ASP.NET Core Menu Component Getting Started - Telerik UI for ASP.NET Core

This tutorial explains how to set up a basic Telerik UI for ASP.NET Core Menu and highlights the major steps in the configuration of the component.

You will initialize a Menu control with four items and two submenus. Next, you will handle the menu events and display messages in the browser console. Finally, you can run the sample code in Telerik REPL and continue exploring the components.

Prerequisites

To successfully complete the tutorial, you need a project that is already configured to use the Telerik UI for ASP.NET Core components:

You can use the Telerik REPL playground and skip installing the components on your system and configuring a project.
You can prepare a Visual Studio project by following either of these guides:
- Creating a new pre-configured project for the Telerik UI for ASP.NET Core components from a project template.
- Manually configuring an existing project as described in the First Steps on Windows or First Steps on Mac articles.

1. Prepare the CSHTML File

The first step is to add the required directives at the top of the .cshtml document:

To use the Telerik UI for ASP.NET Core HtmlHelpers:
```
@using Kendo.Mvc.UI
```
To use the Telerik UI for ASP.NET Core TagHelpers:
```
@addTagHelper *, Kendo.Mvc
```

Optionally, you can structure the document by adding the desired HTML elements like headings, divs, paragraphs, and apply some basic styles.

Use the Menu HtmlHelper or TagHelper to add the component to a page:

The Name() configuration method is mandatory as its value is used for the id and the name attributes of the Menu element.
The Items() configuration method lets you add the desired Menu items.
The HoverDelay() allows you to specify the delay before the Menu items open or close on hover. This helps you to prevent the unintended opening or closing of the Menu popups.
The Orientation() method controls the direction in which the menu items are ordered.
The HtmlAttributes() are optional. The id attribute allows you to control the state of the Roadmap menu item in step 5 of this tutorial.

    @using Kendo.Mvc.UI

    @(Html.Kendo().Menu()
        .Name("menu")
        .HoverDelay(200)
        .Orientation(MenuOrientation.Horizontal)
        .Items(items =>
        {
            items.Add()
                .Text("Overview");
            items.Add()
                .Text("Demos");
            items.Add()
                .Text("Roadmap")
                .HtmlAttributes(new {@id= "Roadmap" })
                .Items(children =>
                {
                    children.Add().Text("What's New");
                    children.Add().Text("Roadmap");
                    children.Add().Text("Release History")
                        .Items(innerChildren =>
                            {
                                innerChildren.Add().Text("R3 2022 SP1 (version 2022.3.1109)");
                                innerChildren.Add().Text("R3 2022 (version 2022.3.913)");
                                innerChildren.Add().Text("R2 2022 SP2 (version 2022.2.802)");
                            });

                });
            items.Add()
                .Text("Docs & Support");
        })
    )

    @addTagHelper *, Kendo.Mvc

    <kendo-menu name="menu" hover-delay="200" orientation="MenuOrientation.Horizontal">
        <items>
            <menu-item text="Overview">
            </menu-item>
            <menu-item text="Demos">
            </menu-item>
            <menu-item text="Roadmap" id="Roadmap">       
                <sub-items>
                    <menu-item text="What's New"/>
                    <menu-item text="Roadmap" />
                    <menu-item text="Release History" >
                        <sub-items>
                            <menu-item text="R3 2022 SP1 (version 2022.3.1109)"/>
                            <menu-item text="R3 2022 (version 2022.3.913)" />
                            <menu-item text="R2 2022 SP2 (version 2022.2.802)" />
                        </sub-items>
                    </menu-item>
                </sub-items>
            </menu-item>
            <menu-item text="Docs & Support">
            </menu-item>
        </items>
    </kendo-menu>

3. Configure the Animation

Next, use the Animation() method to configure the effects that the component renders when the user opens and closes the Menu.

    @using Kendo.Mvc.UI

    @(Html.Kendo().Menu()
        .Name("menu")
        .HoverDelay(200)
        .Orientation(MenuOrientation.Horizontal)
        .Items(items =>
        {
            items.Add()
                .Text("Overview");
            items.Add()
                .Text("Demos");
            items.Add()
                .Text("Roadmap")
                .HtmlAttributes(new {@id= "Roadmap" })
                .Items(children =>
                {
                    children.Add().Text("What's New");
                    children.Add().Text("Roadmap");
                    children.Add().Text("Release History")
                        .Items(innerChildren =>
                            {
                                innerChildren.Add().Text("R3 2022 SP1 (version 2022.3.1109)");
                                innerChildren.Add().Text("R3 2022 (version 2022.3.913)");
                                innerChildren.Add().Text("R2 2022 SP2 (version 2022.2.802)");
                            });

                });
            items.Add()
                .Text("Docs & Support");
        })
        .Animation(animation =>
        {   
            animation.Open(open =>
            {
                open.Expand(ExpandDirection.Vertical);
                open.Fade(FadeDirection.In);
            });
        })
    )

