RCA AddMenuItem Documentation

Version 1.0.7  •  Joomla 4.x / 5.x / 6.x  •  PHP 8.1+  •  © 2026 ReCreatingAnew  •  GNU/GPL v2+

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Installation
3. Configuration
4. Upgrading from J3
5. How to Use It
6. Supported Components
7. Component XML Templates
8. Changelog
9. Attribution & License

1. Introduction

Add to Menu is a Joomla! administrator module that provides a handy link to quickly add a menu item for the article or page that you are viewing in your Joomla! administrator panel.

For example, if you need to create a new article and add a link to that article in your menu, with Add to Menu this is done easily and quickly:

1. Create the article and save it
2. While still on the article edit page, click on the ‘Add to Menu’ button
3. Select the menu you want the new menu item to be in
4. Click ‘Save’

And voilà! You are done.

Without Add to Menu, this same process in Joomla otherwise takes many steps:

1. Create the article
2. Save and close the article
3. Navigate to the Menu Manager
4. Create a new menu item under the correct menu
5. Add the menu title
6. Select the correct page type
7. Find and select the correct article
8. Save the menu item

The ‘Add to Menu’ button appears on the components supported by Add to Menu, including all core components such as articles, categories, contacts, and more.

2. Installation

Upload Package File

1. Download mod_addmenuitem_v1.0.7-J456.zip from recreatinganew.com
2. In your Joomla administrator, go to Extensions → Install
3. Click the “Upload Package File” tab
4. Drag the zip file into the upload box (or click to browse)
5. The upload and install will begin automatically

After Installation

1. Go to Extensions → Modules
2. Change the filter to show Administrator modules
3. Find RCA AddMenuItem in the list
4. Set the Position to toolbar
5. Set the Status to Published
6. Save and close

Updating

When a new version is available, the Joomla Update system will notify you automatically. Go to Extensions → Update to apply updates.

3. Configuration

Settings are found in Extensions → Modules, filtering by Administrator modules, then opening the RCA AddMenuItem module.

Display Options

Show Fields

Select which optional fields to show in the Add to Menu modal popup. (Pro license required for all fields except Articles.)

Default Settings

4. Upgrading from Joomla 3 to Joomla 4 / 5 / 6

What Changed

• Removed all dependency on the Regular Labs Framework
• PSR-4 namespace via services/provider.php DI container
• Filesystem API updated for J6 compatibility
• Toolbar button rendered via native Joomla 6 API
• AJAX endpoints updated for Joomla 4+ com_ajax pattern
• All original component XML templates retained — custom J3 templates still compatible

5. How to Use It

After installing the extension, you will see an ‘Add to Menu’ button on several pages in your Joomla! administrator — such as the article editor, category editor, and other supported component pages.

Using the Popup

1. Open an article (or other supported item) in the Joomla administrator
2. Click the Add to Menu button in the toolbar
3. A popup window appears with the basic menu item settings
4. The Menu Title is pre-filled with the article title — adjust if needed
5. Select the Parent Item (the menu and position)
6. Adjust Status and any optional fields if shown
7. Click Save

The popup only offers the most basic options by design — the goal is a fast, single-click workflow. For advanced menu item settings, use the standard Menu Manager after creating the item.

6. Supported Components

Free Tier

• Articles (com_content)

Pro Tier (all of the above, plus)

• Categories (com_categories)
• Contacts (com_contact)
• News Feeds (com_newsfeeds)
• Users (com_users)
• Web Links (com_weblinks)
• VirtueMart (com_virtuemart)
• redSHOP (com_redshop)

Need support for an unlisted component? See Component XML Templates to add it yourself.

7. Component XML Templates

Add to Menu works with XML component templates. If you need support for a component not yet included, you can create your own XML template files.

File & Folder Structure

administrator/modules/mod_addmenuitem/components/
  com_content/
      article.xml
      category.xml
  com_contact/
      contact.xml
  ...

When viewing a page, Add to Menu looks for a folder matching the component (option) of that page, then checks each XML file in the folder until one passes its <required> conditions.

Template File Structure

Each XML template contains sections inside the <addmenuitem> tag:

1. Name — displayed as item type in the modal header:

<name>Standard Product Layout</name>

2. Requirements — determines when the template applies:

<required>
  <task>edit</task>
  <section>,com_content</section>
  <cid>*</cid>
</required>

Values: comma-separated = multiple valid values; * = any non-empty; + = any non-empty/zero; empty = must not be present.

3. Database Select — fetches item name and alias:

<dbselect>
  <table>#__content</table>
  <where><id>$cid</id></where>
  <name>title</name>
  <alias>alias</alias>
</dbselect>

4. URL Parameters:

<urlparams>
  <option>com_content</option>
  <view>category</view>
  <id>$cid</id>
</urlparams>

8. Changelog

[RCA] 1.0.7 — May 2026

• FIX: Menu items had show_create_date and show_modify_date hardcoded to Show due to XML default merging. Fixed by overriding display params with active component global configuration after all XML-default merges in doInsertMenuItem().

[RCA] 1.0.6 — May 2026

• FIX: Fatal error (Call to member function getHelper() on null) on child categories. Fixed by registering a no-op HelperFactory('') in services/provider.php.
• FIX: Missing use Joomla\CMS\Table\Table; import causing TypeError on every Save.
• FIX: Four $input->get() calls changed to getString() — CMD filter was stripping spaces and colons from menu title, parent selector, and language wildcard.

[RCA] 1.0.5 — April 2026

• NEW: Free / Pro licensing system. Free tier: Articles only. Pro: all content types.
• NEW: LicenseHelper.php — validates keys against RCA license server with 24-hour cache and offline grace period.
• FIX: Bootstrap Modal JS replaced with lightweight CSS-class-only modal — eliminates window.bootstrap.Modal is not a constructor errors.
• FIX: Filesystem API updated for Joomla 6 compatibility.

[RCA] 1.0.0 — April 2026

• Initial RCA fork of Regular Labs Add to Menu v6.8.1 PRO.
• Full Joomla 4 / 5 / 6 compatibility. Regular Labs Framework dependency removed entirely.
• PSR-4 autoloading, native DI container, services/provider.php architecture.
• All original component XML templates retained.

6.8.2 — Regular Labs (23 Mar 2023 — final RL release)

• Removes unused language files after installation
• Updates translations: cs-CZ, et-EE
• Fixes incorrect comment prefix characters in language files

Full original Regular Labs changelog: docs3.regularlabs.com/addtomenu — Original copyright © 2023 Regular Labs.

9. Attribution & License

Original Extension

This Fork