Often we run into a common problem where clients want to have their Staff listed in a particular order not just ascending or descending alphabetically. We can easily solve this using a great module called Draggable Views. I love using Draggable Views! Here's my quick lesson on how to use this awesome module for Drupal 7.
Step 1 - Build your initial public-facing view. Let's call it "Staff." This will be the final view that is shown on the site.
Step 2 - Then build a second view and call it "Sort Staff." This will be used to create the custom sort order, and is not ultimately seen on the site.
- It's important that this be a table view of fields.
- Add one or two fields that will help you when creating your custom sort order. In this case I include the first and last names of our staff members.
- Add a field for Draggableviews: Content
- Add a sort criteria for Draggableviews: Weight
- Then change the path to something like /admin/sort-staff
- Then save this view.
Step 3 - Go back to your "Staff" view to set the sort order based on our "Sort Staff" view.
- Remove any existing sort criteria that exists (for example, ascending)
- Add a sort criteria for Draggableviews: Weight
- In the "Configure sort criterion: Draggableviews: Weight" settings, under the "Display sort as" section, select the new "Sort Staff" (Page) view that you just created.
- Apply and Save.
Step 4 - Now that you've connected your "Staff" view with the "Sort Staff" view, you can create your custom sort order.
- Go to your public-facing "Staff" view page.
- Hover over the view and click the "cog wheel" in the upper right corner. You should see an "Order view" option.
- After selecting "Order view" you can arrange your content by using the draggable double-pointers.
- Make sure to click Update!
Voila! A sorted view just the way the client wants it!
