add_submenu_page( string $parent_slug, string $page_title, string $menu_title, string $capability, string $menu_slug, callable $callback = ”, int|float $position = null ): string|false

User Contributed Notes

1. Skip to note 15 content

   jakeparis 9 years ago

   You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 97You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

   Slugs for $parent_slug (first parameter)

   Dashboard: ‘index.php’
   Posts: ‘edit.php’
   Media: ‘upload.php’
   Pages: ‘edit.php?post_type=page’
   Comments: ‘edit-comments.php’
   Custom Post Types: ‘edit.php?post_type=your_post_type’
   Appearance: ‘themes.php’
   Plugins: ‘plugins.php’
   Users: ‘users.php’
   Tools: ‘tools.php’
   Settings: ‘options-general.php’
   Network Settings: ‘settings.php’
2. Skip to note 16 content

   Christina Blust 9 years ago

   You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 25You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

   Adding a submenu page to a custom post type
   If you want to add a submenu type to a custom post type, such as a reference page for a custom post type created by a plugin, you can use for the $parent_slug parameter whatever you see up top on the “All Posts” view for that post type. For instance, for a custom post type “Book,” the $parent_slug could be 'edit.php?post_type=book'.

   Example:

   /**
    * Adds a submenu page under a custom post type parent.
    */
   function books_register_ref_page() {
       add_submenu_page(
           'edit.php?post_type=book',
           __( 'Books Shortcode Reference', 'textdomain' ),
           __( 'Shortcode Reference', 'textdomain' ),
           'manage_options',
           'books-shortcode-ref',
           'books_ref_page_callback'
       );
   }
   
   /**
    * Display callback for the submenu page.
    */
   function books_ref_page_callback() { 
       ?>
       <div class="wrap">
           <h1><?php _e( 'Books Shortcode Reference', 'textdomain' ); ?></h1>
           <p><?php _e( 'Helpful stuff here', 'textdomain' ); ?></p>
       </div>
       <?php
   }
3. Skip to note 17 content

   Codex 9 years ago

   You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 22You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

   Inside menu created with add_menu_page()
   If you are attempting to add a submenu page to a menu page created via add_menu_page() the first submenu page will be a duplicate of the parent add_menu_page().

   If you want a submenu page in this scenario, you should first create a duplicate of your add_menu_page() and then add your add_submenu_page():

   add_menu_page('My Custom Page', 'My Custom Page', 'manage_options', 'my-top-level-slug');
   add_submenu_page( 'my-top-level-slug', 'My Custom Page', 'My Custom Page',
   	'manage_options', 'my-top-level-slug');
   add_submenu_page( 'my-top-level-slug', 'My Custom Submenu Page', 'My Custom Submenu Page',
   	'manage_options', 'my-secondary-slug');
4. Skip to note 18 content

   Mostafa Soufi 8 years ago

   You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 18You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

   Example submenu with php class

   /**
    * Sub menu class
    *
    * @author Mostafa <mostafa.soufi@hotmail.com>
    */
   class Sub_menu {
   
   	/**
   	 * Autoload method
   	 * @return void
   	 */
   	public function __construct() {
   		add_action( 'admin_menu', array(&$this, 'register_sub_menu') );
   	}
   
   	/**
   	 * Register submenu
   	 * @return void
   	 */
   	public function register_sub_menu() {
   		add_submenu_page( 
   			'options-general.php', 'Submenu title', 'Submenu title', 'manage_options', 'submenu-page', array(&$this, 'submenu_page_callback')
   		);
   	}
   
   	/**
   	 * Render submenu
   	 * @return void
   	 */
   	public function submenu_page_callback() {
   		echo '<div class="wrap">';
   		echo '<h2>Submenu title</h2>';
   		echo '</div>';
   	}
   
   }
   
   new Sub_menu();

   • The & in the add_action is unnecessary here, and a holdover from PHP v4 which hasn’t been supported in decades. It should be removed

     Tom J Nowell 1 year ago
5. Skip to note 19 content

   Codex 9 years ago

   You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 12You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

   Example

   add_action('admin_menu', 'wpdocs_register_my_custom_submenu_page');
   
   function wpdocs_register_my_custom_submenu_page() {
   	add_submenu_page(
   		'tools.php',
   		'My Custom Submenu Page',
   		'My Custom Submenu Page',
   		'manage_options',
   		'my-custom-submenu-page',
   		'wpdocs_my_custom_submenu_page_callback' );
   }
   
   function wpdocs_my_custom_submenu_page_callback() {
   	echo '<div class="wrap"><div id="icon-tools" class="icon32"></div>';
   		echo '<h2>My Custom Submenu Page</h2>';
   	echo '</div>';
   }

