Wayfinder

Wayfinder is a Snippet by kylej that scans a specified portion of the MODX document tree, finds all documents that satisfy a certain criteria (determined by the Parameters), and outputs a formatted list of those documents. The formatting of the output is template-driven, and can contain any combination of HTML, CSS and JavaScript, yielding an enormous degree of flexibility.

Wayfinder's primary purpose is to generate navigational menus that automatically update to reflect changes made to the document tree, but it can be used for other purposes as well.

Since you can make multiple calls to Wayfinder on a single page, and each call can specify a different section of the document tree, you can have multiple navigational menus or document lists on a single page. For example you may wish to have a main menu at the top of the page, then along the sides have secondary menus for products, services, teams, roles, etc. Each pertaining to a different section of the document tree.

Please note that since the release of Revolution there are two types of Wayfinder snippets available, one for each version. For clarity, this page uses the Evolution syntax when showing examples. Generally speaking the functionality between the two versions are the same, and so are the parameters. Mind that in Revolution, snippets must be called with [[Wayfinder? &...]] instead of [!Wayfinder? &...!].

For Wayfinder discussions on the MODX forums see https://forums.modx.com/index.php/board,182.0.html.

In case you want to read everything about Wayfinder, there's a 148 page ebook written by Kongondo to be found on the forum which covers all aspects about Wayfinder. Read about it here.

History¶

Wayfinder has been totally re-factored from the original DropMenu navigation builder to make it easier to create custom navigation by using Chunks as output templates. By using templates, many of the parameters are no longer needed for flexible output including tables, unordered- or ordered-lists (ULs or OLs), definition lists (DLs) or in any other format you desire.

Version history¶

Version	Released	MODX version	Notes
0.9 beta 1/2/3	Aug/Sept 2006	0.9.2.1	Initial release
1.0	Oct 23, 2006	0.9.2.1
1.0.1	Nov 07, 2006	0.9.2.1 - 0.9.5
2.0	Feb 27, 2007	0.9.5 +	Current release for Evolution
2.1.1 beta 1	May 21, 2009	2.0.0-beta 1
2.1.1 beta 2	Oct 20, 2009	2.0.0-beta 4
2.1.1 beta 4	Nov 05, 2009	2.0.0-beta 5 +
2.3.1	May 18, 2011	2.0+
2.3.2	Sept 20, 2011	2.0+
2.3.3	Oct 31, 2011	2.0+	Current release for Revolution

Installation¶

Downloads¶

• Download the latest version of Wayfinder for Revolution from the MODX Extras Repository, or install via Package Management.
• Download version 2.0 for Evolution from MuddyDogPaws.

Evolution (and before)¶

MODX version 0.9.5-1.0 includes Wayfinder by default in the installer. To add Wayfinder to an older version of MODX or to upgrade to a newer version of Wayfinder in Evolution:

1. Download the neccesary files from the link above.
2. Create a new snippet in your MODX Manager (Elements -> Manage Elements -> Snippets) and name if Wayfinder.
3. Copy the contents of snippet.wayfinder.tpl.php to the snippet contents.
4. Create a new folder in your file system under /assets/snippets/ and call it wayfinder.
5. Copy the file wayfinder.inc.php to the new folder.

Revolution¶

In MODX Revolution, Wayfinder can be downloaded via Package Management. Simply load Package Management, click "Download Extras", go to Navigation -> Wayfinder and download the latest version. Then right click in your Packages grid, and click Install. After it installs, you're finished and good to go.

Getting started¶

The minimum Wayfinder snippet call:

[[Wayfinder? &startId=`0`&level=`1`]]

will output the HTML for a multi-level, unordered list of the entire document tree (with certain exceptions), where each list item is a link to a corresponding document in the MODX document tree.

See Wayfinder Introductory Examples for some thorough examples comparing Wayfinder snippet calls to HTML output.

