Is it possible to create a menu item and leverage path aliases?

Question

I am trying to create a menu item that loads a view mode that calls the callback function with the path alias.

$items['node/%/%'] = array(
  'page callback' => '_node_view_load',
  'page arguments' => array(1, 2),
  'access callback' => TRUE,
  'type' => MENU_CALLBACK
 );

function _node_view_load($node_id, $view_mode = 'default') {
  return drupal_render(node_view(node_load($node_id), $view_mode));
}

This works if you go to /node/%/view_mode. However, it does not work if you got to /alias/view_mode. I get page not found. Is there a way to bind menu items to path aliases?

Answer 1

You'd have to extend the pathauto system to handle your specific pattern, like it does for node/x/feed items.

Answer 2

I think that the Sub-path URL Aliases module will do what you want.