Adding orderby url parameter to main CPT admin menu link

Question

Is it possible to change the main admin menu link for a CPT (the link to edit.php) to include URL parameters?

I wan't to make the posts list default to sorting by "title" but I don't like how updating the main query to force a "default" order doesn't set column header to reflect it.

If you click on the "Title" column header it adds the "orderby" url parameter so I'm wondering if there is a hook/filter that would allow me to append this to the menu link.

I can't see how this could be done when registering the new post type and would prefer not to use javascript to add it on after the page has loaded.

Answer 1

You can set $_GET directly inside your pre_get_posts action to get the UI to pickup that change:

function wpd_test_pre_get( $query ) {
    // put whatever conditions to target your cpt here
    if( is_admin() && $query->is_main_query() ){
        // modify query
        $query->set('orderby', 'title');
        $query->set('order', 'asc');
        // set $_GET vars
        $_GET['orderby'] = 'title';
        $_GET['order'] = 'asc';
    }
}
add_action( 'pre_get_posts', 'wpd_test_pre_get' );