Controlling Nav Menu Visibility

s2Member's Alternative View Protection lets you tell s2Member to automatically hide menu items for protected content that is not available to the current user. However, depending on the complexity of your site or the WordPress theme you're using, it may be necessary to control the menu visibility by editing your theme files directly.

This article will review how to use the s2Member Alternative View Protection feature to hide Nav Menu(s)/Nav Menu Item(s), how to extend the functionality using the wp_nav_menu() function, and how to do the opposite and show all Nav Menu items that were previously restricted or protected.

Using s2Member's Alternative View Protection

With s2Member's Alt. View Restrictions, you can tell s2Member to protect some (or all) of your Nav Menu(s) with "Alternative Views".

See: WordPress Dashboard → s2Member® → Restriction Options → Alternative View Protection

This feature works with menus that are generated using the built-in WordPress Menu system (WordPress Dashboard → Appearance → Menus), as s2Member is able to filter out any items that the current user does not have access to.

Advanced Menu Control via Tweaking Theme Files

If your theme does not take full advantage of the WordPress Menu system and instead has its own system for generating menus, or has hard-coded menus, you will need to edit your theme files directly and modify the code accordingly.

A common place for menus is the header.php template file and a common function unsed for calling menus is wp_nav_menu().

See: http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_nav_menu

By editing the theme template files directly, you can get as elaborate as necessary. Here is an example where two separate Navigation Menus (one called logged-in-users and another called logged-out-users) shows the appropriate menu based on whether or not the visitor is logged in or logged out:

<?php
if( is_user_logged_in() ) {
    wp_nav_menu( array( 'theme_location' => 'logged-in-users' ) );
} else {
    wp_nav_menu( array( 'theme_location' => 'logged-out-users' ) );
}

Please review the codebase for your theme to see exactly what needs to be changed. If you're not comfortable with PHP or with modifying your theme files, we recommend posting your question on the WordPress.org Support Forum or hiring a web developer.

Removing Nav Menu Visibility Restrictions

Now that you know how to hide menu items, there may be a time where you would like to show your protected Nav Menu items to everyone. You may want to, for example, show an item on a menu but only protect the content on the page itself to invite guests to subscribe.

If you want everyone to see all menu items, you can simply uncheck the Nav Menus option in Alternative View Protection so that s2Member does not hide any menu items.