Sub-Menus

Add a Sub-Menu

To add a new Sub-menu to WordPress Administration, use the add_submenu_page() function.

add_submenu_page(
	string $parent_slug,
	string $page_title,
	string $menu_title,
	string $capability,
	string $menu_slug,
	callable $function = ''
);

Example

Lets say we want to add a Sub-menu “WPOrg Options” to the “Tools” Top-level menu.

The first step will be creating a function which will output the HTML. In this function we will perform the necessary security checks and render the options we’ve registered using the Settings API.

We recommend wrapping your HTML using a <div> with a class of wrap.
function wporg_options_page_html() {
	// check user capabilities
	if ( ! current_user_can( 'manage_options' ) ) {
		return;
	}
	?>
	<div class="wrap">
		<h1><?php echo esc_html( get_admin_page_title() ); ?></h1>
		<form action="options.php" method="post">
			<?php
			// output security fields for the registered setting "wporg_options"
			settings_fields( 'wporg_options' );
			// output setting sections and their fields
			// (sections are registered for "wporg", each field is registered to a specific section)
			do_settings_sections( 'wporg' );
			// output save settings button
			submit_button( __( 'Save Settings', 'textdomain' ) );
			?>
		</form>
	</div>
	<?php
}

The second step will be registering our WPOrg Options Sub-menu. The registration needs to occur during the admin_menu action hook.

function wporg_options_page()
{
	add_submenu_page(
		'tools.php',
		'WPOrg Options',
		'WPOrg Options',
		'manage_options',
		'wporg',
		'wporg_options_page_html'
	);
}
add_action('admin_menu', 'wporg_options_page');

For a list of parameters and what each do please see the add_submenu_page() in the reference.

Predefined Sub-Menus

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had helper functions that define the $parent_slug for WordPress built-in Top-level menus and save us from manually searching it through the source code?

Below is a list of parent slugs and their helper functions:

Remove a Sub-Menu

The process of removing Sub-menus is exactly the same as removing Top-level menus.

Submitting forms

The process of handling form submissions within Sub-menus is exactly the same as Submitting forms within Top-Level Menus.

add_submenu_page() along with all functions for pre-defined sub-menus (add_dashboard_page, add_posts_page, etc.) will return a $hookname, which you can use as the first parameter of add_action in order to handle the submission of forms within custom pages:

function wporg_options_page() {
	$hookname = add_submenu_page(
		'tools.php',
		'WPOrg Options',
		'WPOrg Options',
		'manage_options',
		'wporg',
		'wporg_options_page_html'
	);

	add_action( 'load-' . $hookname, 'wporg_options_page_html_submit' );
}

add_action('admin_menu', 'wporg_options_page');

As always, do not forget to check whether the form is being submitted, do CSRF verification, validation, and sanitization.