Dynamically build my left side navigation links (quick launch) based on my list items hierarchy

Question

I am working on a sub-site of type Team Site. And inside this sub-site I have two lists:

• Departments
• Assets

Where inside the Assets list I have a lookup column (which is single value + Required) referencing the Departments list. so in other way each Department can have zero to many Assets. and each asset much exists under single Department.

Now I want a way to dynamically list my Department and Asset as follow, inside the left side navigation links (quick launch):-

And as users add/edit/delete new departments and new assets, the left side navigation links should be updated accordingly.

I am on SharePoint 2013 on-premise ,, so I have full control over my farm . So can anyone advice on this please? i know i can manually modify the links, but i want my links to be dynamically build.

Thanks

Answer 1

Here's a small JS solution I created:

Simply modify the settings object to your needs. It does not come with any url's, since you did not specify if you need one, but this can be added without much trouble.

(function () {
    'use strict';

    var settings = {
        listUrl: 'https://sharepoint/Lists/Assets/',
        lookupFieldInternalName: 'Department',
        targetControlSelector: '#sideNavBox .ms-core-listMenu-verticalBox',
        replaceContent: true
    };

    var template = {
        Container:
            '<ul id="zz15_RootAspMenu" class="root ms-core-listMenu-root static">{Departments}</ul>',
        Department:
            '<li class="static">' +
                '<a class="static menu-item ms-core-listMenu-item ms-displayInline ms-navedit-linkNode" tabindex="0" href="#">' +
                    '<span class="additional-background ms-navedit-flyoutArrow">' +
                        '<span class="menu-item-text">{Department}</span>' +
                    '</span>' +
                '</a>' +
                '<ul class="static">' +
                    '{Assets}' +
                '</ul>' +
            '</li>',
        Asset:
            '<li class="static">' +
                '<a class="static menu-item ms-core-listMenu-item ms-displayInline ms-navedit-linkNode" tabindex="0" title="Wiki" href="#">' +
                    '<span class="additional-background ms-navedit-flyoutArrow">' +
                        '<span class="menu-item-text">{Asset}</span>' +
                    '</span>' +
                '</a>' +
            '</li>'
    };

    //some utilities for working with dom elements
    var utilities = {
        focusNextElement: function () {
            //add all elements we want to include in our selection
            var focussableElements = 'a:not([disabled]), button:not([disabled]), input[type=text]:not([disabled]), [tabindex]:not([disabled])';
            if (document.activeElement && document.activeElement.form) {
                var focussable = Array.prototype.filter.call(document.activeElement.form.querySelectorAll(focussableElements),
                function (element) {
                    //check for visibility while always inlcude the current activeElement
                    return element.offsetWidth > 0 || element.offsetHeight > 0 || element === document.activeElement
                });
                var index = focussable.indexOf(document.activeElement);
                if (focussable[index + 1]) {
                    focussable[index + 1].focus();
                }
            }
        },
        getElementByHTML: function (html) {
            var elem = document.createElement('div');
            elem.innerHTML = html;
            return elem.firstChild;
        },
        hasClass: function (el, className) {
            if (el.classList)
                return el.classList.contains(className);
            else
                return !!el.className.match(new RegExp('(\\s|^)' + className + '(\\s|$)'));
        },
        addClass: function (el, className) {
            if (el.classList)
                el.classList.add(className);
            else if (!this.hasClass(el, className)) el.className += ' ' + className;
        },
        removeClass: function (el, className) {
            if (el.classList)
                el.classList.remove(className);
            else if (this.hasClass(el, className)) {
                var reg = new RegExp('(\\s|^)' + className + '(\\s|$)');
                el.className = el.className.replace(reg, ' ');
            }
        },
        guid: function () {
            function s4() {
                return Math.floor((1 + Math.random()) * 0x10000)
                    .toString(16)
                    .substring(1);
            }
            return s4() + s4() + '-' + s4() + '-' + s4() + '-' +
                s4() + '-' + s4() + s4() + s4();
        },
        isNullOrUndefined: function (obj) {
            return typeof obj === 'undefined' || obj === null;
        },
        getTableRowByHTML: function (html) {
            //fix MS Internet Exploder’s lameness
            var temp = document.createElement('div');
            temp.innerHTML = '<table>' + html + '</table>';
            return temp.firstChild;
        },
        log: function (message) {
            if (settings.debugging && window.console && window.console.log) {
                // console is available
                console.log(message);
            }
        },
        runAsync: function (functionToRun, callback) {
            setTimeout(function () {
                functionToRun();
                if (callback) { callback(); }
            }, 0);
        },
        format: function (str, replaceWith) {
            for (var key in replaceWith) { // jshint ignore:line
                str = utilities.replaceAll(str, '{' + key + '}', replaceWith[key]);
            }
            return str;
        },
        replaceAll: function (str, find, replace) {
            return str.replace(new RegExp(find.replace(/[-\/\\^$*+?.()|[\]{}]/g, '\\$&'), 'g'), replace);
        }
    };

