Is it possible to have more than on item in ASP.NET web.sitemap?

Question

I have an ASP.NET Menu control that works based on a Web.Sitemap. Web.Sitemap does not allow me to have more than one item in its root. But I need my menu show more than one item in its root. Is it possible?

My sitemap is like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<siteMap xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/AspNet/SiteMap-File-1.0" >
  <siteMapNode url="" title="Menu"  description="">
    <siteMapNode url="~/Default.aspx" title="Public"  description=""/>
    <siteMapNode url="" title="Administration"  description="">
      <siteMapNode url="~/GeneralSettings.aspx" title="GeneralSettings"  description=""/>
      <siteMapNode url="~/LookupManagement.aspx" title="Lookup"  description=""/>
      <siteMapNode url="~/Administration.aspx" title="Database"  description=""/>
    </siteMapNode>
    <siteMapNode url="~/AboutUs.aspx" title="Contact us"  description="" />
  </siteMapNode>
</siteMap>

Answer 1

You probably have a SiteMap DataSource somewhere - change the "ShowStartingNode" attribute to be false.

<asp:SiteMapDataSource ID="SiteMapDataSource1" runat="server" ShowStartingNode="false"/>

Answer 2

Depending on how you're creating the menu, could you have a "dummy" root node, and your top-level items underneath this, and render the menu from these, effectively ignoring the root node?

Answer 3

I have had a similar problem. The resolution I used depends on what control you are binding to your SiteMapDataSource:

• Option A: You are using asp.net menu, set 'StaticDisplayLevels="2"` in the menu properties.

• Option B: if you are using nested Repeaters, or some other control that you bind to a SiteMapDataSource, then set ShowStartingNode="false" as the accepted answer shows and manually code the root page wherever you want it to appear in relation to the rest of your menu.