Reorder Fields in SharePoint 2010 Programmatically Using VS 2012

Introduction

Today, in this article let's play around with one of the interesting and most useful concepts in SharePoint 2010.

Question: What is reorder fields?
 

In simple terms "This enables the reordering of fields in any list in a SharePoint server".

Step 1: Open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration and navigate to a specific site.

 

Step 2: Open up Visual Studio 2012 and try to "SharePoint Visual Web Part" project, as in:

 

 

Step 3: Select deploy as a farm solution and click the "Finish" button.

 

 

 Step 4: The complete code of visualwebpart1usercontrol.ascx looks like this:

 

<%@ Assembly Name="$SharePoint.Project.AssemblyFullName$" %>

<%@ Assembly Name="Microsoft.Web.CommandUI, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="SharePoint" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls"

    Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="Utilities" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="asp" Namespace="System.Web.UI" Assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" %>

<%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="WebPartPages" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages"

    Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

<%@  Control Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="VisualWebPart1.ascx.cs"

    Inherits="ReorderFieldsApp.VisualWebPart1.VisualWebPart1" %>

<div>

    <table style="font-family: Verdana; text-align: center;">

        <tr>

            <td colspan="2">

                <asp:label id="Label1" runat="server" text="ReOrder List Fields - SharePoint 2010 via Visual Studio 2012"

                    font-bold="true" forecolor="Maroon" font-size="Large"></asp:label>

            </td>

        </tr>

        <tr>

            <td>

                <asp:label id="Label2" runat="server" text="Please Enter First Field Order:"></asp:label>

            </td>

            <td>

                <asp:textbox id="TextBox1" runat="server"></asp:textbox>

            </td>

        </tr>

        <tr>

            <td>

                <asp:label id="Label3" runat="server" text="Please Enter Second Field Order:"></asp:label>

            </td>

            <td>

                <asp:textbox id="TextBox2" runat="server"></asp:textbox>

            </td>

        </tr>

        <tr>

            <td>

                <asp:label id="Label5" runat="server" text="Please Enter Third Field Order:"></asp:label>

            </td>

            <td>

                <asp:textbox id="TextBox3" runat="server"></asp:textbox>

            </td>

        </tr>

        <tr>

            <td colspan="2">

                <asp:button id="Button1" runat="server" text="ReOrder Fields" forecolor="Orange"

                    font-bold="true" backcolor="Black" onclick="Button1_Click" width="116px" />

            </td>

        </tr>

        <tr>

            <td colspan="2">

                <asp:label id="Label4" runat="server" font-bold="true"></asp:label>

            </td>

        </tr>

    </table>

</div>

Step 5: The complete code of visualwebpart1usercontrol.ascx.cs looks like this:

 

using Microsoft.SharePoint;

using System;

using System.ComponentModel;

using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;namespace ReorderFieldsApp.VisualWebPart1

{

    [ToolboxItemAttribute(false)]

    public partial class VisualWebPart1 : WebPart

    {

        // Uncomment the following SecurityPermission attribute only when doing Performance Profiling using

        // the Instrumentation method, and then remove the SecurityPermission attribute when the code is ready

        // for production. Because the SecurityPermission attribute bypasses the security check for callers of

        // your constructor, it's not recommended for production purposes.

        // [System.Security.Permissions.SecurityPermission(System.Security.Permissions.SecurityAction.Assert, UnmanagedCode = true)]

        public VisualWebPart1()

        {

        }

        protected override void OnInit(EventArgs e)

        {base.OnInit(e);InitializeControl();

        }

        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

        {

            TextBox1.Focus();

        }

        protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

        {

            try

            {

                if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox1.Text) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox2.Text) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox3.Text))

                {

                    Label4.Text = "Please Enter Some Values";

                    Label4.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Red;

                }

                else{SPWeb web = SPContext.Current.Web;

                    SPContentType contentType = web.Lists["Employee"].ContentTypes["Item"];

                    SPFieldLinkCollection fields = contentType.FieldLinks;

                    fields.Reorder(new[]

                    {

                        TextBox1.Text, TextBox2.Text, TextBox3.Text

                    }

                    );

                    contentType.Update();

                    Label4.Text = "Employee Fields ReOrdered";

                    Label4.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Green;

                    TextBox1.Text = string.Empty;

                    TextBox2.Text = string.Empty;

                    TextBox3.Text = string.Empty;

                }

            }

            catch (SPException ex)

            {

                Label4.Text = ex.Message;

            }

        }

    }

}

Step 6: Deploy the solution file and add the new webpart to a SharePoint site.

 

Step 7: The output of the application looks like this:

 

 

 

Step 8: Data entering output of the application looks like this:

 

 

 

Step 9: Rearranged fields output of the application looks like this:

 

 

I hope this article is useful for you.