Key Terms and Concepts

The following key terms are used in the context of the navigation tag library:

• Current Node: In an iterator tag, the node that is exposed during the current iteration.

• Selected Node: The node that the end user selected by clicking a navigation link, generally within a navigation iView.

• Launched Node : The node that was launched by the most recent navigation.

  In most cases, the launched node is the same as the selected node, but it can also be different. For example, if the user selects a folder node, the launched node is the first page or iView node in this folder.

• Context Node : If a selected navigation link has the NavigationContext parameter in its URL along with the mandatory NavigationTarget parameter, the context node defines the selected path and display of the navigation hierarchy by the navigation iViews. The launched node is the one displayed as content in the content area.

  For example, the node URL /irj/portal?NavigationTarget=ROLES://portal_content/role_R/page_A&NavigationContext=ROLES://portal_content/role_R/page_B means that page_A is the selected and possibly launched node displayed in the content area, and page_B is the context node used for highlighting a path in the navigation iViews.

  You can use the NavigationContext parameter to cause a navigation iView render a certain highlighted navigation path, and launch another node (possibly marked as Invisible in Navigation Areas ) in the content area using the NavigationTarget parameter. If the NavigationContext parameter is absent, the context node is equal to the launched node.

• Nodes in the Selected Path: The set of nodes in the current user's navigation tree that form the path from the initial (selected, active, or highlighted) node to the launched or context node.

  For example, if the user selects  System Administration  Permissions   SAP Authorizations , all three nodes are in the selected path, and SAP Authorizations is the selected node.

  The following tags work with the nodes in the selected path:

  • iterateNavNodesInSelectedPath : Iterates through the nodes in the selected path.

    In the example above, the tag would iterate three times, first exposing the System Administration node, then the Permissions node, and then the SAP Authorizations node.

  • iterateSelectedNavNodesLevel : Iterates through the siblings of the node in the selected path on a specified level.

    In the example above, if level 2 is specified, the tag would iterate through the child nodes of the System Administration node: the Permissions node and its siblings.

The following is an example of a partial navigation tree for the super administrator role.

• If the user clicks the SAP Authorizations link, SAP Authorizations is the selected node as well as the launched node.

  The nodes shown in bold are the nodes in the selected path. The iterateNavNodesInSelectedPath tag iterates through these nodes. The iterateSelectedNavNodesLevel tag, with level 2 specified, iterates through the displayed level 2 nodes, which are the children of the System Administration node.

• If the user clicks the Permissions link, Permissions is the selected node, and Portal Permissions is the launched node, because it is the first page or iView child of the Permissions node.

• If the user clicks a link that has both a NavigationTarget pointing to the Portal Permissions node and a NavigationContext pointing to the SAP Authorizations node, Portal Permissions is launched in the content area, and SAP Authorizations defines the selected path highlighted by the navigation iViews:  System Administration  Permissions  SAP Authorizations  .