Overriding class methods

Let us assume that you want to modify the behaviour of the navigation module to always display even if there are no sub-pages and the module would not be shown at all. In this case a note shall be printed to inform the user that there are no sub-pages. Of course we will try to preserve as much of the original navigation class as possible, so future updates do not require maintenance. Module and content element classes can be assigned dynamically in the Contao system configuration, which allows you to easily replace them with your own versions.

Creating a custom class

The default navigation class behaves pretty much like we want it to, except that the generate() method hides the module if there are no sub-pages. Therefore all we need to change is this particular method, so the best practice is to extend the original class and simply override it. To do so, create a new xcustom/ModuleMyNavigation.php file and define the custom class ModuleMyNavigation:

// xcustom/ModuleMyNavigation.php
class ModuleMyNavigation extends ModuleNavigation
{
    public function generate()
    {
        // Execute the original method
        $buffer = parent::generate();

        if (empty($buffer))
        {
            $buffer = 'There are no subpages';
        }

        return $buffer;
    }
}

Registering a custom class

Module and content element classes can be assigned dynamically in the Contao system configuration, which allows you to easily replace them with your own versions. The names of the module classes are stored in the global FE_MOD array.

// xcustom/config/config.php
$GLOBALS['FE_MOD']['navigationMenu']['navigation'] = 'ModuleMyNavigation';

Thanks to the dynamic configuration, Contao automatically loads the new class upon the next request and the navigation module prints the "There are no subpages" notice instead of not displaying at all. The modification is update-safe and does not require maintenance.