Settings page above CPT page in admin section

Question

I'm creating a plugin which generates a handfull or custom post types (CPT). I've create a top level menu in the admin left sidebar using add_menu_page(). I then added all CPTs to this menu using register_post_type()'s show_in_menu option. I also created a plugin settings page using add_submenu_page(), which I also added to the top menu.

My problem is that I can't get the settings page to appear above the CPT pages in the submenu. I make the register_post_type() call in an "init" action, and I make the add_submenu_page() call in a "admin_menu" action (which happens after "init"). So, it makes sense that the CPT pages come first. I can't move the register_post_type() calls to later in the process (it's too late to register a CPT, and I can't move the add_submenu_page() earlier (it's not defined earlier).

Do I just have to live with it?

Answer 1

you can use the menu_order filter hook to change the order

function custom_menu_order($menu_ord) {
       if (!$menu_ord) return true;
       return array('settings_page.php', 'edit.php?post_type=CTP1','edit.php?post_type=CTP2','edit.php?post_type=CTP3');
}

add_filter('custom_menu_order', 'custom_menu_order');
add_filter('menu_order', 'custom_menu_order');