Programatically adding MenuItems triggers Page_load in target URL - asp.net

Question

I am adding menu items programmatically so I can control which ones appear based on the role of the user. My problem is that every menu item I add behaves as if it has been clicked on during the load. Stripped to bare bones, here is the simplified code:
Public Class test2
Inherits System.Web.UI.Page
Private Sub Page_Init(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Init
If Not IsPostBack Then
CreateMenu()
End If
End Sub
Private Sub CreateMenu()
MainMenu.Items.Add(New MenuItem("Home", "", "/Peak.aspx"))
End Sub
End Class
The test2.aspx contains:
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<asp:Menu ID="MainMenu" runat="server" >
<Items>
</Items>
</asp:Menu>
</form>
This is all the code in Peak.aspx.vb:
Public Class Peak
Inherits System.Web.UI.Page
Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
MsgBox("This should not appear but does!!")
End Sub
End Class
The Peak.aspx Page_Load is being loaded and the message box displayed, when test2 is set as the start up page. My real code has several menu items added and CreateMenu causes ALL the page_Loads to be being triggered with a large overhead!
Is this a bug or something I can switch off, and is there a workaround?

Answer 1

You're using this constructor https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/b00a9c35.aspx
public MenuItem(
string text,
string value,
string imageUrl
)
If you look at it carefully, your third parameter sets imageurl, thus triggering Page_Load event when it tries to load the url. Maybe you wanted to use this overload with 4 parameters? https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/70k2h50z.aspx
public MenuItem(
string text,
string value,
string imageUrl,
string navigateUrl
)