    //helper to get all listItems even when the list contains > 5000 items
    var listUtility = {
        batch: {
            getListItemsByBatch: function (batchSuccess, success, error) {
                var camlQuery = new SP.CamlQuery();
                camlQuery.set_viewXml(
                '<View Scope="RecursiveAll">' +
                    '<ViewFields>' +
                        '<FieldRef Name="ID"/>' +
                        '<FieldRef Name="Title"/>' +
                        '<FieldRef Name="' + settings.lookupFieldInternalName + '"/>' +
                    '</ViewFields>' +
                    '<QueryOptions>' +
                        '<QueryThrottleMode>Override</QueryThrottleMode>' +
                    '</QueryOptions>' +
                    '<RowLimit>5000</RowLimit>' +
                    '<OrderBy Override="true" UseIndexForOrderBy="true" />' +
                '</View>');
                listUtility.batch.executeItemsRequest(camlQuery, batchSuccess, success, error);
            },
            executeItemsRequest: function (camlQuery, batchSuccess, success, error) {
                var ctx = SP.ClientContext.get_current();
                var web = ctx.get_web();
                var lookupList = web.getList(settings.listUrl);
                var itemCollection = lookupList.getItems(camlQuery);

                ctx.load(itemCollection, 'ListItemCollectionPosition', 'Include(ID, Title, ' + settings.lookupFieldInternalName + ')');
                ctx.executeQueryAsync(
                        function () {
                            batchSuccess(itemCollection);

                            //Iterate if more items needs to be fetched
                            if (itemCollection.get_listItemCollectionPosition()) {
                                camlQuery.set_listItemCollectionPosition(itemCollection.get_listItemCollectionPosition());
                                listUtility.batch.executeItemsRequest(camlQuery, batchSuccess, success, error);
                            } else {
                                success();
                            }
                        },
                        function (sender, args) {
                            error(args);
                        });
            }
        }
    };

    var init = function () {
        SP.SOD.executeFunc('sp.js', 'SP.ClientContext', function () {
            var allItems = [];
            listUtility.batch.getListItemsByBatch(
                function (items) {
                    //got batch
                    allItems = allItems.concat(items.get_data());
                },
                function () {
                    //got all batches
                    //--> reformat data
                    var formatted = {};
                    for (var i = 0; i < allItems.length; i++) {
                        var itemTitle = allItems[i].get_fieldValues().Title;
                        var itemDepartment = allItems[i].get_fieldValues().Department.get_lookupValue();
                        formatted[itemDepartment] = formatted[itemDepartment] || [];
                        formatted[itemDepartment].push({
                            title: itemTitle
                        });
                    }

                    var departmentsHtml = '';
                    var departments = Object.keys(formatted);
                    for (var i = 0; i < departments.length; i++) {
                        var department = departments[i];

                        var assetHtml = '';
                        for (var j = 0; j < formatted[department].length; j++) {
                            var asset = formatted[department][j];
                            assetHtml += utilities.format(template.Asset, { Asset: asset.title });
                        }

                        departmentsHtml += utilities.format(template.Department, { Department: department, Assets: assetHtml });
                    }

                    var container = document.createElement('div');
                    container.innerHTML = utilities.format(template.Container, { Departments: departmentsHtml });

                    var target = document.querySelector(settings.targetControlSelector);
                    if (settings.replaceContent) {
                        target.innerHTML = '';
                    }
                    target.appendChild(container);
                },
                function (a) {
                    //error
                    console.log('error while getting the list items - ', a.get_message());
                });
        });
    };

    init();
})();

Answer 2

Options 1

• Custom SharePoint web parts using VB/ C#

  Create a Custom SharePoint web part which is deployed as a feature and overrides the default Quick Launch.

  One way to achieve is it create a layout page and override quick launch section by a webpart zone and add the custom web part to it.

  Second way is add a custom master page and add a delegate control The following link will provide more detail about the approach quick launch control.

Event receivers- It is one good approach to update the quick launch. The quick launch on a page is rendered when the page is rendered. When an item is changed the page is not re rendered so on paper there are no advantages to this approach.

Also look at the following links

a) link1 It is sp2007 but the concept still remains the same.

b) link2

Option 2

• using REST or JSOM

Using JavaScript to render the assets for a department.

