lock meta box position on post edit screen for contributors

Question

Our website has an open system for contributors (WP User Role) to add news and calendar content to the site.

I'd like to set and lock the position of the content and meta boxes on the post edit screen. Is there a filter or function to set the order of the boxes before I disable the option of changing the sort order?

For Example, I'd like my post edit screen to appear in one column - Title > Taxonomy > Body > Meta Box > Meta Box > Publish.

Answer 1

Found this while trolling the internets... Works Perfectly

add_action('admin_init', 'set_user_metaboxes'); //I want it to fire every time edit post screen comes up
//add_action('user_register', 'set_user_metaboxes');  //You can also have it only set when a new user is created

function set_user_metaboxes($user_id=NULL) {

  //These are the metakeys we will need to update  
  $meta_key['order'] = 'meta-box-order_events';
  $meta_key['hidden'] = 'metaboxhidden_events';

  //So this can be used without hooking into user_register
  if ( ! $user_id)
    $user_id = get_current_user_id(); 

  //Set the default order if it has not been set yet by the user. These are WP handles
  if ( ! get_user_meta( $user_id, $meta_key['order'], true) ) {
    $meta_value = array(
        'side' => '',
        'normal' => 'events_metabox,submitdiv, commentsdiv',
        'advanced' => '',
    );
    update_user_meta( $user_id, $meta_key['order'], $meta_value );
  }

  // Set the default hidden boxes if it has not been set yet by the user
  if ( ! get_user_meta( $user_id, $meta_key['hidden'], true) ) {
    $meta_value = array('postcustom','trackbacksdiv','commentstatusdiv','commentsdiv','slugdiv','authordiv','revisionsdiv','postexcerpt','postimagediv','tagsdiv-post_tag');
    update_user_meta( $user_id, $meta_key['hidden'], $meta_value );
  }

 }//#end

Answer 2

For custom post types it works great...

add_action('admin_init', 'set_user_metaboxes');
function set_user_metaboxes($user_id=NULL) {

    // These are the metakeys we will need to update
    $meta_key['order'] = 'meta-box-order_event';
    $meta_key['hidden'] = 'metaboxhidden_event';
    $brand_meta_key['order']='meta-box-order_brand';
    $venue_meta_key['order']='meta-box-order_venue';
    // So this can be used without hooking into user_register
    if ( ! $user_id)
        $user_id = get_current_user_id();

    // Set the default order if it has not been set yet

        $meta_value = array(
            'side' => 'submitdiv,formatdiv,categorydiv',
            'normal' => 'postimagediv,event_type,eventfeaturedbrand,event_details,description_sectionid',
            'advanced' => '',
        );
        $brand_meta_value = array(
            'side' => 'submitdiv,categorydiv',
            'normal' => 'postimagediv,product_type',
            'advanced' => '',
        );
        $venue_meta_value = array(
            'side' => 'submitdiv,categorydiv',
            'normal' => 'venue_post_details,postimagediv',
            'advanced' => '',
        );
        update_user_meta( $user_id, $meta_key['order'], $meta_value );
        update_user_meta( $user_id, $brand_meta_key['order'], $brand_meta_value );
        update_user_meta( $user_id, $venue_meta_key['order'], $venue_meta_value );

    // Set the default hiddens if it has not been set yet
    if ( get_user_meta( $user_id, $meta_key['hidden'], true) ) {
        $meta_value = array('postcustom','trackbacksdiv','commentstatusdiv','commentsdiv','slugdiv','authordiv','revisionsdiv');
        update_user_meta( $user_id, $meta_key['hidden'], $meta_value );
    }
}