Add menu items / nav items in UserCP

[dfidler]

Hi Everyone,

My 3.x site has a concept where you can apply to a particular usergroup and upload evidentiary documentation to support your application to the usergroup.

Unfortunately, I coded it in an evening and so it's a dirty hack so I was thinking of turning it into a plugin/product and build upon the existing 'Join Requests' functionality when I migrate to vB4.

My problem is two-fold.

1. Should I extend the existing Joni Requests functionality, which is laughably basic
2. Should I just write all of the forms myself, thereby avoiding any conflicts in templates, etc at upgrade time.

If I'm honest, I'm leaning toward the second option. But if I do that, I'm going to want to add an item to the UserCP (Something like the "Permissions Groups" menu item under Networking and Forums).

So finally, on to my question:

What is the lightest touch way to add a menu item to a menu group in the UserCP? I was thinking of using a hook, but I don't see anything that allows me to do that. Will I have to deploy a custom USERCP_SHELL template with my plugin (I'm really trying to avoid this because I HATE template conflicts and the new 'automerge' template functionality that vB has added is horrific!!!!!)

Any suggestions are welcome.

Cheers,
Dave.

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Note: I'd also like to avoid overwriting the USERCP_SHELL template to avoid conflicts with other plugs, like https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=136321

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Note: I'm not looking for a code, just a recommendation on which path to take from those of you who might have done this before.