Top Nav and Quick Launch Area for MOSS 2007

Here is my problem.  Across the top of the my page I would like to display
the sub sites directly beneath my top level site and in the quick launch I
would like to use the SharePoint:AspMenu control to only show what is below
the currently selected second level site.

The main portal page does not have a quick launch area but all of the sub
pages do.

When I use the web interface to do this, both the top and side nav change
behavior.  How can I separate the behavior so the top nav always shows the
second level sites but the left nav shows just what is below the currently
selected second level site?

I am figuring that I can configure two separate
PublishingNavigation:PortalSiteMapDataSource controls (one for each ASPMeun)
but I can figure out how to use SharePoint Designer 2007 to configure the
data source for the left nav.

Top Nav and Quick Launch Area for MOSS 2007

You're correct: you need two PortalSiteMapDataSource controls. The key is
that the one supplying the top menu must be connected to
SiteMapProvider="CombinedNavSiteMapProvider) while the one supplying the
quick launch menu must be connected to "CurrentNavSiteMapProvider".

You can then tweak inheritance settings using the Navigation Settings page
for your various sub-sites (Site Actions > Site Settings > Modify
Navigation). In particular, you'll want each sub-site to have its Global
Navigation option set to "Display the same navigation items as the parent
site" (note: this is the default). If I understand your scenario correctly,
for the Current Navigation option you'll want the first level of sub-sites
to be set to "Display only the navigation items below the current site", and
subsequent levels set to "Display the same navigation items as the parent
site."

For more detailed information about configuring navigation, see the 2 part
blog post at:

http://blogs.msdn.com/ecm/archive/2007/02/10/moss-navigation-deep-dive-part-1.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/ecm/archive/2007/02/10/moss-navigation-deep-dive-part-2.aspx