Extend the Default Navigation Provider of SharePoint 2010 in 5 easy steps

There are many limitations, when you want to tweak the SharePoint’s default navigation to add multiple levels in left/top navigation.

SharePoint supports only 2 level of fly-out navigation. For multilevel navigation there are following approaches:

1. Create your own user control

2. Extend the SharePoint Navigation Provider

I have extended the default navigation provider PortalSiteMapProvider to show multilevel fly-out navigation.

Step 1: Create a C# class library project with the following code:

using System.Web;

using Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing;

using Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Navigation;

namespace CustomNavProvider

{

public class Navigation : PortalSiteMapProvider

{

SiteMapNodeCollection siteMapNodeColl = null;

public override SiteMapNodeCollection GetChildNodes(System.Web.SiteMapNode node)

{

    PortalSiteMapNode pNode = node as PortalSiteMapNode;

    if (pNode != null)

    {

        if (pNode.Type == NodeTypes.Area)

        {

            SiteMapNodeCollection nodeColl = base.GetChildNodes(pNode);

            //We can use SharePoint list or XML file to make our navigation configurable.

            SiteMapNode childNode = new SiteMapNode(this, "<http://www.mainsite.com>",

            "<http://www.mainsite.com>", "Root site");

            SiteMapNode childNode1 = new SiteMapNode(this,"<http://www.level1site.com>",

            "<http://www.level1site.com>", "Level 1 Site");

            SiteMapNode childNode2 = new SiteMapNode(this,"<http://www.level2site.com>",

            "<http://www.level2site.com>", "Level 2 Site");

            SiteMapNode childNode11 = new SiteMapNode(this,

"<http://www.level11site.com>", "<http://www.level11site.com>", "Subsite level 11");

SiteMapNode childNode12 = new SiteMapNode(this, "<http://www.level12site.com>",

            "<http://www.level12site.com>", "Subsite level 12");

SiteMapNode childNode111 = new SiteMapNode(this, "<http://www.level111site.com>",

            "<http://www.level111site.com>", "Site Pages 1");

SiteMapNode childNode112 = new SiteMapNode(this, "<http://www.level112site.com>",

            "<http://www.level112site.com>", "Site Pages 2");

            nodeColl.Add(childNode);

            siteMapNodeColl = new SiteMapNodeCollection();

            siteMapNodeColl.Add(childNode111);

            siteMapNodeColl.Add(childNode112);

            childNode12.ChildNodes = siteMapNodeColl;

            siteMapNodeColl = new SiteMapNodeCollection();

            siteMapNodeColl.Add(childNode11);

            siteMapNodeColl.Add(childNode12);

            childNode1.ChildNodes = siteMapNodeColl;

            siteMapNodeColl = new SiteMapNodeCollection();

            siteMapNodeColl.Add(childNode1);

            siteMapNodeColl.Add(childNode2);

            childNode.ChildNodes = siteMapNodeColl;

            return nodeColl;

        }

        else

            return base.GetChildNodes(pNode);

    }

    else

        return new SiteMapNodeCollection();

}

}

}

Step 2: Deploy the solution or Copy the dll in GAC.

Step 3: Add following entry in web.config for your web application

<siteMap defaultProvider="CurrentNavigation" enabled="true">

      <providers>

<add name="MyCustomNavigationProvider" type="CustomNavProvider.Navigation, CustomNavProvider, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b8dd7d04a4a7e53e"  NavigationType="Current" />

Step 4: Create a custom master page or update the v4.master with SharePoint designer 2010, and then add the following code under the left navigation’s ContentPlaceHolder element.

<SharePoint:AspMenu

ID="LeftNavigationMenu"

  Runat="server"

  DataSourceID="leftSiteMap1"

  EnableViewState="false"

  AccessKey="<%$Resources:wss,navigation_accesskey%>"

    Orientation="Vertical"

    StaticDisplayLevels="1"

    MaximumDynamicDisplayLevels="4"

    DynamicHorizontalOffset="0"

    StaticPopoutImageUrl="/_layouts/1033/images/next.gif"

    StaticPopoutImageTextFormatString=""

    DynamicHoverStyle-BackColor="#CBE3F0"

    SkipLinkText=""

    StaticSubMenuIndent="0"

    CssClass="ms-topNavContainer">

    <StaticMenuStyle/>

    <StaticMenuItemStyle CssClass="ms-topnav" ItemSpacing="0px"/>

    <StaticSelectedStyle CssClass="ms-topnavselected" />

    <StaticHoverStyle CssClass="ms-topNavHover" />

    <DynamicMenuStyle BackColor="#F2F3F4" BorderColor="#A7B4CE"

      BorderWidth="1px"/>

    <DynamicMenuItemStyle CssClass="ms-topNavFlyOuts"/>

    <DynamicHoverStyle CssClass="ms-topNavFlyOutsHover"/>

    <DynamicSelectedStyle CssClass="ms-topNavFlyOutsSelected"/>

  </SharePoint:AspMenu>

<asp:SiteMapDataSource

  ShowStartingNode="False"

  SiteMapProvider="MyCustomNavigationProvider"

  id="leftSiteMap1"

  runat="server"

  StartFromCurrentNode="true"/>

Step 5: Recycle your application pool and your site should now displaying the updated navigation.