Fixing SharePoint 2010 dynamic menus on the iPad

When using an iPad with the default v4 Master Page in SharePoint 2010, the dynamic drop down menus do not function as expected. When using a mouse, a simple hover over the menu item will drop down the dynamic menu child items (as shown below).

When using an iPad, iPhone and most other smart phone/tablets device, there is no mouse and no hover over action. When clicking on the parent menu item, the user is taken to that link instead of showing the child items.

To solve this issue (partially), I created some jQuery code to allow the first tap to drop down the menu items and the second tap to take the user to the chosen page.

First I use the jQuery ready function to load my script when the page has fully loaded.

jQuery(document).ready(function() {
});

When the page has finished loading, the type of device needs to be detected. In the example below I have used the iPhone, iPad and iPod devices. There are alternative devices!

if((navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/i)) || (navigator.userAgent.match(/iPod/i)) || (navigator.userAgent.match(/iPad/i))) {
}

This solution involves using a counter to detect the first tap of a dynamic menu item as a hover over and the second tap as the actual click. First, set the counter to 0.

var countipad=0;

Another handy jQuery function is used to detect when a dynamic menu item is clicked. Using this class “dynamic-children” ensures that only the first click of a drop down menu is cancelled.

jQuery("a.dynamic-children").click(function() {
}

If the click is the first click, the default action (redirect) is prevented. The counter is then incremented ready for the next click.

if(countipad==0){
	event.preventDefault();
	countipad=countipad+1;
}

The full solution is as follows:

jQuery(document).ready(function() {
	if((navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/i)) || (navigator.userAgent.match(/iPod/i)) || (navigator.userAgent.match(/iPad/i))) {
		var countipad=0;
 		jQuery("a.dynamic-children").click(function() {
			if(countipad==0){
				event.preventDefault();
				countipad=countipad+1;
			}
		});
	}
});

This isn’t a great solution as the second click will always take you to the link. A better solution would detect which link is selected and only redirect on the second click of that particular menu item.