Desired Functionality
Suppose you have some menu choices that require a user to be logged in, like "Submit an Article". You would like all users to be able to see the restricted menu item, whether or not they are logged in.
If the user is logged in, they just go directly to the restricted menu item.
If the user is not logged in ...
- they are presented with the login form, and
- once they log in successfully, they continue on to the restricted page.
If they are not registered, they have the option to register or navigate to another page.
Solution
Here is how you do this in Joomla!.
- Create a new menu from menu manager, say it is named "hidden menu".
- Add any menu items that will be accessible only to registered users (for example, "Submit an Article"). Set the required access levels of these menu items ("Special" in this example, but it could also be "Registered").
- Do NOT create a module for the "hidden menu". It will not be displayed on any page, so it doesn't need a module.
- Create your "real" menu (for example, "main menu") and the menu item that will display for all users (for example "Submit an Article").
- The menu item will have a menu item type of "Alias".
- It's "Menu Item" parameter will be the "Submit an Article" menu item on the "hidden menu".
- The Access Level for this menu item will be "Public", since we want everyone to be able to see and use it.
- Create a module of type "mod_mainmenu" for this menu, just like you do for any menu.
- If you want sub-menus, make sure you've added the sub-menu items in the "main menu" and not the "hidden menu".
Now, when a guest (non-logged-in user) accesses the "Submit an Article" menu choice, it redirects them to the login page. If they log in successfully, they are taken to the desired page (in this case, "Submit an Article"). If there were already logged in, they go there directly.