The things are poisitioned in the extension code. You can try disabling the extensions and re-enabling them in the order you want which will mean they come out in that order *if* they all use the same position number but that's not guaranteed.
Mini is right - the extension author has the power to specify where in the panel the items get added, and typically it will be an arbitrary addition. You can, of course, go in and change the indexes yourself if you are brave.
Better sorting of these things is one of my big hopes for Vanilla 2 (if that ever happens).
Could an extension be made (I mean, is it technically possible), which allows admins to set the order of panel items, possibly in a drag and drop stylee ala the Categories preference page?
if you look (usually near the bottom) of the extension file, there will be
$Panel->Addstring('something here', INTEGER);
I believe. If you change the INTEGER value it'l move it up or down the panel.
In theory, yes, Lookhere. Assuming the extension could parse other extension files and rewrite that integer.
Also, looking in the default.php for say who's online, there is nothing there of that nature
There is,
$Panel->AddList($ListName);
But i'm not sure, I don't see anything with $Panel and pointing to a function with an integer.
*edit*
Well, I added an integer to that and it seems to hav edone the trick :)
Hmm. I'm gonna get a shower and some lunch and if i have some time left before work I think i'll read back through php's file reading/writing functions and put some thought into this one. I have tons of other projects on the go (sorry people i've promised stuff for!) but this one seems quite fun.
Right. I've got something together which will run through the extension file and change the order index for extensions using the AddString method. Nearly got it done for AddList but i need to put a bit more thought into it. Then i need to work out how on earth to make something like the category management page so people can set the order. Give me a couple more years.. ;)
Right. I think it now works on any extensions which add stuff to the panel. Unless theyre doing something totally funky which I havent thought about. Anyone care to give me a hand making the page to re-order them?
For anyone who's still interested it's now working! Yay! Needs a bit more work before i release it (perhaps tonight) though. And it'l have one bug which i still cant quite work out. It wont be able to re-order extensions whose panel->Add method extends over more than 1 line. That's not such a problem cause it's easy enough to change those extensions but that's not an ideal solution and as yet i cant work out what is.
I'll be looking for some testers later, though. Please.
Right. It's all working but i've put in some checking stuff to make it not add new extensions to its config file if theyre already there, and for some reason at the moment it's adding them with an index up to the number of total extensions (extensions which use the panel and extensions which dont), then just repeating that index ad infinitum every time you load the page. That probably doesnt make much sense to any of you but that's where i'm at anyway. Then i need to make it remove extensions from its config when someone disables them. Then i'll release a beta.
For now i'm going to get drunk. I'll probably have a release up tomorrow if all goes well.
Drinking postponed: it's now correctly updating and ordering extensions. I just have to convince it to remove them from its list when they've been disabled. *grabs beer and puts thinking cap on.
Mini, is your extension going to provide the same service for the Panel on the settings page? I hate the disorganized mess that has become. If so, I can't wait for this. I can beta test as well, if you want.
Um. I'm not sure. Not at the moment i dont think but i also dont think it'd be a massive amount of extra work. Maybe for v1.5. Let me get the first ver out.
Comments
Better sorting of these things is one of my big hopes for Vanilla 2 (if that ever happens).
Anyone care to give me a hand making the page to re-order them?
And it'l have one bug which i still cant quite work out. It wont be able to re-order extensions whose panel->Add method extends over more than 1 line. That's not such a problem cause it's easy enough to change those extensions but that's not an ideal solution and as yet i cant work out what is.
I'll be looking for some testers later, though. Please.
For now i'm going to get drunk. I'll probably have a release up tomorrow if all goes well.
*grabs beer and puts thinking cap on.
I've looked at Jazzman's post, but it doesn't actually explain it. Or maybe I'm just silly.