In this approach we create custom Navigation HTML using JS and replace the Quick launch Section.

The JavaScript file can be saved to either Site assets or document library. The page can access the JavaScript by using have reference to the JavaScript file. There are many ways to insert the JavaScript file ref.

a) Add the JS ref directly to a Custom master (i.e. copy of the original master plus JS ref Tag)

b) Add the JS reference to a Layout page

c) Add a Content editor page on the desired home page and add reference. This approach is not recommended as you would need to add it all the pages wherever you need the quick launch html to be replaced

• When you insert the JavaScript file ref in the master page all the pages in the site will have the custom quick launch.

• If you are using the same master page as the parent and don't want to render it on the parent site

  There are two ways to do it

a) In the script first check if it the parent site or sub site. If it the parent site do not replace the quick launch else replace the quick launch.

b) Add the Javascript ref to the layout pages

• It is possible to access the left hand side quick launch navigation by using SP.Navigation.quicklaunch also check this link to quick links

https://www.dynamics101.com/customize-sharepoint-quick-launch-menu-using-javascript-client-object-model/

The sample quick Launch HTML is as follows

<div id=zz14_V4QuickLaunchMenu>
    <ul class="root ms-core-listMenu-root static" id="zz15_RootAspMenu">
      <li class="static">
        <a href="url">
         <span class="menu-item-text">Documents</span>
       </a>
      </li>
      <li class="static">
         <a href="url">
            <span class="menu-item-text">Documents</span>
         </a>
      </li>
    </ul>
  </div>

Use developer tools to confirm the HTML. The best practice is to use Template engine like Mustache to create HTML.

******Option1***

• Replace Quick Launch with HTML

a)Check if the Id exists then create the HTML with links to the correct Assets URL b)Replace the HTML inside the Div Tag

****** Option 2***

The following quick links will give you an idea how to add or remove quick links.

Add Quick Launch Links

Remove Quick Links

Answer 3

You may want to look at the CSOM in sharepoint, query your lists using javascript, and then build your links from there. The only downside is that it won't be instantaneous (ajax) unless you develop it server side (C#/VB). You can always use a mini preloader though to make it fluid. There may also be a workflow based solution but it would be much more complicated to figure out.

With the javascript approach, you can query your list, group by the department as the "key" and then use that to build a <ul><li></li></ul> structure. You probably will only need to query your assets list as it has a column which has the department in it.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/hh185007(v=office.14).aspx

Answer 4

You can create Event Receiver on both Departments and Assets lists. On ItemAdded events you can create link to Left Navigation programmatically. It will create Left Navigation menu.

On Departments list event receiver:

 public override void ItemAdded(SPItemEventProperties properties)
            {            
                this.EventFiringEnabled = false;
                using (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb(properties.RelativeWebUrl))
                {
                  web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
                string headingTitle = DepartmentListItem["Title"]; // Head Navigation Title
                string headingUrl = DepartmentListItem["URL"]; // Head Navigation URL 

           // Get the Quick Launch headings.
                SPNavigationNodeCollection ql = web.Navigation.QuickLaunch;

              // If a Resources heading exists, get it.
              SPNavigationNode heading = ql.Cast<SPNavigationNode>().FirstOrDefault(n => n.Title == headingTitle);

              // If the Resources heading does not exist, create it.
              if (heading == null)
              {
                   heading = new SPNavigationNode(headingTitle, headingUrl);
                   heading = ql.AddAsLast(heading);
              }
                web.Update();
                web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = false; 
                }
                base.ItemAdded(properties);
                this.EventFiringEnabled = false;
            } 

On Assets list event receiver:

string headingTitle = AssetsListItem["DepartmentLookup"]; // **Your department lookup field**

// Get the Quick Launch headings.
SPNavigationNodeCollection ql = web.Navigation.QuickLaunch;

// If a Resources heading exists, get it.
SPNavigationNode heading = ql.Cast<SPNavigationNode>().FirstOrDefault(n => n.Title == headingTitle);                     

string itemUrl = AssetsListItem["AssetURL"]; // **Your sublink of Asset**

// If the heading has a SharePoint Dev Center item, get it.
SPNavigationNode item = heading.Children.Cast<SPNavigationNode>().FirstOrDefault(n => n.Url == itemUrl);

// If the item does not exist, create it.
if (item == null)
{
  item = new SPNavigationNode(itemTitle, itemUrl, true);
  item = heading.Children.AddAsLast(item);
}

Same you can also update the left navigation links on ItemUpdated events.

Also see my answer here: Add Link to the Quick Launch Navigation while deploying a webpart page in the module