Creating Joomla 4 articles - Access Level ordering Topic is solved

[ChrisASCA]

Hi all.
Hope you are well and thanks for reading.
I have noticed that since I migrated to Joomla 4 whenever i create a new article or edit an existing one, the drop down box to choose the Access Level required is sorted in a random order.
I have attached an image to show where I mean but I was hoping to find the setting that orders this list and I just can't sorry.

I was wanting to get these levels showing in an alphabetical order or at least an understandable order. I appreciate that some may be nested levels from groups but I can't figure out why mine are showing in this order or more importantly where I can control them to sort name ascending hopefully.

When I click Users>>>Access Levels - I can see them all and choose many types of ways to order them from ID Ascending to Name Descending etc.

But when working with Articles it is the crazy order in the attached image and it is flipping me out.

Any help or tips would be very welcome thanks and sorry if it is an easy one.

[SharkyKZ]

You have to manually order access levels.

[ChrisASCA]

You have to manually order access levels.

Thanks for replying so quickly SharkyKZ.
Where or how do I do that sorry?
And does this retain for future use or is it every time?

[SharkyKZ]

https://help.joomla.org/proxy?keyref=He ... ls&lang=en

[ChrisASCA]

Thanks SharkyKZ but I was meaning how to sort the list when working on an article and assigning an Access Level to that Article.

When I open an article or create a new one and then I want to pick which Access Level can see this article, the ordering in that drop down box is all over the place and not sorted in anyway I can work out.

It is that list I want sorting not when I click on Users>>Access Levels as described in that post thanks

[SharkyKZ]

I know what you meant. You need to order the view levels by dragging them. This ordering will then be used in access level field in all forms.

[ChrisASCA]

Sorry SharkyKZ

My brain has caught you up and I now know what YOU meant!
Thanks so much and apologies again for not seeing what you meant straight away.
I just tried moving them up and down with the 3 dots to grab each access level and then I see that new order in my articles thanks.

Really appreciate your help and me learning something new - eventually.

Thanks again.

[ChrisASCA]

I'm sorry to come back to this topic and open it up after realising the great advice from SharkyKZ was the way to manage the ordering but I'm really hoping there is another way or another approach I need to take.
While having a small number of ACL's would be easy to manage by dragging any new ones created into the correct order at the time that you then want people to see when they create an article would work.
Is there a quicker way when you have a lot of ACL's to manage?
We have really ramped up the number of ACL's due to the nature of our select educational content access for our students and we are finding it a real chore to then drag the ACL's around all the time to look good for our article creators.

Is there a way where you can choose a setting or apply a sort like you can in the Joomla Configuration for articles or categories?

Just like you can choose sort articles by ID Ascending, ID Descending, Title Alphabetical, Alphabetical Reverse etc.
And how you have options to sort categories through Global Configuration choices.

Is there anyway you can choose Alphabetical sorting for ACL lists in articles?
This is beginning to become a problem and a time consuming issue.

Alternatively, and i have no shame in being shown the light with a better approach to my ACL's, should i be reviewing the amount of ACL's I have? Like how many is too many for other experienced users of a large education site?

We love Joomla for its comprehensive approach and control to artcile and content restriction and it works for us to the finest detail. Because of this we are able to give access to articles to some members that other members should not see and have triggers setup that when certain things are achieved, new content is then made available.

Because of this we have a large number of ACL's and want to expand to more as we grow. Currently 120+ ACL's.

It works superbly other than the messy lists to find the ACL when creating a new article.

Please be blunt though as I won't be offended - is 120+ ACL's too many for Joomla and we should think of a different approach that can keep things so well controlled?

I might be missing an obvious way.

Or is there a sort I can make on the database tables to show ACL's in that article drop down box in a different way?
Or is someone smarter than me and can change some code on the article page itself that determines the ordering of that list?

Any help, advice, opinion on this would be really well received.

Thanks

[ceford]

Look in libraries/src/HTML/Helpers/Access.php line 263, which has this:

Code: Select all

                ->order($db->quoteName('a.ordering') . ' ASC');

If it were this:

Code: Select all

                ->order($db->quoteName('a.title') . ' ASC');

The Access list at the right of the Article edit form would be in title order.

Not sure where you go from there! Test it to see if it does what you want.

[ChrisASCA]

I go up from here!

Thank you so much ceford. This works exactly how I wanted it to.

When I was in my 20's I lived in Edinburgh. In a really nice small flat just around the corner from Haymarket station.
It was a great time of my life because everyone there was so friendly, engaging and helpful.
And the city was stunning of course.

The best parts obviously haven't changed ceford. Thank you so much.
I am constantly amazed and thankful in equal measures that people know so much, can remember so much and know where to look to make changes like this.

This is a huge plus for us.

Have a great weekend.