Orchard CMS: No web.sitemap to build my custom menus from

Question

I am starting out with OrchardCMS and have hit a road block (for me at least).

I have code that generates the menus I need (incremental, drop down or whatever, the code does it), but it uses the web.sitemap or mvc.sitemap, which is not available in Orchard.

Is there any way / module that I can use to get a sitemap that my code can use?

Does the Advanced Menus or other Navigation module provide something akin to what I need?

Alternatively, does orchard expose any api for this kind of thing?

My problem is that I am integrating orchard into an existing site, so need to provide the same menus. My menu generator highlights any item on the "current branch" so a user has a strong visual cue as to where they are in the navigation hierarchy. Breadcrumbs are not an option as one of the sites I work with involves people with mental handicaps.

EDIT:

Would it be feasible to write a module that builds a sitemap on the fly from, say, Advanced Menus and get that via a sitemapprovider? Shouldn't be that difficult...

Would that be the right way to go?

I really need my menus to display visual cues for the Current Branch and Current Node.

NOTE:

In my menus, the Current Branch and Node are built on the fly from the url of the current page (the current branch is composed then of all the pages in the hierarchy from the current page to the root).

Answer 1

Take a look at INavigationProvider and its implementations. Also take a look at the work that is currently being done in Orchard 1.5 on the improved menu system: it is very open to extensions that add dynamic menu items.