ASP.NET MVC Menu Overview

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The Menu is part of Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC, a professional grade UI library with 110+ components for building modern and feature-rich applications. To try it out sign up for a free 30-day trial.

The Telerik UI Menu HtmlHelper for ASP.NET MVC is a server-side wrapper for the Kendo UI Menu widget.

The Menu displays hierarchical data as a multi-level menu. It provides rich styling for unordered lists of items, and can be used for both navigation and execution of JavaScript commands.

Initializing the Menu

The following example demonstrates how to define the Menu.

@(Html.Kendo().Menu()
    .Name("menu")
    .Items(items =>
    {
        items.Add()
            .Text("Products")
            .Items(children =>
            {
                children.Add().Text("Furniture")
                    .Items(innerChildren =>
                    {
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("Tables & Chairs");
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("Sofas");
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("Occasional Furniture");
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("Childerns Furniture");
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("Beds");
                    });

                children.Add().Text("Decor")
                    .Items(innerChildren =>
                    {
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("Bed Linen");
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("Throws");
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("Curtains & Blinds");
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("Rugs");
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("Carpets");
                    });
            });

        items.Add()
            .Text("Stores")
            .Items(children =>
            {
                children.Add().Text("Around the Globe")
                    .Items(innerChildren =>
                    {
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("United States");
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("Canada");
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("Europe");
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("Australia");
                    });

                children.Add().Text("Decor")
                    .Items(innerChildren =>
                    {
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("Bed Linen");
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("Throws");
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("Curtains & Blinds");
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("Rugs");
                        innerChildren.Add().Text("Carpets");
                    });
            });
    })
)
public class MenuController : Controller
{
    public IActionResult Index()
    {
        return View();
    }
}

Basic Configuration

The following example demonstrates the basic configuration of the Menu.

@(Html.Kendo().Menu()
    .Name("menu")
    .Items(items =>
    {
        items.Add().Text("Item 1")
            .ImageUrl(Url.Content("~/Content/shared/icons/sports/baseball.png"))
            .Items(children =>
            {
                children.Add().Text("Top News");
                children.Add().Text("Photo Galleries");
                children.Add().Separator(true);
                children.Add().Text("Videos Records");
                children.Add().Text("Radio Records");
            });
        items.Add().Text("Item 2")
            .ImageUrl(Url.Content("~/Content/shared/icons/sports/golf.png"))
            .Items(children =>
            {
                children.Add().Text("Top News");
                children.Add().Text("Photo Galleries");
                children.Add().Separator(true);
                children.Add().Text("Videos Records");
                children.Add().Text("Radio Records");
            });
        items.Add().Text("Item 3")
            .ImageUrl(Url.Content("~/Content/shared/icons/sports/swimming.png"))
            .Items(children =>
            {
                children.Add().Text("Top News");
                children.Add().Text("Photo Galleries");
            });
    })
    .Animation(animation =>
    {
        animation.Open(open =>
        {
            open.Expand(ExpandDirection.Vertical);
        });
    })
    .HoverDelay(500)
    .Direction(MenuDirection.Left)
    .Orientation(MenuOrientation.Horizontal)
    .Events(events => events
        .Open("onOpen")
        .Close("onClose")
        .Select("onSelect")
        .Activate("onActivate")
        .Deactivate("onDeactivate")
    )
)

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(function () {
        // The Name() of the Menu is used to get its client-side instance.
        var menu = $("#menu").data("kendoMenu");
        console.log(menu);
    });
</script>

Functionality and Features

  • Binding—To bind the Menu to data, you can apply various approaches, for example, binding to a server end point, binding to a hierarchical model, or manually defining the properties of the Menu items.
  • ContextMenu—The ContextMenu displays hierarchical lists of items in a popup.
  • Accessibility—The Menu is accessible by screen readers and provides WAI-ARIA, Section 508, WCAG 2.2, and keyboard support.
  • Security trimming—The built-in security trimming functionality of the Menu is enabled by default.
  • Events—The Menu emits various events that allow you to control what happens when the user interacts with it.

Next Steps

See Also

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