    @addTagHelper *, Kendo.Mvc

    <kendo-menu name="menu" hover-delay="200" orientation="MenuOrientation.Horizontal">
        <items>
            <menu-item text="Overview">
            </menu-item>
            <menu-item text="Demos">
            </menu-item>
            <menu-item text="Roadmap" id="Roadmap">
                <sub-items>
                    <menu-item text="What's New"/>
                    <menu-item text="Roadmap" />
                    <menu-item text="Release History" >
                        <sub-items>
                            <menu-item text="R3 2022 SP1 (version 2022.3.1109)"/>
                            <menu-item text="R3 2022 (version 2022.3.913)" />
                            <menu-item text="R2 2022 SP2 (version 2022.2.802)" />
                        </sub-items>
                    </menu-item>
                </sub-items>
            </menu-item>
            <menu-item text="Docs & Support">
            </menu-item>
        </items>
        <popup-animation>
                <open effects="expand:vertical fade:in" />
        </popup-animation>
    </kendo-menu>

The Menu exposes various events that you can handle and further customize the functionality of the component. in this tutorial, you will use the Open(), Close(), and Select() events to log messages in the browser's console.

    @using Kendo.Mvc.UI

    @(Html.Kendo().Menu()
        .Name("menu")
        .Animation(animation =>
        {
            animation.Open(open =>
            {
                open.Expand(ExpandDirection.Vertical);
                open.Fade(FadeDirection.In);
            });
        })
        .HoverDelay(200)
        .Orientation(MenuOrientation.Horizontal)
        .Events(e => e.Open("open").Close("close").Select("select"))
        .Items(items =>
        {
            items.Add()
                .Text("Overview");
            items.Add()
                .Text("Demos");
            items.Add()
                .Text("Roadmap")
                .HtmlAttributes(new {@id= "Roadmap" })
                .Items(children =>
                {
                    children.Add().Text("What's New");
                    children.Add().Text("Roadmap");
                    children.Add().Text("Release History")
                        .Items(innerChildren =>
                        {
                            innerChildren.Add().Text("R3 2022 SP1 (version 2022.3.1109)");
                            innerChildren.Add().Text("R3 2022 (version 2022.3.913)");
                            innerChildren.Add().Text("R2 2022 SP2 (version 2022.2.802)");
                        });

                });
            items.Add()
                .Text("Docs & Support");
        })
    )

    <script>
        function open(e) {
            console.log("Opened: " + ($(e.item).children(".k-link").text()));
        }

        function close(e) {
            console.log("Closed: " + ($(e.item).children(".k-link").text()));
        }

        function select(e) {
            console.log("Selected: " + $(e.item).children(".k-link").text());
        }
    </script>

    @addTagHelper *, Kendo.Mvc

    <kendo-menu name="menu" hover-delay="200" orientation="MenuOrientation.Horizontal" on-open="open" on-close="close" on-select="select" >
        <items>
            <menu-item text="Overview">
            </menu-item>
            <menu-item text="Demos">
            </menu-item>
            <menu-item text="Roadmap" id="Roadmap">
                <sub-items>
                    <menu-item text="What's New"/>
                    <menu-item text="Roadmap" />
                    <menu-item text="Release History" >
                        <sub-items>
                            <menu-item text="R3 2022 SP1 (version 2022.3.1109)"/>
                            <menu-item text="R3 2022 (version 2022.3.913)" />
                            <menu-item text="R2 2022 SP2 (version 2022.2.802)" />
                        </sub-items>
                    </menu-item>
                </sub-items>
            </menu-item>
            <menu-item text="Docs & Support">
            </menu-item>
        </items>
        <popup-animation>
            <open effects="expand:vertical fade:in" />
        </popup-animation>
    </kendo-menu>

    <script>
        function open(e) {
            console.log("Opened: " + ($(e.item).children(".k-link").text()));
        }

        function close(e) {
            console.log("Closed: " + ($(e.item).children(".k-link").text()));
        }

        function select(e) {
            console.log("Selected: " + $(e.item).children(".k-link").text());
        }
    </script>

For more examples, refer to the demo on using the events of the Menu.

You can reference the Menu instances that you have created and build on top of their existing configuration:

Use the id attribute of the component instance to establish a reference.

<script>
    var menuReference = $("#menu").data("kendoMenu"); // menuReference is a reference to the existing instance of the helper.
</script>

Use the Menu client-side API to control the behavior of the widget. In this example, you will use the enable method to disable one of the Menu items.

<script>
    $(document).ready(function () {
        var menuReference = $("#menu").data("kendoMenu"); // menuReference is a reference to the existing instance of the helper.
        menuReference.enable("#Roadmap", false); // Disable the desired item in the referenced Menu instance.
    })
</script>

For more information on referencing specific helper instances, see the Methods and Events article.

Explore this Tutorial in REPL

You can continue experimenting with the code sample above by running it in the Telerik REPL server playground:

Getting Started with the Menu

Prerequisites

1. Prepare the CSHTML File

2. Initialize the Menu

3. Configure the Animation

4. Handle the Menu Events

5. (Optional) Reference Existing Menu Instances

Explore this Tutorial in REPL

Next Steps

See Also

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