Parameters¶

General Parameters¶

Parameter	Description	Default
&startId	The starting point (document ID) for the menu to list documents from. Specify 0 to start from the site root.	current docId
&displayStart	Show the document as referenced by &startId in the menu.	0
&level	Depth (number of levels) to build the menu from. '0' goes through all levels.	0
&limit	The limit parameter causes Wayfinder to only process the number of items specified per level.	0
&ignoreHidden	Ignore the "Show in menu" checkbox for documents, and include them in the menu anyway.	0
&ph	Name of a placeholder to set with the output results, instead of directly returning the output.	0
&debug	Set to '1' to enable debug mode for extra troubleshooting.	0
&hideSubMenus	Set to '1' to only output the active submenu.	0
&removeNewLines	Set to '1' to remove newline characters from the output.	0
&textOfLinks	The field to get the actual link text from. Possible values: menutitle, id, pagetitle, description, parent, alias, longtitle, introtext	menutitle
&titleOfLinks	The field to get the link title from. Possible values: menutitle, id, pagetitle, description, parent, alias, longtitle, introtext	pagetitle
&rowIdPrefix	If set, this parameter creates a unique ID for each item. The value will be rowIdPrefix + docId.	0
&useWeblinkUrl	When set to 1, the link specified in a weblink document will be output to the placeholder [ wf.link] instead of the link to the weblink.	1
&includeDocs	Comma separated list of document IDs to be included in the menu.
&excludeDocs	Comma seperated list of document IDs to be excluded from the menu.	0
&cacheResults	caches queries for faster loading ( added in 2.2.0-rc1)
&cacheTime	The number of seconds to store the cached menu, if cacheResults is 1. Set to 0 to store indefinitely until cache is manually cleared.	3600
&contexts	Contexts to use for building the menu. Defaults to the current context. ( added in 2.2.0-rc1)
&startIdContext	( added in 2.2.0-rc1)
&config	external php file to configure Wayfinder ( see core/components/wayfinder/configs for examples)
&scheme	format for how URLs are generated. Possible values are (based on makeURL API call): -1 : (default value) URL is relative to site_url, 0: see http, 1: see https, full: URL is absolute, prepended with site_url from config, abs: URL is absolute, prepended with base_url from config, http: URL is absolute, forced to http scheme, https: URL is absolute, forced to https scheme (added in 2.3.1-pl)	-1
&sortBy	Which field to sort by e.g. 'published'
&sortOrder	The sorting order, 'ASC' or 'DESC'
&where	JSON style filtering option. For example when trying to hide blog or news from the Articles addon: &where=\[{"class\_key:!=": "Article"}\]
&hereId	Define the current ID to use for the snippet. Use a value of [[*id]] if the template specified by hereTpl and activeRowParentTpl is not applied correctly to the menu item.	iterated ID
&hereTpl	The hereTpl template is used when the current item is displayed in the menu.

Template Parameters¶

These parameters specify the chunks that contain the templates that will drive the generation of Wayfinder's output.

With the current version of WayFinder in Revolution, you can access your own custom TVs by using a placeholder without the 'wf.' prefix, e.g. [[+my\_TV]]

As of this writing, only the raw TV value will be returned: it will not be formatted. E.g. if your TV is an image, normal use of the TV inside your template would return the full image tag, but inside of a WayFinder tpl, only the path to the image will be returned.

If you want MODX 2.x to process a TV (e.g. an image TV with a base path/url as an input option (since MODX 2.1.x) or with an @inherit value) you might do that by calling a snippet within the wayfinder row template (&rowTpl). Let's say, your image TV is named icon. Normally you would use some code thing like this:

... <img src="[[+icon]]" /> ...

But it will not get you the fully processes TV. Just change your code to this:

... <img src="[[processTV? &myId=`[[+id]]` &myTV=`icon` ]]" /> ...

Within the snippet processTV you place this php-code:

<?php
$doc = $modx->getObject('modResource', $myId);
return $doc->getTVValue($myTV);

As a result the full processed image TV is returned.

&outerTpl¶

Name of the chunk containing the template for the outer most container; if not included, a string including [[+wf.wrapper]] is assumed

Available placeholders are:

• wf.classes - outputs relevant classes (including class=" ")
• wf.classnames - outputs relevant classes (without class=" ")
• wf.wrapper - outputs inner (row) contents. This placeholder is required.

Please note that you will need to wrap the placeholders with the relevant tags.

Evolution: [+wf._____+]
Revolution: [[+wf._____]]

Example of an &outerTpl chunk (Evo):

<ul id="topnav"[+wf.classes+]>[+wf.wrapper+]</ul>

Revo:

<ul id="topnav"[[+wf.classes]]>[[+wf.wrapper]]</ul>

The following table shows other parameters to change your output, that use the same placeholders as the &outerTpl parameter.

Parameter	Description
&innerTpl	Name of the chunk containing the template for any subfolders listed in the menu.

&rowTpl¶

Name of the chunk containing the template for the regular row items. Available placeholders are:

• wf.classes - outputs relevant classes (including class=" ")
• wf.classnames - outputs relevant classes (without class=" ")
• wf.link - the href value for your link
• wf.title - the title text for the link, from the field as specified in the &titleOfLinks parameter
• wf.linktext - the text for the actual link, from the field as specified in the &textOfLinks parameter
• wf.wrapper - outputs inner contents such as submenus
• wf.id - outputs a unique ID attribute. You will need to specify the &rowIdPrefix parameter in order for this placeholder to receive a value. The value is your prefix + the docId.
• wf.attributes - outputs the link attributes of the current item
• wf.docid - the document identifier for the current item
• wf.description - the current item's description
• wf.level - the current depth of item (added in v2.3.3)

Please note that you will need to wrap the placeholders with the relevant tags.

Evolution: [+wf._____+]
Revolution: [[+wf._____]]

Since version 2.3.0 you can use placeholders for all fields of a Resource, such as [[+introtext]], [[+menutitle]], [[+published]], etc. Since version 2.3.2 placeholder [[+protected]] is added that is 1 if Resource is protected by a Resource Group.

