Allow plugins to inject top-level navigation menu items

[jeremystretch]

NetBox version

v3.2.0

Feature type

Change to existing functionality

Proposed functionality

Currently, plugins can define menu items only under the "Plugins" header within the navigation menu. Several plugin authors have proposed the ability for a plugin to "register" its own top-level section in the menu.

IMO the simplest approach would be to allow a plugin to define a menu heading with a title and icon. If defined, its menu items will appear there; if not, they will appear under the general "Plugins" heading.

We'd also want to give some thought to influencing the ordering of top-level menu items; assigning a "weight" to each item might suffice.

Use case

Greater visibility for plugin functions; control over order of placement (potentially?)

Database changes

No response

External dependencies

No response

[github-actions]

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[peteeckel]

I thought I'd revisit this now that a couple of months have passed and I implemented our plugin at two customers and in my own environment.

A complaint that I hear quite often is that access to plugins is somewhat hidden from view, which tends to confuse casual users. So I think the option of optionally "promoting" a plugin to be a first class menu entry is still on the wish list.

[abhi1693]

There should also be the ability to add our plugin menu under the existing headers like Virtualization or Devices etc. I have a few plugins that would be much suited under the existing ones rather than creating them as suggested in the description.