Duplicating Main Navigation menus-links in a site sidebar block

I ran into a cool function on a site [ http://www.allenacademy.org/ ] that when the user selects a Main Navigation (Main Menu?) link, the entire link and all it's children, were replicated in Sidebar 1 for that series of pages.

To me that made perfect sense, makes it easier for the User to maintain focus on a subset of links plus it helps the Developer to assist the User A) stay focused on a subset of links(Keeps the Users Subset links at the eye level of the content-Designing by the 'F' method, another topic) and B) Keeps the user on the site by driving them deeper into the site.

So when I queried my two Drupal Gurus (Andy Laken & Scott Rouse-creator of the site example above) about this they both sent me to Drupal Modules to select and use Menu_Block [ http://drupal.org/project/menu_block ]

To explain Menu_Block from a newbie's (that's me) experience I am going to assume you already know how to:

• Download-install Drupal.
• Download and install Modules (in the correct place!).
• Navigate the Administrative side of your Drupal site.
• Enable Modules.
• Navigate to Blocks.
• Have a site that is offline to the public or have a practice site or a Dev site to try this first.

As always, it is a good idea to back up your site before mucking about with a new module, etc.

Okay, what I like about this module:

It allows one to:

• Select any main menu-navigation set and create a block menu copy of that set, that can be put into any block position like Sidebars.
• Choose to have the child links expand or not.
• Choose to have the active (user selected) link float to the top of the Block menu or not.
• Add new menu items (links and content-nodes) to the main menu navigation and it automatically adds the new link to the Block (sidebar) navigation.
• Select which pages the Block menu appears on.
• Choose which links that get to appear in the sidebar and what level (Parent-Child-SubChild OR Parent-Secondary-Tertiary) to start or show.
• It assumes all the CSS of your template in a Block-Left Sidebar-Left Vertical Menu position depending on your placement of the Block_Menu. No Need to code the CSS IF you already have that Block coded, that is.

I am sure there is more but even just those jewels are enough to add this terrific functionality to your site. It isn't for every site but I can't think of an example where it might be good to not use it on.

One thing that stumped me...

...for a bit, is to ensure one has the correct Drupal path when deciding what pages to show or not to show the Menu_Blocks on. (Note: You will see this option at the bottom of the Add-menu-block node-page)

For instance:

I wanted to show one Sidebar menu on certain pages. I kept looking for the node number (i.e. Node/99 ) so I could specify the correct node/page to have the sidebar block menu appear.

Long story short I finally found out that since I had URL auto- Auto aliases turned on I just opened that specific page (in a new tab) and copied the URL all after the main site url and pasted that into a separate line in the include/exclude text box and it worked like a charm.

So to give you an example. If your site is named (www)puppydogs.com and the page (node) you desire to have your Block Menu appear is on (www)puppydogs.com/content/Best dog collars -then copy/paste- content/Best dog collars into a separate line inside the include-exclude text box. Copy the exact URL of the page-node you want to have your Block Menu apprear in. No need to add any (/) or other PTF (Path To File) arguments (or whatever they are called), just the parts after (www)puppydogs.com/ from the displayed URL.

Of course always save your work and then go try it out! If done accurately you now get to say WOW!

Keep in mind that if you do have child-subChild navigattion (Parent/Child/SubChild -OR- Primary/Secondary/Tertiary) levels in a menu then you get to include all those pages (or not) in your Include/Exclude options text box or your Block Menu will NOT show up on the desired pages. It is a specific function that you control.

Well I hope I broke it down clearly enough for someone wanting this feature and there is enough information for you to implement and play with this great Module.