Add navigation bar heading with CSOM

Question

How can I replicate the "Add heading" functionality of the left quick launch bar with the client side object model?

The task looks simple. Update the left bar of several sites by with a few links grouped by header like:

Link group 1
    Link 1
    Link 2
Link group 2
    Link 3

I can create the nodes and arrange them, but the "Link group x" nodes also turn into hyperlinks, even if I don't set the URL property of the NavigationNodeCreationInformation object in Sharepoint 2010, VB.

How can I either create a blank group without link?

The related part of the code (removed the actual links)

nciHead.Title = "Group 1"
nciHome.Title = "Homepage"
nciHead.IsExternal = True 'otherwise it fails
nciHome.Url = "link1"
nd = qlColl.Add(nciHead)
nd.Children.Add(nciHome)
nd.Update()
context.ExecuteQuery()

Answer 1

funny you are asking, I was just trying to do the same

in SSOM this is possible with

$librariesNode.Properties["BlankUrl"] = "True"

unfortunately, from what I have found it is NOT possible in CSOM

however this guy did it by adding

javascript: return true;

to the url field.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/43fcf510-03e6-409c-85ac-84347eccb865/quick-launch-add-new-heading-without-an-url?forum=sharepointgeneralprevious

more here

SharePoint 2013: Client Object Model NavigationNode properties

as for adding a hierarchy, here's the code (using the newly created heading node to add child nodes):

#heading
$libraries = new-object
Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.NavigationNodeCreationInformation
$libraries.Title = "Libraries"
$librariesNode = $ql.Add($libraries)
$context.ExecuteQuery()

#link inside heading
$library = new-object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.NavigationNodeCreationInformation
$library.Title = $title
$library.Url = $url.ServerRelativeUrl
$library.AsLastNode = $true
$librariesNode.Children.Add($library) | Out-Null            
$context.ExecuteQuery()