Module Articles - Newsflash ordering issue

[brettski84]

Hi all

I'm having an issue ordering the newsflash module on Joomla 1.7.3

I have set the "Order Results" to "Ordering", however it is actually ordering them starting with the last ordered article from the relevant category first. I am trying to use this as a "Featured Projects" for my portfolio.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

[joopla]

These settings should be fine for the module; now you should be able to order your news items in the Article Manger. If you filter the articles to the particular category you are using with your newsflash module, then click the 'Ordering' link and use the arrows to order these articles.

This works for me. Let me know if you need further help

[brettski84]

These settings should be fine for the module; now you should be able to order your news items in the Article Manger. If you filter the articles to the particular category you are using with your newsflash module, then click the 'Ordering' link and use the arrows to order these articles.

This works for me. Let me know if you need further help

Unforunately not. I have done this, but it actually orders them in reverse. So if I order them 1,2,3 in the article manager, it will display them in the reverse order of 3,2,1.

And I know that the order works fine on the blog layout of the same category (if i put them 1,2,3 it will show them correctly 1,2,3), so no idea why it's different for the Newsflash.

[joopla]

Ive just managed to replicate your problem. Ive not found a reasonable solution yet, only thing thats worked so far is as youve tried already - to reverse the order. I'll re-post if I find a more tolerable alternative.

[brettski84]

Thanks for trying. Appreciate it.

[rycka1983]

I have no idea why module was made to sorts articles from Z to A. This looks awkward.
If problem is still present, fallow these steps:
1) Open file helper.php (/public_html/modules/mod_articles_news/helper.php)
2) Find line with code "$model->setState('list.direction', 'DESC');" (should be on line 60)
3) Replace "DESC" with "ASC", so it would be like that: $model->setState('list.direction', 'ASC');

[gjledger_2k]

I've been fixing this issue everyday. Why would it recur?

[rycka1983]

gjleger_2k, what Joomla version you're using?

[gjledger_2k]

@ rycka1983

Joomla 2.5 (I'm using CloudAccess to host with their template, based on the Gantry layout).

[erine100]

I have no idea

[rycka1983]

@ gjleger_2k, I thought Joomla 2.5 fixed this problem, but it seems that it did not .
You said, that you have to fix it agai and again. I think this is because of Joomla 2.5 is capable to update itself, so when it updates, it overrides file you have fixed. This is annoying, and I guess I will have to think how to fix it when I will start to use newsflash module in my 2.5 sites.

[juliecracker]

I am also frustrated by this reversed "Ordering" for News Flash (since I'm not using it for "News", but for other content).

I found a posting on the development site where this was reported as a bug (since we all expect 'Ordering' to mean 'Ordering' order everywhere). But the developers insisted it was not a bug. :-(

The rationale is that because it's a "News Flash" module (unlike every other module in the entire system), then it should always reverse the order that articles would otherwise appear. Because of course articles are normally listed in published order (oldest first) and "news" should be newest first.

It completely ignores the fact that "Ordering" means you have specifically selected this order (independent of article title or publication date) - so it is completely irrelevant which is "newest". It also ignores the fact that the "News Flash" module might be used for something other than the latest news.

Rather than hold our breath for a "fix", I guess we should cross our fingers for a new feature: "reverse Ordering" as an option for the News Flash module ordering.

Sigh.

[rycka1983]

This is the top of stupidity. If Joomla team claims that "News flash" should show only NEWS, than way put in option for ordering in module control panel?

[jcalvert]

I have also run into the same problem (J2.5.6) and I agree that "ordering" means "ordering"... as with the rest of Joomla. We would like to be able to manually order those articles and have the #1 position appear at the top, not reversed.

[jackJoe]

One solution for this is add an override for the module in your template, changing the sort order, but that would affect all the other sort orders (by date, etc).

This is very bad indeed, I'm inclined to remake this module, that way new versions of Joomla won't replace my updates to helper.php...

EDIT: said and done, I remade the newsflash module, and now I don't need to worry with Joomla's updates replacing this (although I need to pay atention to any updates that the "original" module might have in the future, so I can update my own module).

[rycka1983]

One solution for this is add an override for the module in your template, changing the sort order, but that would affect all the other sort orders (by date, etc).

This is very bad indeed, I'm inclined to remake this module, that way new versions of Joomla won't replace my updates to helper.php...

EDIT: said and done, I remade the newsflash module, and now I don't need to worry with Joomla's updates replacing this (although I need to pay atention to any updates that the "original" module might have in the future, so I can update my own module).

You copied module, fixed the problem and named it differently, right? This is a good idea, because updates won't intact external modules, BUT if newsflash module will be updated and fix some serious security bug in it, you copied newsflash module will still be outdated.
I don't know is it important or not.

[jackJoe]

You copied module, fixed the problem and named it differently, right? This is a good idea, because updates won't intact external modules, BUT if newsflash module will be updated and fix some serious security bug in it, you copied newsflash module will still be outdated.
I don't know is it important or not.

I know, I did write "I need to pay atention to any updates that the "original" module might have in the future, so I can update my own module".

This happens to any other override.

[danhutch88]

I know this is an old problem but I came across this today, I think the only time this is a big problem is with when ordering articles by Article Manager order (wrong way around), adding this to the helper file gets around this...

if (trim($ordering) == 'a.ordering') {
$model->setState('list.direction', 'ASC');
} elseif (trim($ordering) == 'rand()') {
$model->setState('list.direction', '');
} else {
$model->setState('list.direction', 'DESC');
}