Creating new menu item - Wordpress

Question

I'm looking for a way to create a new item that can be added to a menu.

Here are the details of my problem: I use WPML. WPML have that nice feature that you can add the switcher to a menu, automatically. It adds it at the end of the menu, no control on that.

Thing is, I want my language switcher to be element 4 out of 6. That feature to automatically add the element at the end doesn't fit my needs.

So I want to create a new element that can be used in apparence->menu to put my language switcher exactly at the spot I want it.

Is there any way to do that?

TLDR: I want to be able to push custom HTML/PHP code in a menu element (Apparence->Menu). Any functions to do so?

Answer 1

From wp-includes/nav-menu-template.php, in Walker_Nav_Menu::start_el:

/**
 * Filter a menu item's starting output.
 *
 * The menu item's starting output only includes `$args->before`, the opening `<a>`,
 * the menu item's title, the closing `</a>`, and `$args->after`. Currently, there is
 * no filter for modifying the opening and closing `<li>` for a menu item.
 *
 * @since 3.0.0
 *
 * @param string $item_output The menu item's starting HTML output.
 * @param object $item        Menu item data object.
 * @param int    $depth       Depth of menu item. Used for padding.
 * @param array  $args        An array of {@see wp_nav_menu()} arguments.
 */
$output .= apply_filters( 'walker_nav_menu_start_el', $item_output, $item, $depth, $args );

Which means you can append to individual nav menu item HTML contents (right before the last li tag) using that filter. $item_output contains the HTML generated for the item so far. Example:

<?php

add_filter('walker_nav_menu_start_el', function ($item_output) {
    return $item_output . '<span>hello world</span>';
});

That would append <span>hello world</span> to each nav menu item HTML. A closing li tag will be appended after this filter. You can use the 4th argument ($args) to validate the currently rendering navigation menu.

Answer 2

All right, I have temporary solution.

These are steps:

1. Open \wp-content\plugins\sitepress-multilingual-cms\inc\language-switcher.php
2. Go somewhere around line 786, where is function wp_nav_menu_items_filter($items, $args){

3. Add this right after first {:

   $tempitems = $items;  
   $tempitemsexplode = explode("\n", $tempitems);  
   $items = "";  
   $id = 2; //This is where widget will be located: example, if you want it to be at place 4, write 5
   

4. Right before if ( $abs_menu_id == $settings_menu_id || false === $abs_menu_id ) { add this:

   $id = 2;  
   for ($i = 0; $i < $id; $i++){  
       $items .= $tempitemsexplode[$i];  
   }  
   for($i = 0; $i < count($tempitemsexplode); $i++){  
       If ($i == $id){  
   

5. Go to bottom of function and before:
   }
return $items;
   Add: }}

6. Now, before return $items; Add:

   for ($i = $id; $i < count($tempitemsexplode); $i++){  
       $items .= $tempitemsexplode[$i];  
   }
   

If you get stuck here is how that whole function looks for me:

function wp_nav_menu_items_filter($items, $args){
    $tempitems = $items;
    $tempitemsexplode = explode("\n", $tempitems);
    $items = "";
    global $sitepress_settings, $sitepress;

    $current_language = $sitepress->get_current_language();
    $default_language = $sitepress->get_default_language();
    // menu can be passed as integer or object
    if(isset($args->menu->term_id)) $args->menu = $args->menu->term_id;

    $abs_menu_id = icl_object_id($args->menu, 'nav_menu', false, $default_language );
    $settings_menu_id = icl_object_id( $sitepress_settings[ 'menu_for_ls' ], 'nav_menu', false, $default_language );

    $id = 2;
    for ($i = 0; $i < $id; $i++){
        $items .= $tempitemsexplode[$i];
    }

    for($i = 0; $i < count($tempitemsexplode); $i++){
        If ($i == $id){
            if ( $abs_menu_id == $settings_menu_id  || false === $abs_menu_id ) {

                $languages = $sitepress->get_ls_languages();


                $items .= '<li class="menu-item menu-item-language menu-item-language-current">';
                if(isset($args->before)){
                    $items .= $args->before;
                }
                $items .= '<a href="#" onclick="return false">';
                if(isset($args->link_before)){
                    $items .= $args->link_before;
                }

