Add “Change Item Order” to a Custom Link List

I built a SharePoint 2010 Visual Studio solution which included a custom list definition based on a custom content type inherited from the out-of-the-box Links content type.  The out-of-the-box links list contains a “Change Item Order” button in it’s ribbon bar which I needed for my solution (see image below).  I thought I’d get in my custom list by inheriting from the Links content type but that didn’t happen.

So I had to get the Change Item order back in my ribbon.  Looking deeper I found that there’s a hidden page called reorder.aspx in _layouts which, with the combination of your list GUID, brings you to a page where you can reorder items.  Try it – go into your list settings and change the page part of the URL from listedit.aspx to reorder.aspx (e.g. http://sitename/_layouts/reorder.aspx?List=[GUID]).

The links list appears to be the only list where this reordering impacts a list view.  You can reorder other lists or libraries using the _layouts/reorder.aspx?List=[GUID] page but it does nothing to change your list views.  Comparing the Links list view settings to other list view settings, you’ll see that you have an option in the Links list to “Allow users to order items” (screenshot below) which you don’t get with other types of lists. 

However, the reorder values do stick when you go back to this reorder page for any type of list so in theory you could use this in a CAML query using a hidden field named “order” (e.g. string qry = "<OrderBy><FieldRef Name='Order' /></OrderBy>";) if you were to build a custom content query webpart which needed a link to a sorting interface.

But for my solution, I’m inheriting from the links list content type so the sort works, I just don’t get the option in the ribbon bar.  Chris O’Brien gives a good overview of customizing the ribbon here (Adding ribbon items into existing tabs/groups (ribbon customization part 2).  With Chris’ guide and viewing the source on an OOB Links list view page, I was able to determine that I could get the XML I needed to display the “Change Item Order” in my ribbon by opening the CMDUI.XML and grab the button element XML for Ribbon.ListItem.Actions.ChangeItemOrder (below).

<Button
  Id="Ribbon.ListItem.Actions.ChangeItemOrder"
  Sequence="20"
  Command="ChangeLinkOrder"
  Image16by16="/_layouts/$Resources:core,Language;/images/formatmap16x16.png" Image16by16Top="-192" Image16by16Left="-144"
  Image32by32="/_layouts/$Resources:core,Language;/images/formatmap32x32.png" Image32by32Top="-192" Image32by32Left="-288"
  LabelText="$Resources:core,cui_ButChangeItemOrder;"
  ToolTipTitle="$Resources:core,cui_ButChangeItemOrder;"
  ToolTipDescription="$Resources:core,cui_STT_ButChangeItemOrder;"
  TemplateAlias="o1"/>

Here’s the final XML I used for the element I added to my visual studio solution to get the “Change Item Order” button to appear in my custom link list.  Highlighted in below example:

-- Registrationid=”30099” is my custom list definition's Type value.


-- Location="Ribbon.ListItem.Actions.Controls._children is the location where I want to place my button in the ribbon.


-- I changed the Id for the button from Ribbon.ListItem.Actions.ChangeItemOrder to Ribbon.ListItem.Actions.RibbonSortOrderButton (when viewing source on initial deployment of my custom list, I saw ChangeItemOrder was being trimmed by an OOB JavaScript function so by changing this Id I’m ensuring the OOB JavaScript isn’t trimming it)


-- Sequence="25" is my custom sequence for the order in which this button appears (see Chris O’Brien’s blog for more info).


-- Command="ChangeLinkOrder" is the OOB command which means I don’t have to add a CommandUIHandler.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">

  <!--Change Item order Ribbon-->
  <CustomAction
    Id="XYZ.Webpart.Links.XYZLinksListDefinition.RibbonSortOrderButton"
    Location="CommandUI.Ribbon"
    RegistrationId="30099"
    RegistrationType="List"
    Title="List View Ribbon Customization" >
    <CommandUIExtension>
      <CommandUIDefinitions>
        <CommandUIDefinition Location="Ribbon.ListItem.Actions.Controls._children">
          <Button
            Id="Ribbon.ListItem.Actions.RibbonSortOrderButton"
            Sequence="25"
            Command="ChangeLinkOrder"
            Image16by16="/_layouts/$Resources:core,Language;/images/formatmap16x16.png" Image16by16Top="-192" Image16by16Left="-144"
            Image32by32="/_layouts/$Resources:core,Language;/images/formatmap32x32.png" Image32by32Top="-192" Image32by32Left="-288"
            LabelText="$Resources:core,cui_ButChangeItemOrder;"
            ToolTipTitle="$Resources:core,cui_ButChangeItemOrder;"
            ToolTipDescription="$Resources:core,cui_STT_ButChangeItemOrder;"
            TemplateAlias="o1" />
        </CommandUIDefinition>
      </CommandUIDefinitions>
    </CommandUIExtension>
  </CustomAction>
</Elements>