GroupBar with SiteMap

[Jack Lavallet]

I am implementing the GroupBar control with a SiteMapDataSource. My SiteMap is as follows:


http://schemas.microsoft.com/AspNet/SiteMap-File-1.0" >







































I am using the ShowStartingNode property in my SiteMapDataSource as follows:







My GroupBar declaration is in my master page as follows:

EnableTheming="true" ExpandSingleGroup="false">
























I have two questions:

(1) How can I force the GroupBar to have all top level menu items expanded (i.e., Account, Categories, etc.) on each visit to the page (unless collapsed by the user)?

(2) How do I specify an ItemLook for my top level menu items (i.e., Account, Categories, etc.) and sublevel menu items (Login, Recover Password, etc.) since the Items are not hardcoded but based on the SiteMap?

Thank you,
Jack Lavallet

[Ramya R]

Hi Jack,

Thank you for your interest in Syncfusion Products.

(1) How can I force the GroupBar to have all top level menu items expanded (i.e., Account, Categories, etc.) on each visit to the page (unless collapsed by the user)?

In current version, we do not have support for expanding the FirstLevelItems of a Groupbar when a SiteMapDataSource is binded to it.

Could you please provide us the usecase scenario for this feature, so that it would be a great help to us in analyzing this feature and log a feature request with regard to this?

(2) How do I specify an ItemLook for my top level menu items (i.e., Account, Categories, etc.) and sublevel menu items (Login, Recover Password, etc.) since the Items are not hardcoded but based on the SiteMap?

The ItemLook for individual items of Groupbar cannot be set when the items in a Groupbar are created using the SiteMapDataSource.
You can use the AutoFormat property in PropertyWindow and set the styles for the Groupbar as whole(i.e the style set using the AutoFormat property gets applied for all items).

Please let me know if you have any queries.

Thanks & Regards,
Ramya.

[Jack Lavallet]

Ramya,

With regard to the above questions:

(1) I would like to expand all of the 'groupBarItem' nodes so that the user can see all of his choices without individually and manually expanding each one. If he were to expand or collapse a 'groupBarItem' I would like to retain that state between post backs in my master page code. It seems like this would be an obvious feature. Ordinarily I'd walk the item tree in Page_Load and set each 'groupBarItem' Expanded property to true to start with but there are no items in the Items collection when using the SiteMap. Can you make any suggestions on how to make changes so that my GroupBar state is maintained between post backs and page changes?

(2) There is in fact a way! Looking at the Program Files\Syncfusion\Essential Studio\5.1.0.51\Resources\ToolsWeb\CSS folder I found three CSS files that define three standard looks for the GroupBar. I copied one such file to my project folder and changed the CSS classes to achieve my look. Unfortunately all of the properties are not documented (for example I want to set the Left Image but can't guess the CSS class name). I specified the CSS file to use in the GroupBar declaration like so:



EnableTheming="True" ExpandSingleGroup="False" CustomCSS="/GroupBar.css" />



See my attached GroupBar.css file. Can you tell me if the unshown properties are documented somewhere?

Please don't be so quick to give up on a posted question. No offense but I see that quite frequently from Syncfusion.

Thanks,
Jack

GroupBar3.zip

[Jack Lavallet]

Here is my solution for item (2). The help documentation at ms-help://MS.VSCC.v80/Syncfusion/SfToolsWeb/Schematic1.html entitled 'CSS style applicable segments' under 'Syncfusion Essential Studio > Essential Tools > ASP.NET > Controls and Components > Navigation Package > GroupBar > Look and Feel Settings > CSS style applicable segments' gave me enough info to complete my stylesheet.


I still need input on expanding the groupBarItem(s) and maintaining state. Anyone?

Thanks,
Jack

CustomGroupBar.zip

[Ramya R]

Hi Jack,

My apologies for the delay in responding to you.

As said in our previous update, in current version we do not have support for expanding the groupBarItems and maintaining state.

Thank you for suggesting this valuable feature of "Support to expand the items at all levels of the Groupbar " to enhance our product. We have logged it as a feature request and notified our development team. We will implement this feature in our forthcoming new version releases or service pack releases. We usually have a timeframe of at least three months between releases. The feature implementation would also greatly depend on the factors like product design, code compatibility and complexity. We will get back to you once the feature is implemented.

Let me know if you have any queries.

Thanks & Regards,
Ramya.