Dynamic-Nav-Menu

Dynamic Navigation Menu

Overview

This example accompanies the Dynamic Navigation Menu tutorial. It demonstrates a simple multi-page application with a shared navigation header, a custom 404 flow, and form-based authentication that is initialized in the application's startup script.

Files

• www/.preload - Installs the form authenticator, loads the JSON user database, and registers a custom 404 handler.
• www/.header.lsp - Renders the shared navigation menu and marks the active page.
• www/.login-form.lsp - Form-based login page used by the authenticator.
• www/.404.lsp - Custom page used when a route is not found.
• www/index.lsp, www/network.lsp, www/security.lsp, www/users.lsp, www/admin.lsp - Main content pages shown through the shared layout.
• www/public/ - Static CSS, JavaScript, and image resources that stay accessible without authentication.

How to run

Start the example with the Mako Server:

cd Dynamic-Nav-Menu
mako -l::www

For more detail on starting the Mako Server, see the command line video tutorial and the command line options documentation.

After the server starts, open http://localhost:portno, where portno is the HTTP port shown in the Mako console. Log in with:

• Username: admin
• Password: password

After logging in, click the ADMIN tab to see the built-in file list and page descriptions.

How it works

The application's www/.preload script sets up two main pieces of behavior. First, it creates a sibling directory handler that forwards unresolved requests to /.404.lsp. Second, it creates a JSON-backed user database, configures a form authenticator with a custom login-response callback, and applies that authenticator to the application's dir.

Each protected page includes the shared header logic from .header.lsp, which generates the menu and highlights the active tab. Static resources under www/public/ stay public so the login page can load its styles and scripts before the user is authenticated.

Notes / Troubleshooting

• This example uses hashed passwords in the user database, so the realm configured in .preload must match the stored HA1 values.
• If you change the realm or the stored hashes, update both sides together.