django-admin-sortable2

django-admin-sortable2 is a generic drag-and-drop ordering package designed to sort objects within the list- and detail-views of the Django admin interface.

Instead of requiring models to inherit from a specific base class, this package uses mixin classes to enrich existing classes derived from:

• admin.ModelAdmin
• admin.StackedInline
• admin.TabularInline

This mixin approach allows for easy integration into existing projects with minimal code modification.

It is strongly advised not to set unique=True on the position/ordering field. While it might seem desirable, it causes significant issues with database portability:

• MySQL: Requires an ORDER BY clause in bulk updates on unique fields.
• SQLite: Has bugs regarding bulk updates on unique fields and transaction handling.
• PostgreSQL: Handles it correctly by updating in one transaction and rebuilding the index, but this makes your code non-portable to other databases.

To maintain database portability, avoid unique=True on the ordering field.

The package provides an intuitive way to sort rows in the Django admin list view:

• Drag-and-drop: You can drag rows using a dedicated draggable area in one of the columns.
• Group sorting: You can select multiple rows using checkboxes and sort them as a group.
• Cross-page sorting: To sort rows across different pagination pages, select the rows using checkboxes and use a Django Admin action to move them to a different page.

The library provides simple mixin classes designed to enrich existing Django Admin classes. You can integrate drag-and-drop functionality into:

• Any class inheriting from admin.ModelAdmin
• Any class inheriting from admin.StackedInline
• Any class inheriting from admin.TabularInline

Because it uses mixins, you do not need to change your model's base class; existing models inheriting from models.Model (or other derivatives) are fully compatible without special configuration.

If you are installing the project directly from GitHub, you must build the JavaScript client using the esbuild TypeScript compiler. This requires NodeJS 18+.

Building the client generates the bundled JavaScript file at adminsortable2/static/adminsortable2/js/adminsortable2.min.js, which is used by the sortable-admin mixin classes. You can also build an unminimized version with sourcemaps for debugging.

git clone https://github.com/jrief/django-admin-sortable2.git
cd django-admin-sortable2
npm install --include=dev
npm run build

# For an unminimized version including a sourcemap:
npm run build -- --debug

Add 'adminsortable2' to your INSTALLED_APPS list in your project's settings.py file.

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    ...
    'adminsortable2',
    ...
]

Alternatively, you can use a Django data migration to set the ordering values. This is useful for a one-time setup immediately after adding the ordering field.

1. Create an empty migration: ./manage.py makemigrations myapp.
2. Edit the migration file to include a reorder function that enumerates the objects and assigns the order value.
3. Use migrations.RunPython to execute the function, providing reverse_code=migrations.RunPython.noop to ensure the migration is reversible without error.

def reorder(apps, schema_editor):
    MyModel = apps.get_model("myapp", "MyModel")
    for order, item in enumerate(MyModel.objects.all(), 1):
        item.my_order = order
        item.save(update_fields=['my_order'])

class Migration(migrations.Migration):
    operations = [
        ...
        migrations.RunPython(reorder, reverse_code=migrations.RunPython.noop),
    ]

Install the package using pip from PyPI to get the latest stable release.

pip install django-admin-sortable2