Does Low Reorder support sorting across multiple channels?
We have multiple channels that share the same custom field group.
We're culling the most recent entries from these channels and plopping them on our homepage. We've tried to add a 'priority' field and use that in sorting but that's not working:
{exp:channel:entries channel="business|romance|lifestyle|health|fashion|entertainment" status="Home Featured" limit="12" dynamic="no" orderby="date|priority" sort="desc|asc"}
You can see this in action at http://www.tpglifestyle.com/ (it's all the blocks at the bottom).
Is it possible to do this with the Low Reorder plugin? I've not seen anything in the docs that show it being used across more than a single channel.
Like I said, all of the channels share the same exact custom field group.
Looking forward to buying the add-on, if so!
Replies
Low 30 Sep 2010 05:47
I'm afraid that it doesn't, currently. However, it has been requested before, and it's something I'm most likely going to be implementing in a future version.
cobrabyte 30 Sep 2010 06:08
Thanks for the heads-up. I'll watch this thread for an update when you implement it. We could use it on a few sites.
Thanks Again.
iamhyphenated 26 Jul 2011 17:37
Do you know of any alternatives that would allow this? I've run into the same issue, but I can't do it any other way (the entries need to be able to move from channel to channel so I have to use the same field group for each). Or is there any kind of work around that might do it?
Kinda desperate, not sure who to ask...
Low 26 Jul 2011 19:32
Kristi, I'm not aware of a workaround, I'm afraid. I will be implementing the feature, although I'm not able to say when. It will take months still at least.
Benek Lisefski 11 Oct 2011 02:41
Any update on this topic? I've been searching around and there doesn't seem to be any solution to order entries over multiple channels. I'm desperate for this feature!
iamhyphenated 11 Oct 2011 03:18
Latest version (1.2.1) works across channels from what I've seen. Low can probably confirm, but it's working for me!
Benek Lisefski 11 Oct 2011 03:21
Looks to me from the screenshots like each reorder field's settings has a channel assigned to it so it only displays entries from that one channel. Is that incorrect?
iamhyphenated 11 Oct 2011 03:48
Right. ExpressionEngine only allows you to call from one channel at a time, so it wouldn't matter if entries in different channels are in any order.
To start, the way that low reorder works is by adding a low reorder field to a field group. A single field group can be applied to multiple channels. The issue raised in this question was that if you added a low reorder field to a field group that was then applied to multiple channels, the old version of low reorder would only allow you to reorder the entries from one of those channels, not all.
In the latest release, however, when you apply a single field group to multiple channels, you can reorder the entries within their own channels, and would also retain the ability to move the entry between those channels sharing that field group (it is a requirement within expressionengine that channels must use the same field group in order for you to be able to move an entry from one channel to the other).
I'm attaching a screenshot (hopefully) to show the new version of low reorder in action. There are 5 channels sharing 1 field group (and thus one low reorder field). This allows the client to reorder the entries within each of the channels, for example, all of the animals entries. It also means the client can move an entry from botanicals to contemporary collections without needing to recreate the entry. It does not mean that the client will see some master list of ALL the entries and be able to reorder them, as that would not be necessary since as I said, expressionengine can only call one channel at a time anyways.
Let me know if that helps!
Benek Lisefski 11 Oct 2011 03:56
"ExpressionEngine only allows you to call from one channel at a time"
This is just absurd. You can create an entries loop that displays entries from a number of channels at once. By no means does EE allow you to call from one channel at a time.
What I'm trying to do is display entries on my homepage that are from two different channels. But I need to be able to easily order that list. So I need a page in my EE control panel that lists all entries from both those channels combined and allows me to reorder the entire list.
The default "edit" screen in EE shows all channels--it is only limited to one channel if you choose to filter it that way. I need that same (multi-channel) list but with the option to drag the entries to change their order.
Does that make sense?
Chris 11 Oct 2011 04:05
Yeah, you can pull in entries from more than one channel at a time:
I'm still interested in this feature request. For a few sites, I've had to create a separate channel that contains references to posts in other channels (using Playa) and sort the 'consolidation channel.' It's not elegant but it seems to work.
iamhyphenated 11 Oct 2011 04:11
AH, I see. Mea culpa. The only thing I can think of that might do what you're asking is this: http://devot-ee.com/add-ons/disposition It's not very well supported, and it will alter your entry dates (if you can get it to work), but if the entry date doesn't matter to you then it might do the trick.
Benek Lisefski 11 Oct 2011 04:17
Yeah thanks I've actually already had a try with Disposition and I cannot even get it to properly change the dates (and it's also constrained by ordering only on channel at a time). I'm thinking about trying Low Reorder after failing with that one. I'm not using entry dates so ordering with dates is alright by me, but manually altering each entries date to re-order them is too much work so I'm looking for a drag/drop solution. By the looks of it, this is something that nobody has created a solution for yet.
I wish I knew how to develop EE add-ons myself!
Low 11 Oct 2011 07:10
I am still planning on implementing this feature, but it will require a major code overhaul, so I'm saving it for the 2.0 version.
I'm hoping to get that done this year still.
Benek Lisefski 11 Oct 2011 20:54
Thanks for the update Low. I guess I'll just try to get by with manually adjusting dates for now and hopefully in a few months time I can upgrade that to Low Reorder when you get 2.0 out.