6 Customizing the Navigator Menu

This chapter describes how to customize the navigator menu in Oracle Fusion Applications by using the Manage Menu Customizations task in the Setup and Maintenance work area to add and delete menu groups and items.

This chapter includes the following sections:

• Section 6.1, "About Navigator Menu Configuration"

• Section 6.2, "Adding Groups"

• Section 6.3, "Adding Items"

• Section 6.4, "Hiding and Showing Nodes"

6.1 About Navigator Menu Configuration

The navigator menu is the global menu that is accessible from the Oracle Fusion Applications global area. It allows an end user to navigate directly to pages inside of Oracle Fusion Applications as well as to outside web pages. The menu is composed of links (items) that are organized in a hierarchy of groups.

You can customize the navigator menu to address needs that are specific to your organization. For example, you might want to add specialized groupings for cross-functional teams or add links to web pages or external applications. You can add groups and links to the navigator menu, as well as hide and show them.

The navigator menu typically appears when the end user clicks the Navigator link, as shown in Figure 6-1. However, in some applications the page template can be customized to present the top level groups and items as pull-down buttons, as shown in Figure 6-2, in place of the single Navigator link. For information about how to display the navigator menu as a series of pull-down buttons see "Rendering the Navigator Menu as Pull-down Buttons" in the Oracle Fusion Applications Developer's Guide.

Figure 6-1 Navigator Menu Example — Navigator Link

Figure 6-2 Navigator Menu Example — Navigator Pull-down Buttons

In a multi-tenant environment, you customize the navigator menu at the site level and your changes affect the tenant at that site level. Otherwise, you customize the navigator menu at the site level and your customizations affect all end users.

You use the Manage Menu Customizations task to customize the menu. This task is available from the Setup and Maintenance work area, which is accessible from the Administration menu in the Oracle Fusion Applications global area. The Manage Menu Customizations page displays the menu groups as expandable nodes, as shown in Figure 6-3, with which you can traverse the menu hierarchy.

Figure 6-3 Expandable Group Nodes in Manage Menu Customizations Page

Note:

Not all Oracle Fusion Applications pages appear in the navigator menu, as some pages are accessible from a work area or from other links in the global area such as the Home link.

You can also customize the Navigator menu from Oracle JDeveloper. For more information, see Section 11.11, "Customizing Menus"

6.1.1 What You Can Do with the Navigator Menu at Runtime

If you have the required privileges, you can perform the following tasks to customize the menu:

• Add and delete custom groups

• Edit any group

• Add and delete custom items

• Edit any item

• Specify navigation for an item

  • Specify navigation to a UI Shell page in an Oracle Fusion application

  • Specify navigation to an external web page

• Hide or show groups and items

You can also localize your navigator menu customizations. For more information, see Section 16.4, "Translating Navigator Menu Customizations."

6.1.2 What You Cannot Do with the Navigator Menu at Runtime

You cannot make the following menu customizations at runtime:

• You cannot add menu items (links) as top level nodes. You only can add nodes to the groups in the top level and to subgroups.

• You cannot delete nodes that are delivered with the product.

• You cannot move nodes. Instead, you must duplicate the node and hide the original node.

Note:

While you can customize the global navigator menu at runtime, you cannot customize the global home menu or the global preferences menu at runtime.

For information about customizing the navigator and home menus using Oracle JDeveloper, see Section 11.11, "Customizing Menus"

6.1.3 Before You Begin Customizing the Navigator Menu

Before you customize the navigator menu, you should be familiar with the Oracle Fusion application architecture that enables customization, as described in Chapter 1, "Customizing and Extending Oracle Fusion Applications." You should also understand the typical workflows for working with customizations, as described in Chapter 2, "Understanding the Customization Development Lifecycle."

You will need to do the following before you can begin customizing the navigator menu:

• If you are making minor changes, you can hide the changes until you have completed your customizations. However, if you are making more than minor changes, you might want to instead create a sandbox. For more information see Section 2.2, "Using the Sandbox Manager."

• You must have the necessary function and data security privileges to access the Manage Menu Customizations task. Contact your security administrator for details.

• Open the Manage Menu Customizations task. To access this task, choose Setup and Maintenance from the Administration menu in the Oracle Fusion Applications global area and search for the task.

