39

I want to use the menu order attribute to control ordering for a custom post type that's going to be used for a specific purpose.

It's easy enough to add this to the CPT via supports => array('page-attributes') but how do I expose the menu order value on the admin listing screen for this CPT?

4 Answers 4

53

OK - in the end turned out to be fairly simple - as I'd had some kind of mental block - menu_order is a variable in the $post object (thanks to @brady for reminding me of that).

@scribu's post on creating sortable column values then gives the rest.

So, assuming the custom post type is called header_text, these are the functions and hooks that are needed:

Add a new column for the order

/**
* add order column to admin listing screen for header text
*/
function add_new_header_text_column($header_text_columns) {
  $header_text_columns['menu_order'] = "Order";
  return $header_text_columns;
}
add_action('manage_header_text_posts_columns', 'add_new_header_text_column');

Render the column values

/**
* show custom order column values
*/
function show_order_column($name){
  global $post;

  switch ($name) {
    case 'menu_order':
      $order = $post->menu_order;
      echo $order;
      break;
   default:
      break;
   }
}
add_action('manage_header_text_posts_custom_column','show_order_column');

Set the column to be sortable

/**
* make column sortable
*/
function order_column_register_sortable($columns){
  $columns['menu_order'] = 'menu_order';
  return $columns;
}
add_filter('manage_edit-header_text_sortable_columns','order_column_register_sortable');
3
  • 3
    In WP 3.1, manage_edit-${post_type}_columns has been supplanted by manage_${post_type}_posts_columns: codex
    – ptriek
    Commented May 29, 2013 at 7:24
  • Is there really just not way to make this the default ordering? Like Pages?
    – Howdy_McGee
    Commented Sep 3, 2013 at 21:13
  • I update the code to comply with WP 3.1+ as @codex reported.
    – lepe
    Commented Jan 11, 2020 at 7:40
16

It's been too long, but just for the record, you can display the 'menu order' option in the admin, just by including 'page-attributes' in the 'supports' option array. For example:

    register_post_type( 'columna',
    array(
        'labels' => array(
            'name' => __( 'Columnas' ),
            'singular_name' => __( 'Columna' ),
        ),
        'supports' => array( 'title', 'thumbnail', 'excerpt', 'page-attributes' ),
        'public' => true,
        'has_archive' => false,
        'menu_position'=>5
    )
);
3
  • 2
    The person posting the question is aware of 'page-attributes' already. It must not show the page order value in the way needed.
    – s_ha_dum
    Commented Nov 23, 2012 at 23:26
  • I have page-attributes in the supports for the custom post type, which does add menu order to the sidebar when editing one of those custom post types, but when viewing the list of all the items in the custom post type in wp admin it doesnt show menu order column. Is there something else required to get it to show? Under screen options for columns date is the only option and that is checked. Commented Sep 20, 2019 at 16:01
  • 1
    @cchiera: You must follow the accepted answer in order to display the column. Just adding 'page-attributes' doesn't seems to work.
    – lepe
    Commented Jan 11, 2020 at 7:38
8

@anu let me to the right direction, however that is not a modern code

Modern solution && working on WordPress 5.4

  1. add support
  2. register column
  3. display column value
  4. make the registered column sortable / say by what it should sort

...

$MY_POST_TYPE = "flowers"; // just for a showcase

// the basic support (menu_order is included in the page-attributes)
add_post_type_support($MY_POST_TYPE, 'page-attributes');

// add a column to the post type's admin
// basically registers the column and sets it's title
add_filter('manage_' . $MY_POST_TYPE . '_posts_columns', function ($columns) {
  $columns['menu_order'] = "Order"; //column key => title
  return $columns;
});

// display the column value
add_action( 'manage_' . $MY_POST_TYPE . '_posts_custom_column', function ($column_name, $post_id){
  if ($column_name == 'menu_order') {
     echo get_post($post_id)->menu_order;
  }
}, 10, 2); // priority, number of args - MANDATORY HERE! 

// make it sortable
$menu_order_sortable_on_screen = 'edit-' . $MY_POST_TYPE; // screen name of LIST page of posts
add_filter('manage_' . $menu_order_sortable_on_screen . '_sortable_columns', function ($columns){
  // column key => Query variable
  // menu_order is in Query by default so we can just set it
  $columns['menu_order'] = 'menu_order';
  return $columns;
});

If you are interested how would you make sortable column that is not based on some basic Query variable you would play around request filter as described in documentation here: https://make.wordpress.org/docs/plugin-developer-handbook/10-plugin-components/custom-list-table-columns/#sortable-columns

-3

You have to register your CPT with:

'hierachical' => true
2
  • Doesn't that just allows you to specify a parent for the item in the edit screen - I've tried it, and it makes no difference to the listing screen
    – anu
    Commented Feb 29, 2012 at 20:24
  • 1
    sorry, didn't realize you want to add custom columns to the list ... maybe this gives you a point to start:shibashake.com/wordpress-theme/add-custom-post-type-columns Commented Feb 29, 2012 at 20:45

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