   To hide your submenu link from a top level menu item to which it belongs you would instead do

   add_action('admin_menu', 'wpdocs_register_my_custom_submenu_page');
   
   function wpdocs_register_my_custom_submenu_page() {
   	add_submenu_page( 
   		null,   //or 'options.php'
   		'My Custom Submenu Page',
   		'My Custom Submenu Page',
   		'manage_options',
   		'my-custom-submenu-page',
   		'my_custom_submenu_page_callback',
   	);
   }

   • When using null as the $parent_slug, the $page_title won’t be properly applied on the page, it will be empty. This can be fixed through the admin_title filter – Use the get_current_screen function to verify if the ID belongs to your page, then modify the title accordingly.

     ancientro 2 years ago
   • Passing `null` is not supported by core and may lead to undefined behavior and unexpected PHP warnings.

     Pascal Birchler 8 months ago
6. Skip to note 20 content

   isabel104 4 years ago

   You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 6You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

   Regarding the 1st note in the More Information section above, you may also run into the “Sorry, you are not allowed to access this page.” message even if you’ve hooked correctly into the admin_menu hook. This error message will happen if all of these are true:

   • Your parent page is a custom page that you added using add_menu_page, and
   • That parent page was created in another plugin, not the same plugin that is creating the submenu page, and
   • You didn’t add a lower priority to the admin_menu hook for the add_submenu_page call, so the submenu page may be fired before the parent page–causing an error.

   Solution: Add a lower priority, such as 99, to the action that creates the submenu page. For example:

   add_action( 'admin_menu', 'wpdocs_register_my_custom_submenu_page', 99 );
7. Skip to note 21 content

   LogixTree 8 years ago

   You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 4You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

   When working with the Classes, You can add_submenu_page by following Make sure the callable is static function.

   add_submenu_page( 'admin_menu', 'Custom Menu', 'My Custom Menu', 'manage_options', 'my-custom-menu', __CLASS__ .'::menu_page_output' );
   
   public menu_page_output() {
   	//Menu Page output code
   }
8. Skip to note 22 content

   Deepak Rajpal 1 year ago

   You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 3You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

   add_submenu_page( 
   		null,
   		'WP Docs Submenu Page',
   		'WP Docs Submenu Page',
   		'manage_options',
   		'wpdocs-submenu-page',
   		'wpdocs_submenu_page_callback',
   	);

   In some special cases (like above) if you pass null in parent_slug, it will generates deprecation warnings when running under PHP 8.1, because the provided $parent_slug is passed to strpos() and to str_replace(). Instead use empty string if needed like:

   add_submenu_page( 
   		'',   //or 'options.php'
   		'WP Docs Submenu Page',
   		'WP Docs Submenu Page',
   		'manage_options',
   		'wpdocs-submenu-page',
   		'wpdocs_submenu_page_callback',
   	);
9. Skip to note 23 content

   Dumitru Brinzan 8 years ago

   You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 2You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

   To anyone else troubleshooting an unexpected issue with this function, please PAY ATTENTION to the final argument, specifically the $function, it has to be a STRING, the name of the function, not a call to the function itself. Amateur mistake, I know, but sometimes you just make the simplest of errors.

   Bad:

   add_menu_page('My Custom Page', 'My Custom Page', 'manage_options', 'my-top-level-slug', my-output-function());

   Good:

   add_menu_page('My Custom Page', 'My Custom Page', 'manage_options', 'my-top-level-slug', 'my-output-function');
10. Skip to note 24 content

    tripflex 7 years ago

    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 2You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

    To further clarify adding a page without it showing in the menu/submenu, using this code:

    add_action('admin_menu', 'wpdocs_register_my_custom_submenu_page');
     
    function wpdocs_register_my_custom_submenu_page() {
        add_submenu_page( 
    		'options.php',
            'My Custom Submenu Page',
            'My Custom Submenu Page',
            'manage_options',
            'my-custom-submenu-page',
            'my_custom_submenu_page_callback',
        );
    }

    You would then access this page via this URL:
    /wp-admin/options.php?page=my-custom-submenu-page

    • If you want to create and admin menu for role editor or role author you can proceed in several ways: I chose to change capability access for some of the pages in a plugin from ‘manage_options’ to ‘edit_others_posts’ for editor role or to ‘edit_posts’ for author role. (You can keep other sub-menus with ‘manage_options’ . You can have different capabilities access in the same plugin.) e.g.