6.2 Adding Groups

You arrange the menu by building a hierarchy of nested groups. For example, in Figure 6-4 the Manager Resources group contains the Career group.

Figure 6-4 Menu Groups and Sub Groups

Task: Navigate the Menu Hierarchy

You can use the View menu to expand or collapse a group of nodes, scroll to the first group, or scroll to the last group in the navigation tree. You can also right-click a node and access similar actions to facilitate tree navigation.

Task: Add a Group

As shown in Figure 6-5, you can insert a group above or below a peer group or insert a group child. You edit a group by defining a label and specifying whether the group should be rendered. You typically hide the group until all changes have been completed.

Figure 6-5 Action Menu

6.3 Adding Items

Navigator menu items are URL links. There are two types of links — links to UI Shell pages in Oracle Fusion applications and links to external applications and web sites. Menu items can be added to the top level groups and their subgroups. Note that you cannot add menu items as top level nodes.

Task: Adding an Item

To add an item, you navigate to the item's group and insert the item above or below another item, as shown in Figure 6-5. You can also choose to duplicate an existing item. You must supply the menu label and either link to a UI Shell page or link to an external web site or application, as described in the following tasks. The Create Item Node page is shown in Figure 6-6.

Figure 6-6 Create Item Node Page

Task: Linking to a UI Shell Page

If the new item points to a UI Shell page in an application, you must provide the name of the web application and the view ID of the target page. The quickest way to obtain the web application name and view ID is to copy them from an existing menu item that links to the same page. Otherwise, the web application name is the same as the context root for the application, and the view ID can be obtained from the id attribute for the page's <view> tag in the product's public_html/WEB-INF/adfc-config.xml file.

If you want to secure access to the target UI Shell page from the menu item, you will need to provide the name of the secured resource and the name of the policy store's application stripe. When an end user clicks the link, Oracle Fusion Applications checks the secured resource and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) policy store to determine whether the user has permission to view the page.

If there is another menu item that points to the same page, you can get the secured resource name and application stripe from that item. Otherwise, the application stripe can be obtained from the jps.policystore.applicationid parameter in the application's weblogic-application.xml file. Examples of application stripes are crm, fscm, and hcm. The secured resource name is the name of the web page's page definition file. By default, the page definition files are located in the view.PageDefs package in the Application Sources directory of the view project. If the corresponding JSF page is saved to a directory other than the default (public_html), or to a subdirectory of the default, then the page definition will also be saved to a package of the same name. An example of a secured resource name is oracle.apps.view.pageDefs.CaseList_Form_Attach_ UIShellPagePageDef.

A UI Shell page might take parameters and display or act differently based on the parameters that are passed in. For example if accessing a page from one group in the menu hierarchy, the parameter might be set to status="Open" and if accessing the page from a different group, the parameter might be set to status="Closed". If the page takes parameters, you can use the Page Parameters List text box to provide a semicolon-delimited string of name value pairs, such as org=m1;context=s1. You can use expression language (EL) to specify the parameters. If the EL evaluates to an Object, the toString value of that Object is passed as the value of the parameter.

Note:

Do not enter a value in the Destination text box. If a destination is provided, the menu item is treated as a link to an external web page and the target view ID and web application values are ignored.

Task: Linking to an External Web Site or Application

You can link a menu item to an external web site or application. Clicking on the menu item displays the target in a new browser window or tab, depending on the browser configuration.

To link to an external web site or application, provide the URL in the Destination text box and provide the menu label. Do not enter information in any other fields. If you need to pass parameters, put the parameters in the URL.

6.4 Hiding and Showing Nodes

While you are creating or working with a group or item, you might want to prevent end users from accessing the node. You can hide the group or item while you are working with it, and then show the node when you have completed the task.

Tip:

For major changes that need to be tested and approved, you might want to use the sandbox manager instead of hiding and showing nodes. For more information, see Section 2.2, "Using the Sandbox Manager."

The Manage Menu Customizations page shows all nodes. The nodes that appear in italics are hidden from end users, as shown in Figure 6-7.

Figure 6-7 Hidden Node Shown in Italics

Task: Hiding or Showing a Node

When you add a node, you can select the Rendered checkbox to display the node, or clear the checkbox to hide it. You can edit the node later to change how it is rendered.