How to make page visible in the menu only if staying at that page?

OK, this is something I threw together real quick, not thoroughly tested, but seems to work for me. Add this to the functions.php file in your theme:

add_filter( 'get_pages','include_current_page_if_hidden' );
function include_current_page_if_hidden( $pages ) {
    global $post;
    if ( !is_page() )
        return $pages;

    for ( $i = 0; $i < count( $pages ); $i++ ) {
        $included_ids[] = $pages[$i]->ID;
    }

    if ( !in_array( $post->ID, $included_ids ) ) {
        $pages[] = get_post( $post->ID );
    }
    return $pages;
}

If it’s remotely useful for anyone, I may create a plugin.

A quick note for anyone who may try using this. You’ll probably need to add a priority to the add_filter function so it’ll run last:

add_filter( 'get_pages','include_current_page_if_hidden', 1000 );

Hello Doug,

Unfortunately that does not work. If I set the page as Private, and go to the URL with blog posts, the page name is not shown in the top menu.

Any other ideas would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Tomas

PS I realized it had one undesired side effect – I have Welcome page, but I have a workaround so that “Home” menu item serves as a link to this Welcome page. So Welcome menu item is invisible. But with the configuration above, when I was on the Home page, both Home and Welcome menu items appeared. ??

So it does something, but – apart from the issue above – I would like to limit this feature only to pages where there are posts. If it can be strictly a condition that the URL/permalink of the page/post have to contain “/blog” for the hidden menu item to appear, that would make me happy. Thanks!

Private is different from hidden. Private posts/pages are only visible to admins and editors. The code I posted strictly deals with “hidden” pages (not private and not for posts). A normal reader would never see a private page. That said, is that still something you need?

Yes, I could certainly make a configurable option (basically an arrays of IDs to ignore).

I took your request literally, and set it up for pages, as you can use the Excluded Pages plugin to “hide” a page from the menu. Posts don’t have that option, at least not with that plugin. How are you hiding posts? (or are you using private?)

Hello,

Sorry, but I see no option to make a hidden page. I can have
– public
– password protected
– private

I apologize, I know I used “hidden” above which could be misleading.

However I’m able to see the private Blog page (using the direct link) even if I log out. So I presume anyone can visit it, only it is not shown (as private) in the top menu by default. If this is not true, how (where) do I define “hidden” page then?

I’m not hiding any posts, and I put all posts onto a Blog page.

I will try to explain other way:
On my website, there is a few pages like Welcome, Services, Contact, Blog. Welcome page is represented by Home menu item, and there is a workaround that prevents “dual” displaying of Welcome menu item. Blog page is private and all posts would go there.

The only think I need differently is to make Blog section – which is private and which uses /blog/ as part of a permalink – visible in the top menu when someone uses a direct link to the Blog, but invisible when someone comes to the main website. All this in a way that Welcome menu item does not reappear (as described in the post above).

Is it better described now? Can you help me?

Thank you!

Tomas

For hidden pages, the most common way to do that is to use the Exclude Pages plugin, which basically just takes the page out of the menu, since all pages are added to the menu by default.

A private (visibility set to private) page or post should not be viewable if a user is not logged in. You should get a 404.

Content Visibility

I’ll get to the rest of your question in a bit, need some coffee. But for starters, how do you have your site setup, specifically

Settings->Reading

The first setting:

Front page displays

can be set to Your latest posts or A static page (select below)

I’ve created a blank page titled “blog” and set the above to A static page and chose “blog.”

Are you doing something similar to that?

Hello Doug,

I have a static page defined, but I have Welcome page there (I don’t want newcomers who use main domain address – not a blog link – to see my blog). In addition, I see only published pages (i.e. not those private) listed as options for the static page.

Content visiblity link above does not work.

How is it possible then that I can see private page (if I use direct link) when logged out? Can I somehow test if permissions are OK?

Re Exclude Pages – the problem is I don’t want to take the page out of the menu completely. I want it to be there, but only when the reader is on that page.

Example – full top menu in administration could be
Home * Services * Contact * Blog

When someone lands on my website at top level domain, they will see
Home * Services * Contact

When someone visits Blog page of my website through a direct link, they will see
Home * Services * Contact * Blog

When someone visits Blog page and then click e.g. on Home in the top menu, they will again see only
Home * Services * Contact

Anyway, maybe I understand it better now. Do you suggest I should install Exclude Pages plugin to have “hidden” option for pages, then define Blog as hidden (and not private), and then add your code?

Sorry about that, let me try again

Page Visibility

Content Visibility

OK these links work, thanks. I have the blog page set as private and can see it (not in the top menu, but via a direct link) when logged out though.

OK, what happens is if you make your blog page private, you can still get to it if not logged in, it just doesn’t appear in the menu. If you set individual blog posts to private, then you get the 404 if not logged in.

So now I think we can get somewhere… ??

Yes, I tried and can confirm you are right. ??

But now I’m eager to know about the original issue. ?? Should I install Excl. Pages plugin to start with?

I can’t get to it right now (I’ll try to get to it later today), but yes, I think I can make it work with Excluded Pages plugin. Using a static page for the blog is kind of a special case and my earlier code won’t work. But I should be able to modify it so it will.

Now I know exactly what you’re trying to accomplish. Thanks for sticking with me ??

Hi Doug,

Thank you very much! Just take your time, I’m surely not in a position to chase you about a favour. ?? I look forward to the solution.

Slightly different approach for your situation. This should work if you just set the “blog” page to private. No need for the plugin. Add to functions.php.

add_filter( 'get_pages','include_current_page_if_hidden', 1000 );
function include_current_page_if_hidden( $pages ) {
    if ( (!is_home() && !is_single() ) )
        return $pages;

    $postspage_id = get_option('page_for_posts');
    for ( $i = 0; $i < count( $pages ); $i++ ) {
        $included_ids[] = $pages[$i]->ID;
    }

    if ( !in_array( $postspage_id, $included_ids ) ) {
        $pages[] = get_post( $postspage_id );
    }

    return $pages;
}