                $language_name = '';
                if ( $sitepress_settings[ 'icl_lso_native_lang' ] ) {
                    $language_name .= $languages[ $current_language ][ 'native_name' ];
                }
                if ( $sitepress_settings[ 'icl_lso_display_lang' ] && $sitepress_settings[ 'icl_lso_native_lang' ] ) {
                    $language_name .= ' (';
                }
                if ( $sitepress_settings[ 'icl_lso_display_lang' ] ) {
                    $language_name .= $languages[ $current_language ][ 'translated_name' ];
                }
                if ( $sitepress_settings[ 'icl_lso_display_lang' ] && $sitepress_settings[ 'icl_lso_native_lang' ] ) {
                    $language_name .= ')';
                }



                $alt_title_lang = esc_attr($language_name);

                if( $sitepress_settings['icl_lso_flags'] ){
                    $items .= '<img class="iclflag" src="' . $languages[ $current_language ][ 'country_flag_url' ] . '" width="18" height="12" alt="' . $alt_title_lang . '" title="' . esc_attr( $language_name ) . '" />';
                }

                $items .= $language_name;

                if(isset($args->link_after)){
                    $items .= $args->link_after;
                }
                $items .= '</a>';
                if(isset($args->after)){
                    $items .= $args->after;
                }

                unset($languages[ $current_language ]);
                $sub_items = false;
                $menu_is_vertical = !isset($sitepress_settings['icl_lang_sel_orientation']) || $sitepress_settings['icl_lang_sel_orientation'] == 'vertical';
                if(!empty($languages)){
                    foreach($languages as $lang){
                        $sub_items .= '<li class="menu-item menu-item-language menu-item-language-current">';
                        $sub_items .= '<a href="'.$lang['url'].'">';

                        $language_name = '';
                        if ( $sitepress_settings[ 'icl_lso_native_lang' ] ) {
                            $language_name .= $lang[ 'native_name' ];
                        }
                        if ( $sitepress_settings[ 'icl_lso_display_lang' ] && $sitepress_settings[ 'icl_lso_native_lang' ] ) {
                            $language_name .= ' (';
                        }
                        if ( $sitepress_settings[ 'icl_lso_display_lang' ] ) {
                            $language_name .= $lang[ 'translated_name' ];
                        }
                        if ( $sitepress_settings[ 'icl_lso_display_lang' ] && $sitepress_settings[ 'icl_lso_native_lang' ] ) {
                            $language_name .= ')';
                        }
                        $alt_title_lang = esc_attr($language_name);

                        if( $sitepress_settings['icl_lso_flags'] ){
                            $sub_items .= '<img class="iclflag" src="'.$lang['country_flag_url'].'" width="18" height="12" alt="'.$alt_title_lang.'" title="' . $alt_title_lang . '" />';
                        }
                        $sub_items .= $language_name;

                        $sub_items .= '</a>';
                        $sub_items .= '</li>';

                    }
                    if( $sub_items && $menu_is_vertical ) {
                        $sub_items = '<ul class="sub-menu submenu-languages">' . $sub_items . '</ul>';
                    }
                }

                if( $menu_is_vertical ) {
                    $items .= $sub_items;
                    $items .= '</li>';
                } else {
                    $items .= '</li>';
                    $items .= $sub_items;
                }
            }
        }
    }

    for ($i = $id; $i < count($tempitemsexplode); $i++){
        $items .= $tempitemsexplode[$i];
    }

    return $items;

}

I will try to make it easier to change where you want to place widget.
Comment if you have problems. Good luck!

Edit: Explanation what this modified function does.
This function is used to add language switcher to menu.
When this function is called, we have $items string containing all menu items.
I transferred all menu items from $items to $tempitems and set $items to empty string.
Why? Because now we can insert widget as first menu item or between some menu items.

Then we explode that $tempitems string so we could use another order.

When you now specify $id this becomes our offset.

And now in first loop, with help of $id, we add some temp items to empty $items string, and then language widget and at the end remaining menu items.