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Module Roles, Order & Visibility

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In this lesson, you will learn:

  • How roles decide who sees a menu and its modules
  • How order numbers arrange modules
  • How to hide a menu or module without deleting it

1 Who sees what?

Both application menus and modules have a Roles field. Together, they decide who sees each link in the All menu. 👀

How roles and order work for the SNWR Facilities menu. The menu needs the itil role. Its modules are shown by order number: Create Incident at 100, My Incidents at 200, a Help separator at 300, and Facilities Admin at 400, which also needs the admin role. An agent with itil sees the first three. An admin sees all four. A requester with no roles doesn't see the menu at all.
Figure 1. Lower order numbers show first. Roles decide who sees each item.
  • Menu roles: if the menu has roles, only users with one of them see the menu at all.
  • Module roles: a module can also have roles, to hide just that link from some users.
  • A user needs to pass the menu’s roles first, then the module’s roles.

📝 Note: A module has a checkbox called Override application menu roles. When it’s checked, users can see that module even if they don’t have the menu’s roles. Use it rarely, and only on purpose.

⚠️ Heads up: Hiding a menu is not security. Someone who knows the URL, like incident_list.do, can still try to open the page. Real protection comes from access controls (Chapter 42).

2 Order

The Order field decides where each module appears inside its menu:

  • Lower numbers show higher up.
  • Leave gaps, like 100, 200, 300. Then you can add a module at 150 later without renumbering everything.
  • Application menus use Order the same way in the All menu.

3 Showing and hiding

You want to… Do this
Hide a module for everyone Uncheck Active on the module
Hide a whole menu Uncheck Active on the application menu
Show it only to some people Add Roles
Explain what a module does Add a Hint

⭐ Remember: Deactivate instead of delete. You might need that module again, and base modules should never be deleted.

4 Let’s try it: control your menu

  1. Open your SNWR Facilities menu. Add a module Facilities Admin (List of Records, Table: Incident) with Roles admin and Order 400.
  2. Change the order of My Incidents to 50. Refresh the All menu. Did it move to the top?
  3. Impersonate Riya (itil). Which modules does she see? Is Facilities Admin there?
  4. End impersonation. Uncheck Active on Facilities Admin. Is it gone for you too?

5 Quick recap

  • Menu roles decide who sees the menu. Module roles decide who sees each link
  • Override application menu roles lets a module skip the menu’s roles
  • Order: lower numbers show first. Leave gaps
  • Uncheck Active to hide. Don’t delete
  • Hiding menus isn’t security

6 Check yourself

Think of your answer first. Then tap to check.

1 Module A has order 300 and Module B has order 100. Which shows first? Show answer

Module B. Lower numbers show first.

2 How do you hide a module from everyone without deleting it? Show answer

Uncheck its Active field.

3 A menu is hidden from Sam by roles. Can Sam still reach the page by typing its URL? Show answer

He can try. Hiding a menu isn’t security. Access controls decide if he can see the data.

Nice work! You finished this lesson. 🎉

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