <ul id="menu"></ul>
        </div>
    </div>



<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
      </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

To process items with ID values, set isUnique to true.

Enable or disable menu items

You can enable and disable the menu items using the enableItems method in Menu. To enable menuItems, set the enable property in argument to true and vice-versa.

In the following example, the Directory header item, Conferences, and Music sub menu items are disabled.

ej.base.enableRipple(true);

//Menu items definition
var menuItems = [
    {
        text: 'Events',
        items: [
            { text: 'Conferences' },
            { text: 'Music' },
            { text: 'Workshops' }
        ]
    },
    {
        text: 'Movies',
        items: [
            { text: 'Now Showing' },
            { text: 'Coming Soon' }
        ]
    },
    {
        text: 'Directory',
        items: [
            { text: 'Media Gallery' },
            { text: 'Newsletters' }
        ]
    },
    {
        text: 'Queries',
        items: [
            { text: 'Our Policy' },
            { text: 'Site Map' }
        ]
    },
    { text: 'Services' }
];

// Initialize Menu component.
var menuObj = new ej.navigations.Menu({
    items: menuItems,
    beforeOpen: function (args) {
        //Handling sub menu items
        for (var i = 0; i  < args.items.length; i++) {
            if (disableItems.indexOf(args.items[i].text) > -1) {
                menuObj.enableItems([args.items[i].text], false, false);
            }
        }
    }
}, '#menu');

var disableItems = ['Conferences', 'Music', 'Directory'];

//Disable items
menuObj.enableItems(disableItems, false, false);

var buttonObj = new ej.buttons.Button(null, '#enableAll');

buttonObj.element.onclick = function () {
    menuObj.enableItems(disableItems, true, false);
    disableItems = [];
}
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>Essential JS 2</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no">
    <meta name="description" content="Essential JS 2">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/ej2-popups/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/ej2-navigations/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">

    <!--style reference from app-->
    <link href="styles.css" rel="stylesheet">

    <!--system js reference and configuration-->
    
    
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
    
    <div id="container">
        <div class="control-section">
            <button id="enableAll">Enable all items</button>
            <div class="menu-section">
                <ul id="menu"></ul>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>



<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
      </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

To disable sub menu items, use the beforeOpen event.

Hide or show menu items

You can show or hide the menu items using the showItems and hideItems methods.

In the following example, the Movies header item, Workshops, and Music sub menu items are hidden in menu.

ej.base.enableRipple(true);

//Menu items definition
var menuItems = [
    {
        text: 'Events',
        items: [
            { text: 'Conferences' },
            { text: 'Music' },
            { text: 'Workshops' }
        ]
    },
    {
        text: 'Movies',
        items: [
            { text: 'Now Showing' },
            { text: 'Coming Soon' }
        ]
    },
    {
        text: 'Directory',
        items: [
            { text: 'Media Gallery' },
            { text: 'Newsletters' }
        ]
    },
    {
        text: 'Queries',
        items: [
            { text: 'Our Policy' },
            { text: 'Site Map' }
        ]
    },
    { text: 'Services' }
];

// Initialize Menu component.
var menuObj = new ej.navigations.Menu({
    items: menuItems,
    beforeOpen: function (args) {
        //Handling sub menu items
        for (var i = 0; i  < args.items.length; i++) {
            if (hiddenItems.indexOf(args.items[i].text) > -1) {
                menuObj.hideItems([args.items[i].text], false);
            }
        }
    }
}, '#menu');

var hiddenItems = ['Workshops', 'Music', 'Movies'];

//Hide items
menuObj.hideItems(hiddenItems, false);

var buttonObj = new ej.buttons.Button(null, '#showAll');

buttonObj.element.onclick = function () {
    menuObj.showItems(hiddenItems, false);
    hiddenItems = [];
}
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>Essential JS 2</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no">
    <meta name="description" content="Essential JS 2">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/ej2-popups/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/ej2-navigations/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet">

    <!--style reference from app-->
    <link href="styles.css" rel="stylesheet">

    <!--system js reference and configuration-->
    
    
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
    
    <div id="container">
        <div class="control-section">
            <button id="showAll">Show all items</button>
            <div class="menu-section">
                <ul id="menu"></ul>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>



<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
      </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

Using the beforeOpen event, you can hide the sub menu items as in the above example since the menu supports to hide items only for headers initially.