Can I disable module menu items?

Question

I have a module with a menu which I build like this:

in moduleName.module

function moduleName_menu() {
  $items = array(
    'title' => 'whatever',
    'page callback' => 'something_callback',
    ...
    'type' => MENU_NORMAL_ITEM
  );
  return items;
}

Now I want certain items to be disabled (Clicking them should do nothing, similar to using disabled="disabled" on a <input type="button">). I tried adding '#disabled' => true, as I would do for form items, but that didn't work. How can I disable menu items?

UPDATE

I tried using myTheme_menu_link to disable the menu items. So in the code above, I add 'disabled' => true or 'disabled' => false to certain menu items. Then, my theme_menu_link function looks like this:

function vitrine_menu_link(array $variables) {
    $element = $variables['element'];
  $sub_menu = '';

  if ($element['#below']) {
    $sub_menu = drupal_render($element['#below']);
  }
  $output = l($element['#title'], $element['#href'], $element['#localized_options']);
  if (isset($element['disabled']) && $element['disabled']) {
    error_log('Hoping to see this somewhere in the log');
    $output = '<a>' . $element['#title'] .  '</a>';
  }
  return '<li' . drupal_attributes($element['#attributes']) . '>' . $output . $sub_menu . "</li>\n";    
}

I test it by emptying all caches, which rebuilds the menu, but still, the error I'm trying to log never get's logged. It seems as though my 'disabled' => true never makes it to this function...

Answer 1

This can only be done on the theme layer. Try taking a look at theme_menu_link().

Answer 2

As far as I know you can't disable links in that way. Depending on what you want to do I believe your options are either to add a class, programmatically or by using the Menu attributes module, and then use jQuery to disable the link, or not linking the menu item at all.

First option
Add a class or an id to the link, and do something like this to disable the link:

$('#linkid').click(function(e) {
  e.preventDefault();
});

Second option
Use the Special menu items module with the <nolink> option, which results in a menu item that is not linked, i.e. no <a> tag. You could of course do this programmatically as well, but the module is rather simple and straight forward.

This is more general solutions for menu items, which I realize it's not exactly what you are asking (a solution to your code), but it does provides solutions for your question "Can I disable module menu items?".

Answer 3

You could use the nifty menu_attributes contributed project. (You can download it from here) or just hook_menu_link_alter() (documentation) around which that module is built.

Both these approaches allow you to add attributes (including classes) to menu links.