Create Dynamic Menus in Storyblok and Astro
Storyblok is the first headless CMS that works for developers & marketers alike.
In this part of the tutorial series, we will make the menu in our header component dynamic, so that you can manage it directly from Storyblok.
In a hurry? Check out the source code on GitHub and take a look at the live version on Netlify.
Section titled Requirements Requirements
This tutorial is part 3 of the Ultimate Tutorial Series for Astro. We recommend that you follow the previous tutorials before starting this one.
Section titled Setup in Storyblok Setup in Storyblok
First, we will have to create a new content type component wherein our menu entries can be stored. In order to do that, go to the Block Library {1} and create a New block {2}.
)
Creating a new block in the Block Library
Enter the name config {1} and choose Content type block {2}.
)
Creating a content type block
Now you can create a new field with the name header_menu {1} and choose the field type Blocks {2}.
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Creating a field for the header menu
In this field, we would like to provide the possibility to add menu links as nested blocks. To accomplish that, let’s create another new block. This time it should be a Nested block {1} with the name menu_link {2}.
)
Creating a nested block
Now we can add a new field called link {1} in this newly created block and choose Link as the field type {2}.
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Creating a link field
Alright, our component schemas are almost done! Just one more step: to avoid that just any block could be nested in our header_menu, we want to make sure that only specific components can be inserted {1}. Now you can choose the menu_link block in the whitelist {2}.
Allowing only specific components to be inserted
With that out of the way, we can now go to the Content section of our Storyblok space. Here, we want to create a new story with the name Config {2}, using our recently created content type Config {3}.
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Creating a new Config story
If you open this newly created Config story in Storyblok it will throw an Error saying there is no Config component defined. We will learn more about how to create a component in the next part of this series. But for now, just do the following.
- Create a new file name
src/storyblok/Config.astroand just add an emptydivin this file. - Register the component in the Storyblok integration in
astro.config.mjs.
<div></div>
export default defineConfig({
integrations: [
storyblok({
accessToken: env.STORYBLOK_TOKEN,
components: {
page: 'storyblok/Page',
+ config: 'storyblok/Config',
feature: 'storyblok/Feature',
grid: 'storyblok/Grid',
teaser: 'storyblok/Teaser',
},
}),
tailwind(),
],
})
You can now nest as many menu_link blocks in the header_menu field as you would like. For now, let’s add our Blog and About page.
)
Dynamic menu rendered correctly in Astro
Section titled Rendering the Menu in Astro Rendering the Menu in Astro
Having taken care of our setup in Storyblok, we can now work on implementing our dynamic menu in the frontend. To accomplish that, let’s update src/components/Header.astro with the following code:
---
import { useStoryblokApi } from '@storyblok/astro'
const storyblokApi = useStoryblokApi()
const { data } = await storyblokApi.get('cdn/stories/config', {
version: 'draft',
resolve_links: 'url',
})
const headerMenu = data?.story?.content?.header_menu
---
<header class="w-full h-24 bg-[#f7f6fd]">
<div class="container h-full mx-auto flex items-center justify-between">
<a href="/">
<h1 class="text-[#50b0ae] text-3xl font-bold">Storyblok Astro</h1>
</a>
<nav>
<ul class="flex space-x-8 text-lg font-bold">
{
headerMenu.map((menu) => (
<li>
<a href={`/${menu.link.cached_url}`} class="hover:text-[#50b0ae]">
{menu.link.story.name}
</a>
</li>
))
}
</ul>
</nav>
</div>
</header>
If you go back to the Visual Editor now, you can see your menu being rendered correctly. Feel free to experiment a little bit with it by adding or reordering the entries and saving the Config story.
Fantastic – but what’s actually happening in the code? First of all, we’re using useStoryblokApi to fetch the Config story. What’s important to notice is that an additional parameter – resolve_links – is passed to the apiOptions. This is used to actually get the URLs of the stories that we link internally. You can learn more about this and other parameters in our Content Delivery API docs.
Now, we can loop through our headerMenu data instead of the hardcoded links.
Section titled Wrapping Up Wrapping Up
Congratulations, you have successfully created a dynamic menu in Storyblok and Astro!
Continue reading and learn How to Create Custom Components in Storyblok and Astro.
| Resource | Link |
|---|---|
| Astro | https://astro.build/ |
| The Storyblok Astro Ultimate Tutorial | https://www.storyblok.com/tp/the-storyblok-astro-ultimate-tutorial/ |
| Storyblok SDK for Astro | https://github.com/storyblok/storyblok-astro |
| Storyblok SDK Live Demo | https://stackblitz.com/edit/astro-sdk-demo |
| Storyblok in the Astro Docs | https://docs.astro.build/en/guides/cms/storyblok/ |
| Building Future-Proof High-Performance Websites With Astro Islands And Headless CMS | https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2023/02/building-future-proof-high-performance-websites-astro-islands-headless-cms-storyblok/ |
| Storyblok APIs | https://www.storyblok.com/docs/api |
