Multiple URLs pointing to same tab in hook_menu

Question

Here's a basic menu structure I'm working with:

function events_menu()
{
    $items = array();

    $items['events'] = array(
        'title' => 'Current Events',
        'access callback' => true,
        'page callback' => 'page_event',
        'type' => MENU_CALLBACK,
    );
      $items['events/current'] = array(
          'access callback' => true,
          'type' => MENU_DEFAULT_LOCAL_TASK,
          'weight' => 1,
      );      
      $items['events/regions'] = array(
          'title' => 'Event By Region',
          'access callback' => true,
          'type' => MENU_LOCAL_TASK,
          'weight' => 2,
      );
      $items['events/range/%/to/%'] = array(
          'title' => 'Current Events by Range',
          'access callback' => true,
          'page callback' => 'page_event_range',
          'page arguments' => array(2, 4),
          'type' => MENU_LOCAL_TASK,
          /* Don't want this to be a tab.
             I want it to activate the default tab */
      );

    return $items;    
}

The URL (and default tab) events displays some data. I'd like the URL events/range/%/to/% to filter the data based on the passed URL parameters.

The hook_menu above works, but I don't want events/range/%/to/% to be it's own tab. When you use the filtered URL, I want the default tab, Current Events, to remain active -- to give the illusion that you're looking at the same page as events, only filtered. Can multiple URL's point to the same tab?

I guess I could handle the url parameters manually with arg() in the events page callback, but this seems hacky. Isn't there a way to do this using hook_menu?

Edit (stated more clearly):
Normally there are two tabs Current Events and Event By Region at the URLs events and events/regions. I want a hidden (callback only) url at events/range/%/to/%. But when you visit it, I want the two tabs to remain visible and Current Events active - as if we'd never left that page.

Answer 1

I don't think it's possible to accomplish what you want only with hook menu. What you could do it use menu_set_active_trail to make drupal make it look like the users is looking at the /events page.

The above method might only work for Drupal 7

For Drupal 6 you could alter $_GET['q']. This can, however, conflict with some modules like purl or globalredirect. This is not a pretty solution but it works. The best place to do this would be in the a custom module using hook_init.

Answer 2

Use MENU_CALLBACK instead of MENU_LOCAL_TASK, and the tab will disappear. Then set the current menu item to 'events' like so (might only work in hook_init, but you can try it in the page callback too:

$item = menu_get_item();
$item['href'] = 'events';
menu_set_item(NULL, $item);

Answer 3

Have you tried 'context' Module. You can set path pattern you want for the active menu. Check out this quick video demo.