Quickstart: adding a header menu (HTML)

Article
08/10/2016

[ This article is for Windows 8.x and Windows Phone 8.x developers writing Windows Runtime apps. If you’re developing for Windows 10, see the latest documentation ]

This quickstart explains how to add a header menu to your Windows app using JavaScript.

Prerequisites

Define the header and menu

To create a header menu:

Convert your app's title into a button that launches a Menu control.
Add a chevron next to the title to indicate that it launches a menu.
Populate the menu control with items that navigate your app to the proper sections.

When you finish this quickstart, you'll have a header menu that looks like this:

A header menu for a music app.

The following code defines a banner with a chevron at the end and also the menu. You can find this code in the header-menu.html file of the Header menu sample.

<!-- Define the banner with a chevron at the end -->
<header aria-label="Header content" role="banner">
    <button class="win-backbutton" aria-label="Back">
    </button>
    <div class="titlearea win-type-ellipsis">
        <button class="titlecontainer">
            <h1>
                <span class="pagetitle">Music</span>
                <span class="chevron win-type-x-large">&#xe099;</span></h1>
        </button>
</header>
<!-- Define the header menu -->
<div id="headerMenu" data-win-control="WinJS.UI.Menu">
    <button data-win-control="WinJS.UI.MenuCommand" data-win-options="{id:'collectionMenuItem',label:'Collection'}">
    </button>
    <button data-win-control="WinJS.UI.MenuCommand" data-win-options="{id:'marketplaceMenuItem',label:'Marketplace'}">
    </button>
    <button data-win-control="WinJS.UI.MenuCommand" data-win-options="{id:'newsMenuItem',label:'News'}">
    </button>
    <hr data-win-control="WinJS.UI.MenuCommand" data-win-options="{id:'separator',type:'separator'}" />
    <button data-win-control="WinJS.UI.MenuCommand" data-win-options="{id:'homeMenuItem',label:'Home'}">
    </button>
</div>

The following code attaches click event handlers to the menu content. The following code is in the header-menu.js file of the Header menu sample.

var page = WinJS.UI.Pages.define("/html/header-menu.html", {
        ready: function (element, options) {
            document.querySelector(".titlearea").addEventListener("click", showHeaderMenu, false);
            document.getElementById("artistsMenuItem").addEventListener("click", function() { goToSection("Collection"); }, false);
            document.getElementById("albumsMenuItem").addEventListener("click", function () { goToSection("Marketplace"); }, false);
            document.getElementById("songsMenuItem").addEventListener("click", function () { goToSection("News"); }, false);
            document.getElementById("homeMenuItem").addEventListener("click", function () { goHome(); }, false);
        }
    });

    // Place the flyout under the title and left-aligned
    function showHeaderMenu() {
        var title = document.querySelector("header .titlearea");
        var menu = document.getElementById("headerMenu").winControl;
        menu.anchor = title;
        menu.placement = "bottom";
        menu.alignment = "left";

        menu.show();
    }

Optional: Update header subtitles as users navigate

To aid way-finding, you can update the subtitles as users navigate through your app.

    // When navigating using the header menu for sections, 
    // change the subtitle to reflect the current pivot 
    function goToSection(section) { 
        WinJS.log && WinJS.log("You are viewing the " + section + " section.", 
            "sample", "status"); 
    } 
 
    // Hide the subtitle if no pivot is being used 
    function goHome() { 
        WinJS.log && WinJS.log("You are home.", "sample", "status"); 
    }

Apply styles

You can view these styles in the header-menu.css file.

/* styles */

/* Styles for the header */
 header[role=banner]
{
    /* Define a grid with columns for the back button and page title. */
    -ms-grid-columns: 120px 1fr;
    -ms-grid-rows: 1fr;
    display: -ms-grid;
}

 header[role=banner] .win-backbutton
{
    -ms-grid-column:1;
    margin-left: 39px;
    margin-top: 59px;
}

header[role=banner] .titlearea {
    -ms-grid-column:2;
    padding-top:43px;
}

header[role=banner] .titlecontainer
{
    display:inline;
    background-color:transparent;
    border:none;
}

header[role=banner] .subtitlecontainer 
{
    display:inline;
    margin-left:26px;    
}

header[role=banner] .titlearea .pagetitle
{
    width: calc(100% - 20px);
}

header[role=banner] .titlearea .chevron {
    vertical-align:8px;
}

header[role=banner] .titlecontainer:hover
{    
    color: rgb(50,154,163); 
}

header[role=banner] .titlecontainer:active
{
    color: rgb(37,187,196); 
}
    
#headerMenu {
    width:300px;
}