Add custom active links to customer account navigation in Magento

001_customer_account_navigation_active_link.xml

<customer_account>

    <reference name="left">

        <!-- Remove existing navigation -->
        <action method="unsetChild"><name>customer_account_navigation</name></action>

        <!-- Build our own navigation -->
        <block type="my_module/customer_account_navigation" name="my_customer_account_navigation" before="-"
               template="customer/account/navigation.phtml">
            <action method="addLink" translate="label" module="customer">
                <name>account</name>
                <path>customer/account/</path>
                <label>My Account</label>
            </action>
            <action method="addLink" translate="label" module="customer">
                <name>account_edit</name>
                <path>customer/account/edit/</path>
                <label>My Account Information</label>
            </action>
            <action method="addLink" translate="label" module="customer">
                <name>address_book</name>
                <path>customer/address/</path>
                <label>My Address Book</label>
            </action>
            <action method="addLink" translate="label" module="sales">
                <name>orders</name>
                <path>sales/order/history/</path>
                <label>My Orders</label>
            </action>
        </block>

    </reference>

</customer_account>

002_set_custom_link.xml

<sales_order_view>
    <reference name="my_customer_account_navigation">
        <action method="setActiveLink"><name>orders</name></action>
    </reference>
</sales_order_view>

003_overloaded_account_navigation.php

<?php
class  My_ModuleBlock_Customer_Account_Navigation extends Mage_Customer_Block_Account_Navigation
{

    /**
     * Is there a specific active link?
     *
     * @var
     */
    protected $_activeLink;

    /**
     * Set active link to this navigation
     *
     * @param string $linkName
     */
    public function setActiveLink($linkName)
    {
        $this->_activeLink = $linkName;
    }


    /**
     * Overloaded in order to force link active display
     * when there is an active link explicity set
     *
     * @param string $link
     * @return bool
     */
    public function isActive($link)
    {
        $isActive = parent::isActive($link);

        if(!$isActive && $link->getName() == $this->_activeLink) {
            $isActive = true;
        }

        return $isActive;
    }

}
?>

Thanks. Its an awesome trick :)

Thanks for sharing you method, I had same problem and i found your solution as first on google. But since i wanted some shorter way i found this solution:

<reference name="customer_account_navigation">
    <action method="setActive">
        <path>help/CustomerCare/</path>
    </action>
</reference>