Navigation

Last modified: November 1, 2024

Introduction

This document describes the concept of navigation in Mendix applications and the properties of a profile. The Navigation document can be found by expanding the App node in the App Explorer. It defines the navigation structure of the application for users. It also allows you to set the home page of your application and to define the menu structures that can be used in Menus and Navigation.

A user’s home page can vary based on their user roles.

Profiles

The core of Mendix’s navigation model is founded on the following profiles:

Responsive web
- Responsive web offline
Tablet web
- Tablet web offline
Phone web
- Phone web offline
Native mobile (tablet & phone)

Users that access the app via a particular device type are automatically redirected to the homepage of the appropriate profile based on the profile type (for details, see the Redirection to Profiles section below).

The device type of the currently logged-in user is available in microflows as the $currentDeviceType variable. The type of this variable is the enumeration System.DeviceType, which has the values Phone, Tablet, and Desktop. You can use $currentDeviceType to perform different actions based on the device type. A typical example is to show different pages based on the device type.

Responsive web

Every app always has one profile of a Responsive type which cannot be deleted. This is the default profile used by a Mendix app. This profile can be used to make web applications. This profile also has an offline version.

Tablet Web

All the users accessing a Mendix app from a browser on a tablet will automatically be redirected to a profile of the Tablet web type. If no profile exists of that type, the user will be redirected to the Responsive profile. This profile can be used to make web applications. This profile also has an offline version.

Phone Web

All the users accessing the Mendix app from a browser on a phone will automatically be redirected to a profile of the Phone web type. If no profile exists of that type, the user will be redirected to the Responsive profile. This profile can be used to make web applications. This profile also has an offline version.

Native Mobile

A Mendix app can be installed on a phone as a native application which offers several advantages:

Enhanced Performance — Native apps are optimized for the specific platform, resulting in faster load times and smoother user interactions.
Access to Device Features — Native apps can harness the full potential of a phone’s hardware features, such as GPS, camera, and push notifications, enhancing the user experience.
Offline Functionality — Native apps store data locally on the phone, ensuring that users can access content even without an internet connection.

The Mendix app will run in offline-first mode. This means that all the data is stored on the phone and only synchronized with the server on request.

You are required to enable anonymous users in your app’s security settings and include anonymous user roles on native login pages. This is because there is no built-in login screen in the native profile; login pages are modeled as regular native pages.

Redirection to Profiles

Mendix Runtime automatically redirects users to the home page of the appropriate device type based on the device they are using. This happens by examining the User-Agent string that is sent by the device. The default configuration for this redirection is as follows:

User-Agent String Regular Expression	Device Type
Android.*Mobile\|iPhone\|iPod\|BlackBerry	Phone
Android\|iPad	Tablet
(other)	Responsive

To configure the regular expressions used to match phone or tablet users, see Runtime Customization.

It is also possible to force the client to use a specific profile by adding a profile query string parameter to the URL when visiting a Mendix application. The possible values are the names of the profiles, which are Responsive, Tablet, and Phone. For example:

https://myapp.mendixcloud.com/index.html?profile=Responsive

Navigation Profile Properties

A profile can be added with the Add navigation profile button. Only one profile per type is allowed. While adding the profile, it is possible to copy the settings from an existing profile.

General

Application Title

This specifies the application title. This title is shown in the title bar of the browser.

Application Icon

This specifies the application icon. This icon is shown as favicon in the title bar and bookmarks of the browser. It can only be set in the Responsive profile, but will also be used by the other browser profiles.

Home Pages

Default Home Page

The default home page indicates which page or microflow is opened after a user signs in. If role-based home pages (see below) are specified for one of the user roles of the user, then that home page will be used instead.

The default home page is visible to all unauthenticated users.

Role-Based Home Pages

By using role-based home pages, you can show different home pages for different users. If a user logs in, the first role-based home page of which the user role matches the user role of the user is displayed. If no match is found, the default home page is used.

For each role-based home page, you can specify the user role it applies to and the target (page or microflow) that will be opened.

Authentication

If an anonymous user tries to access a resource to which the user has no access, the configured sign-in page will be displayed, prompting the user to sign in.

If the sign-in page is set to none, a built-in pop-up window will appear instead. The page title is translatable and may be overridden.

Each device type contains a default menu. You can use these menus in Menus and Navigation. Defining the menu for a device type works the same as when editing a menu document. For more details, see Menu.

If security is enabled, the menu will only show the items to which the user has access.

Profile Buttons

Change Profile Type

Allows for changing the profile type.

Delete

This deletes the profile. If Menus and Navigation are still referring to the profile, errors will appear. It is possible to undo the deletion of a profile.

Synchronization Configuration

Only available on profiles supporting offline synchronization.

This opens the Customize offline synchronization dialog box that is used for overriding offline synchronization settings for specific entities. For each entity the download setting is shown. A default is automatically determined by analyzing the model, but can be overridden by the developer in which case the setting will appear in boldface.

For more details on the settings and when to use them, see the Offline-First Reference Guide.