Examples of a &rowTpl (or related) chunk:

<li[+wf.id+][+wf.classes+]><a href="[+wf.link+]" title="[+wf.title+]" [+wf.attributes+]>[+wf.linktext+]</a>[+wf.wrapper+]</li>

<li><a href="[+wf.link+]">[+wf.linktext+]</a> - [+wf.description+]  [+wf.wrapper+]</li>

Revo:

<li[[+wf.id]][[+wf.classes]]><a href="[[+wf.link]]" title="[[+wf.title]]" [[+wf.attributes]]>[[+wf.linktext]]</a>[[+wf.wrapper]]</li>

<li><a href="[[+wf.link]]">[[+wf.linktext]]</a> - [[+wf.description]]  [[+wf.wrapper]]</li>

The following table shows other parameters to change your output, that use the same placeholders as the &rowTpl parameter.

Parameter	Description
&startItemTpl	Name of the chunk containing the template for the start item, if enabled via the &displayStart parameter. Note: the default template shows the start item but does not link it. If you do not need a link, a class can be applied to the default template using the parameter &firstClass=className.
&parentRowHereTpl	Name of the chunk containing the template for the current document if it is a container and has children. Remember the [ wf.wrapper] placeholder to output the children documents.
&parentRowTpl	Name of the chunk containing the template for any document that is a container and has children. Remember the [ wf.wrapper] placeholder to output the children documents.
&hereTpl	Name of the chunk containing the template for the current document.
&innerTpl	Name of the chunk containing the template for each submenu. If no innerTpl is specified the outerTpl is used in its place.
&innerRowTpl	Name of the chunk containing the template for the row items in a subfolder.
&innerHereTpl	Name of the chunk containing the template for the current document if it is in a subfolder.
&activeParentRowTpl	Name of the chunk containing the template for items that are containers, have children and are currently active in the tree.
&categoryFoldersTpl	Name of the chunk containing the template for category folders. Category folders are determined by setting the template to blank or by setting the link attributes field to rel="category".

&parentRow and &activeParentRow require that the parent resource's "Container" setting is checked.

Example of how &startItemTpl could be used:

<h2 class="menustart"><a href="[+wf.link+]">[+wf.linktext+]</a></h2>[+wf.wrapper+]

CSS Class Name Parameters¶

You can use CSS to control the appearance (and in some cases the behavior) of various portions of the generated output. But it's up to you to tell Wayfinder the CSS classnames you want to use, and which portions of the generated output you want them associated with.

Parameter	Description	Default
&firstClass	CSS class for the first item at a given menu level.
&lastClass	CSS class for the last item at a given menu level.	last
&hereClass	CSS class for the items showing where you are, all the way up the chain.	active
&selfClass	CSS class for the current item.
&parentClass	CSS class for menu items that are a container and have children.	parent
&rowClass	CSS class denoting each output row
&levelClass	CSS class denoting every output row level. The level number will be added to the specified class (level1, level2, level3 etc if you specified 'level').
&outerClass	CSS class for the outer template.
&innerClass	CSS class for the inner template
&webLinkClass	CSS class for weblink items.

Example:

Simply specify the class parameters in the snippet to add the classnames to the output.

For example, adding &levelClass=level will result in

<li class="level2">

Code-Embedding Parameters¶

If the generated output of a Wayfinder call requires the presence of certain CSS or JavaScript, you can store the CSS in one chunk and the JavaScript in another, then use these parameters to have Wayfinder copy one or both chunks into the HEAD section of the webpage in which the Wayfinder call is made.

Parameter	Description
&cssTpl	Name of a chunk containing the CSS you would like added to the page when the Wayfinder call is present.
&jsTpl	Name of a chunk containing the JavaScript you would like added to the page when the Wayfinder call is present.

Default values in Revolution¶

Parameter	Default value
&outerTpl	<ul[[+wf.classes]]>[[+wf.wrapper]]</ul>
&rowTpl	<li[[+wf.id]][[+wf.classes]]><a href="[[+wf.link]]" title="[[+wf.title]]" [[+wf.attributes]]>[[+wf.linktext]]</a>[[+wf.wrapper]]</li>
&startItemTpl	<h2[[+wf.id]][[+wf.classes]]>[[+wf.linktext]]</h2>[[+wf.wrapper]]

Examples¶

See Wayfinder Introductory Examples for some thorough examples comparing Wayfinder snippet calls to HTML output.

The Minimum Wayfinder Call¶

The snippet call:

[[Wayfinder? &startId=`0`]]

will output the HTML for a multi-level, unordered list of the entire document tree (with certain exceptions), where each list item is a link to a corresponding document in the ModX document tree.

Replacing DropMenu with Wayfinder¶

Some older templates may use the deprecated DropMenu snippet instead of WayFinder. The DropMenu snippet is not included in MODX 0.9.5 or above. These templates can often be easily updated to use Wayfinder by replacing the call to DropMenu as follows:

Example DropMenu call in template file:

[[DropMenu?startDoc=`0`&levelLimit=`1` ]]

Can be replaced by

[[Wayfinder? &startId=`0`&level=`1`]]

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