[wp-hackers] Change in plugin Options page handling

[Owen Winkler]

David Chait wrote:
> I'll second that.  I can't finish my CG-PowerPack 1.5 beta update 
> without understanding this stuff -- though I could implement simple 
> buttons instead of submenus certainly...
> 
> And, also would like to know if there's a proper way to get the 
> dashboard tab for a no-submenus-item hilighted when on that page.  If I 
> install my plugin into the menu list, it works fine, but isn't inversed 
> when on that page like anything with submenus is...

I'm not sure I follow you exactly, but here are my thoughts about admin 
menus.

I've successfully added submenus to Options, Manage, and Dashboard.  I 
have not tried to add submenus to other menus, but I suppose that if 
they are all using the same menu-header.php include then they should 
work the same.

When you add a submenu to the Dashboard (which doesn't usually have one) 
a new submenu appears labeled "Dashboard", so you don't have to worry 
about losing the original functionality.

It doesn't seem possible at present to add both a top level menu page 
and submenus.  In fact, it's kind of clunky to add a top-level menu at 
all by itself, especially if you want a single-file plugin.

The admin menu system needs a little love.  It might be nice if the 
existing core admin pages to used the add_X_page() model.  Then it would 
be sure to work for plugins, too.

Owen