Navigation open submenu on click unavailable for page-list

[djcowan]

Description

The core/navigation block with submenu has a toggle for Submenus: Open on click option.
The option can be set and saved into a pattern, template part.

<!-- wp:navigation {"openSubmenusOnClick":true ... } -->

issue: if the navigation includes a core/page-list and the submenu item is then removed the toggle is no londer displayed to unset the option.

Step-by-step reproduction instructions

1. insert a new navigation block
2. insert a page-list item
3. insert a menu item
4. convert the menu-item to a submenu
5. insert a submenu item
6. select the navigation block, turn on setting "open on click"
7. save and view page to confirm the on-click is working as expected.

---

1. In the site editor
2. select the navigation block
3. remove all menu items except the page-list
4. The navigation block setting "open on-click" toggle is no longer visible
5. switch to code edit mode - the setting is still visible

---

<!-- wp:navigation {"openSubmenusOnClick":true ... } -->

Screenshots, screen recording, code snippet

Environment info

Wordpress Version 6.6.2
Theme: TT4
Gutenberg: Version 19.2.0

Please confirm that you have searched existing issues in the repo.

• Yes

Please confirm that you have tested with all plugins deactivated except Gutenberg.

• Yes

[djcowan]

const hasSubmenus = !! innerBlocks.find(
		( block ) => block.name === 'core/navigation-submenu'
	);

https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/blob/5afd08f7e8cbf4ed96956e893995f5a0f969ce92/packages/block-library/src/navigation/edit/index.js#L277C2-L279C4

[AhmarZaidi]

Hey @djcowan,

1. We can keep the "open on click" toggle visible so that it can be toggled even if the core/navigation-submenu blocks are removed (I don't think this is the right way though).

2. When the last core/navigation-submenu block is removed we can automatically reset the "open on click" setting to its default false state (I think this might be the right approach)

Do you have any other suggested approaches to fix it?

[AhmarZaidi]

Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but since this option only affects when core/navigation-submenu blocks are present as inner blocks, it makes sense to be visible only then and hidden otherwise.

I think it may be a design choice and would likely require precedent to change.

Again, I'm a bit new here so that may be incorrect 😅

[djcowan]

Hi @AhmarZaidi
Thank you for your attention to this issue. I don't think you are incorrect in your analysis or logic.

However, I am inclined towords the first option - 1) "… keep the "open on click" toggle visible so that it can be toggled even if the core/navigation-submenu blocks are removed"

If the setting has been defined by the User, resetting to default might confuse the User or other Admin Users of the site.

The issue is complicated by the interaction of the core/page-list and core/navigation block

The core/page-list block will nest pages or rather insert submenus dynamically according to the current page hierarchy.

If "open on click" is defined and the User modifies the page heirachy via the admin column view, resetting to default may result in unexpected behaviour.

The Wordpress UX and Accessibility teams might suggest a different approach

[AhmarZaidi]

Hey @djcowan,

Thanks for the insight, I've implemented the first approach - "… keep the "open on click" toggle visible so that it can be toggled even if the core/navigation-submenu blocks are removed", essentially removing the check to hide the 'Submenus' option.

Here's the draft PR: #68462