---
title: NavigationContext
summary: API reference for NavigationContext.
status: draft
owner: SAIF Documentation Team
last_reviewed: 2026-08-17
library: SAIF.Presentation.Web.MVC
reference_type: package
---

# NavigationContext

`NavigationContext` wraps a per-user set of menu/application-code collections sourced from `SAIF.Business.Menu` (retrieved through an Oracle data layer) and answers "is this page authorized for this user" queries. It is the data-backed authorization mechanism behind [BR-MVC-002](../../business-rules.md#br-mvc-002-menu-based-page-authorization) and is cached once per session in `Session("navdata")` by `clsControllerBase.Initialize()`.

## Purpose
- Resolves whether a given application/page combination is present in the current user's authorized menu set (`IsMenuItem`), used to gate every request in `clsControllerBase.RedirectUnauthorizedUsers()`.
- Resolves the current request's matching `clsMenuAuthorizedItem` (`GetCurrentItem`/`GetCurrentPage`/`GetItem`) for use by consuming controllers that need menu-item metadata (e.g., item sequence number, category) beyond a simple allow/deny check.
- Owns the Oracle data-layer connection (`clsMSOracleDataLayer`) used to retrieve `SAIF.Business.Menu` collections for the constructing user.

## Context
- Namespace: `SAIF.Presentation.Web.MVC`
- Assembly/package: `SAIF.BOF.Presentation.Web.Infragistics103` (source-bundled)

## Public members
| Member | Signature | Purpose |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `MenuAuthorizedItems` | `Public Property MenuAuthorizedItems() As clsMenuAuthorizedItemCollection` | The current user's authorized menu items, populated at construction time from `SAIF.Business.Menu.clsMenuAuthorizedItemCollection.GetMenuAuthorizedItems`. |
| `DumpDataToString` | `Public ReadOnly Property DumpDataToString() As String` | Diagnostic string combining the authorized-item count and a full dump of menu item data; intended for troubleshooting/logging, not production display. |
| `ApplicationCodes` | `Public ReadOnly Property ApplicationCodes() As clsApplicationCodeCollection` | The set of active application codes, lazily retrieved and cached (per-process, via a `Shared`/`Static` field) from `clsApplicationCodeCollection.GetActiveApplicationCodes`. |
| `MenuCategories` | `Public ReadOnly Property MenuCategories() As clsMenuCategoryCodeCollection` | The set of menu category codes, lazily retrieved and cached from `clsMenuCategoryCodeCollection.GetMenuCategoryCodes`. |
| `GetItemSeq` | `Public Function GetItemSeq(ByVal inApplication As String, ByVal inCategory As String, ByVal inPageLink As String) As Decimal` | Resolves the menu sequence number for a specific application/category/page-link combination; returns `0` if no matching authorized item exists. |
| `GetItem` | `Public Function GetItem(ByVal inCategory As String, ByVal inLink As String, Optional ByVal inAnyApp As Boolean = False) As clsMenuAuthorizedItem` | Resolves the authorized menu item for a category/link, either across any application (`inAnyApp:=True`) or scoped to the current request's application path; falls back from an exact match to a non-exact match. |
| `GetCurrentItem` | `Public Function GetCurrentItem(ByVal inCategory As String) As clsMenuAuthorizedItem` | Resolves the authorized menu item for the current request's application and URL path within a given category; falls back from an exact match to a non-exact match. |
| `IsMenuItem` | `Public Function IsMenuItem(ByVal inApplication As String, ByVal inItem As String) As Boolean` | Returns `True` only if `MenuAuthorizedItems.FindPage(appCode, inItem)` finds a match for the application resolved from `inApplication`; the core check behind [BR-MVC-002](../../business-rules.md#br-mvc-002-menu-based-page-authorization). |
| `GetCurrentPage` | `Public Function GetCurrentPage() As clsMenuAuthorizedItem` | Resolves the authorized menu item for the current request's exact application/URL path, without a category filter; falls back from an exact match to a non-exact match. |
| `New()` | `Protected Friend Sub New()` | Parameterless constructor; does not populate `MenuAuthorizedItems` or the Oracle data layer — intended for internal/test construction only. |
| `New(inUser)` | `Public Sub New(ByVal inUser As String)` | Constructs `clsMSOracleDataLayer("MENU", <OracleDatabase config>)`, obtains its `IDataPortalInfo`, and populates `MenuAuthorizedItems` for `inUser.Trim.ToUpper` via `clsMenuAuthorizedItemCollection.GetMenuAuthorizedItems`. |

## Behavioral notes
- `ApplicationCodes` and `MenuCategories` are cached in `Shared`/`Static` fields scoped to the method, not the instance — once populated by any `NavigationContext` instance in the process, subsequent instances reuse the same cached collections rather than re-querying Oracle.*
- `GetItem`, `GetCurrentItem`, and `GetCurrentPage` all read `HttpContext.Current.Request` directly, so they are only meaningful within an active web request — they cannot be used from background/non-web code.
- The Oracle connection is established via `EnvironmentConfigKeys.OracleDatabase` (see [Configuration](../../configuration.md)); the SQL/Criteria implementation behind `GetMenuAuthorizedItems`/`GetActiveApplicationCodes`/`GetMenuCategoryCodes` lives in `SAIF.Business.Menu`, outside this library.

## Constraints and usage notes
- Constructing `NavigationContext(inUser)` performs an Oracle round-trip; `clsControllerBase.Initialize()` mitigates repeated construction cost by caching the instance in `Session("navdata")` for the duration of the session.
- `inUser` is upper-cased and trimmed before lookup, so menu authorization is effectively case-insensitive on username.

> **Note:** Statements marked with * were inferred from code structure, naming conventions, or
> contextual evidence where direct confirmation was not available in source artifacts. Statements
> marked with ** could not be confirmed; treat as unknown until verified.

## Sources
- SAIF.Presentation.Web.MVC\NavigationContext.vb