Understanding app menu
1. In a nutshell
The app menu in Zoho Creator allows visual and logical grouping of your application components(such as forms, reports, and pages), making navigation intuitive for users. The app menu can be customized through the app menu builder in edit mode. This tool allows you to rename, assign icons, and organize components using a simple drag-and-drop interface. By structuring the menu effectively, you can group components by their purpose, ensuring easier access and improved usability for users.
2. Availability
- Available in all plans of Creator.
- Can be accessed by super admins, admins and developers.
3. Overview
The app menu in any application is the main navigational interface that organizes and displays the different components of an application. This is especially useful for applications with numerous modules, as it enhances user experience with a clear menu layout.
In Zoho Creator, the app menu allows users to navigate between various components of the application, such as forms, reports, and pages. The app menu can be customized using the app menu builder, which allows you to organize the components in your application with a simple drag and drop interface.
3.1. App menu builder
You can construct your own app menu using the different segments in the app menu builder, such as
- Space - A space is used to organize various components and elements within an application. Multiple spaces can be created, and in live mode, when a user selects a specific app menu space, only the components arranged within that space will be displayed. If an application component is not added in any space, it will remain hidden.
Note:
- An application component can reside in only one space at a time, and if it is not added to any space, it will remain hidden.
- When you create an application component it will be added to a space by default.
- Components - Components in the application are of two types:
- User Components - Represents the application components such as forms, reports, and pages in the application.
- System Components - Components which allow users to modify user-specific application configurations while accessing the application in the live mode, such as
- Language Selection - Users can change the application language on the user interface by selecting from the list of languages configured by the admin or developer in localization.
- Connection - Allows user to view, switch, and revoke connections used in the application.
- Approvals - Admins or developers can assign users as approvers while configuring an approval workflow, allowing these approvers to access this component to approve or reject records.
- Reports - Allows users with the Create Report permission configured by the admin to create reports directly from the live application.
- Elements - Containers or separators that can be used to visually customize the app menu.
Note: System Components will be displayed in live mode for users only after the necessary configurations are completed. For example, the Connection component, which allows users to view, switch, and revoke connections used in the application, will only be visible in the defined space if at least one connection is available in the application.
Element | Representation in app menu builder | Description |
Section | Creates a group of one or more components within a space. | |
Break | Inserts an invisible space to separate two components or elements within a space or section. | |
Line | Inserts a visible line between components or elements within a space or section. | |
Title | Inserts a title between components or elements within a space or section. | |
Title with Line | Inserts a title accompanied by a line between components or elements within a space or section. |
You can add application components to an app menu space and group them in a section to display them in separate divisions inside the space. You can also create different spaces for different components according to your requirements.
3.2. Navigation guide to app menu builder
3.3. See how it works
3.4. Business use case
Let's consider a Zoho Creator CRM application, where you have different components such as campaign forms, lead generation reports, analytics pages, contact forms, sales pipelines, deal tracking reports, and so on. By using the menu builder, you can organize this app menu in the builder as shown in the image below.
The respective user can access the Marketing or Sales pace to view the menu related to them, focusing only on their work modules. The final view of the app menu in the live mode for the example mentioned is shown below.
- In Marketing Space
- In Sales Space
4. App menu on various devices
Note:
- The position and appearance of the app menu might differ depending on the application theme used.
- The app menu can be customized individually for different devices, such as web, phone, or tablet, allowing you to design specific menus for each device. Learn how to configure app menu for different devices
The images below show the illustration of how the app menu looks like in your Creator application when accessed via:
- Web browser
- Phone
- Tablet
5. Points to note
- An application component can only reside in one space at a time.
- Spaces and sections will not be visible while accessing the application if they do not contain any application components.
- For your convenience, when you create an application from scratch, the app menu will be in sync with all devices. For example, the app menu configuration made on the web will be automatically reflected to both mobile and tablet devices. Once you click the app menu builder icon for mobile or tablet, any future changes to the web version will not affect the mobile/tablet layout.
- The visibility of certain elements in the app menu depends on the application theme you've chosen.
- System components will only be visible after the configurations have been completed by admins or developers, allowing users to access them from the app menu in the live mode of the application.
- The Creator mobile application version must be up-to-date to access the app menu feature.
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