       // for editor role add_menu_page('My Custom Page', 'My Custom Page', 'edit_others_posts', 'my-top-level-slug', 'my-output-function');  // for author role add_menu_page('My Custom Page', 'My Custom Page', 'edit_posts', 'my-top-level-slug', 'my_function_page') 

      Do not forget to test page function capabilities also in same way:

       function my_function_page(){ if ( !current_user_can( 'edit_others_posts' ) )  { 		wp_die( __( 'You can not access this page','my-plugin-name' ) ); 	}     echo ''.esc_html__('My Plugin Title','my-plugin-name').''; 	// other output } 

      capbussat 3 years ago
11. Skip to note 25 content

    isMike() 4 years ago

    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 1You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

    If you are working within a Class, the “function” parameter for the add_submenu_page should be an array, with the first value in the array being an instance of the class while the second value in the array will be a method in the object (given as a string).

    Example below

    Class WPDocs_AdminPage
    {
        private $_plugin_name;
    
        private $_version;
    
        public function __construct( $plugin_name, $version )
        {
            $this->_plugin_name = $plugin_name;
            $this->_version = $version;
        }
    
        public function wpdocs_create_menu_and_submenu_page()
        {
            add_menu_page(
                'PAGE TITLE', 'MENU TITLE', 'CAPABILITY', 'menu_slug',
                array( $this, 'wpdocs_method_name_in_the_class' ), 'icon_url', 'POSITION'
            );
            add_submenu_page(
                'parent_slug', 'PAGE TITLE', 'MENU TITLE', 'CAPABILITY', 'menu_slug', 
                array( $this, 'wpdocs_method_name_in_the_class' )
            );
        }
    }
    $admin_page = new WPDocs_AdminPage;
    add_action( 'admin_menu', array( $admin_page, 'wpdocs_create_menu_and_submenu_page' ) );
12. Skip to note 26 content

    rtpHarry 4 years ago

    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 1You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

    If you’re trying to put your custom sub page under a url like:

    https://www.example.com/wp-admin/admin.php?page=custom-settings

    Then you should just use the custom-settings for the parent slug.

    In my use case I wanted to put a custom taxonomy under an ACF Options Page, and I used this:

            add_submenu_page(
                'custom-settings',
                'Product Filter By Ambient Noise',
                'Product Filter By Ambient Noise',
                'manage_options',
                'edit-tags.php?taxonomy=product-filter-ambient-noise'
            );
13. Skip to note 27 content

    Gerard Reches 9 months ago

    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 0You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

    There is something missing which it is not obvious at all:

    When a menu page has 0 or 1 submenu pages, no submenus will show up.

    A menu page contains a page by itself.

    A menu page that contains 1 submenu page, will appear as the same as if it didn’t have a submenu page. This is because the first-level menu element and the first second-level menu belonging to that first-level menu are meant to show the same page.

    In other words, you can’t have a single submenu element, because that doesn’t seem to make sense for WordPress.

    “Only one page? Just use the menu element itself then! No need for a dropdown.”

    Notice that whenever you click on a menu item found in the admin interface that has subitems, it will load its first subitem. So the menu item and its first subitem are essentially the same. However, you are able to rename the subitem.

    Some examples of this:

    – Dashboard = Home
    – Posts = All Posts
    – Appearance = Themes
    – Tools = Available Tools

    When a menu page contains 2 or more submenu pages, the submenu pages will become visible. That’s what most of us don’t know at first.

    So the trick is to create a submenu page identical to the menu page (you can change the $page_title and $menu_title if you want) and then your additional submenu page:

    add_menu_page( '', 'Menu Item', $capability, 'parent_slug', $callback );
    add_submenu_page( 'parent_slug', 'Page Title', 'First Subitem', $capability, 'parent_slug', $callback );
    add_submenu_page( 'parent_slug', 'Second Page Title', 'Second Subitem', $capability, 'submenu_slug', $submenu_callback );

    As you can see, the `$page_title` for `add_menu_page` could even be left as an empty string (but not `null`), because the title used for the page will be the first submenu’s `$page_title`. But I recommend to introduce the same string for readability.
14. Skip to note 28 content

    huntermaster 9 years ago

    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: -7You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

    Parent slugs like ‘tools.php’ can be found in the old doc https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/add_submenu_page#Parameters