> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://playground.e107sk.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://playground.e107sk.com/e107-aragorn-theme/guides/shared-menu-areas.md).

# Shared menu areas across layouts

**Status: 90% — works, with one known failure mode that warns instead of breaking.**

## The problem

e107 stores menu placement per layout. A menu dropped into area 101 on one layout does not appear in area 101 on another — each layout has to be configured separately in Menu Manager.

That is reasonable for page content and wrong for the mobile drawers, which are identical on every layout by design. Configuring the same three menus five times is busywork, and the five copies drift.

There is no core mechanism for this. `e_menu` loads menus for `THEME_LAYOUT` only (`menu_class.php:407`) and `renderArea()` takes no layout parameter — its single parm is the `:echo` suffix.

## `{THEME_MENUAREA=101}`

The theme shortcode renders a menu area from one chosen layout, whatever layout the current page uses. The drawers are configured once, on the layout named in `ARAGORN_DRAWER_LAYOUT`, and mirrored everywhere else.

| Layout                    | Drawer areas use                       |
| ------------------------- | -------------------------------------- |
| 3columns                  | `{MENUAREA=101}` — the source of truth |
| full, page, sidebar, home | `{THEME_MENUAREA=101}`                 |

{% hint style="info" %}
Areas addressed with `{THEME_MENUAREA}` disappear from Menu Manager on those layouts. That is intended, not a side effect: Menu Manager finds areas with `preg_match_all("/\{(?:MENU|MENUAREA)=([\d]{1,3})(:[\w\d]*)?\}/", …)` (`menumanager_class.php:2547`), and the `\{` anchor means a prefixed name never matches. At least one layout must keep the plain form, or the menus cannot be assigned at all.
{% endhint %}

## How it works

`aragorn_menu` in `theme_shortcodes.php` extends `e_menu` and loads the source layout's menus into `eMenuActive`, then hands them to the inherited `renderArea()`.

`aragorn_menu` in `theme_shortcodes.php` extends `e_menu` and loads the source layout's menus into `eMenuActive`, then hands them to the inherited `renderArea()`. The full class is on [{THEME\_MENUAREA}](/e107-aragorn-theme/theme-structure/theme-shortcodes/theme-menuarea.md); what matters here is why it is built that way.

Two details carry the weight.

**Subclassing, not querying by hand.** `isVisible()` is `protected`, and it is what enforces `menu_class` (userclass permissions) and `menu_pages` (per-URL visibility). `renderMenu()` only checks userclass for custom page menus, never for plugin menus — so a hand-rolled query and render loop would show members-only menus to guests. Extending `e_menu` is what keeps core's rules.

**The empty `menu_layout`.** The default layout's menus are stored with an *empty* `menu_layout`, not with the layout's name. That mapping happens in one place:

```php
// menu_class.php:407
$menu_layout_field = THEME_LAYOUT != e107::getPref('sitetheme_deflayout') ? THEME_LAYOUT : "";
```

So querying for the literal `'3columns'` finds nothing while 3columns is the default. The translation above is not optional.

## The failure mode

Because placement is tied to the *role* of being default rather than to a layout name, changing the site default breaks the link: the source layout's menus are no longer stored under its name.

Two things absorb this.

**A fallback.** If the query returns nothing, `initFromSourceLayout()` retries against whatever *is* the default. Those are the rows the administrator has been editing, so the drawers keep working.

**A warning.** `theme::checkDrawerLayout()` adds a message for main administrators when the default layout is not `ARAGORN_DRAWER_LAYOUT`. It does not correct the preference: that would overwrite a deliberate choice and write to the database on a front-end request.

Between them the behaviour degrades from "silently empty" to "still working, with an explanation".

## Cost

One query per page. The `aragorn_menu` instance is held on the shortcode object for the request, so three drawer areas cost one query, not three.

## What it rests on

Two pieces of core that are not published API:

* `e_menu::isVisible()` is `protected` and `$eMenuActive` is `public`
* the default layout stores an empty `menu_layout`

If either changes, the drawers go empty — not open. The failure direction is safe: nothing leaks.