Reordering items in an ordered list using Jquery, Ajax, PHP & Mysql

I'm currently developing a site using PHP/MySQL which is also using Jquery pretty extensively, and I need to add in functionality that allows the user to re-order items within an ordered list using drag and drop.

When list items are dragged and dropped to a new position within the ordered list -- I'd like to trigger an ajax function that updates the order of those list items in the MySQL database. My ordered list will have a structure similar to the following (where the dynamic record ID values will be appended each list items ID attributes):

<ul id="task_list_55">
<li id="task_39"></li>
<li id="task_40"></li>
<li id="task_41"></li>
<li id="task_42"></li>
</ul>

I've achieved the functionality that I've described using Prototype & Scriptaculous in the past -- though I'd much prefer to use JQuery to accomplish this if possible. How would I accomplish something this using JQuery, PHP, and MySQL ?

One last note -- there will be multiple different ordered lists on the same page -- each with their own unique ID attributes assigned to them -- and each of those ordered lists will need to be sortable. Please advise on how I would accomplish this.

Thanks!
- Yvan

egoselfaxis

Asked: 2012-03-16

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1 Solution

LVL 8

Ahmed MerghaniSoftware EngineerCommented: 2012-03-16

I suggest to do such thing using jQuery UI. See this link:

http://jqueryui.com/demos/draggable/#sortable

After the ordering, you can handle the changes and trigger the AJax call within these events:
http://jqueryui.com/demos/draggable/#events

egoselfaxisAuthor Commented: 2012-03-19

I'm already aware of jquery's ability to do drag n' drop using unordered lists.

I was actually looking for examples of the ajax function triggering (which somehow extracts the record ID values from each list item's ID attribute and passes them to the PHP script that does the re-ordering).

Are you aware of any tutorials on this (or plugins) that might be helpful?

Thanks,
- yg

egoselfaxisAuthor Commented: 2012-03-20

I ended up figuring this out myself:

$(function() {

	$( "ul.tasklist" ).sortable({	
		revert: true,
		stop: function(event, ui) { 
		
			document.getElementById("page").style.opacity = ".15";
			document.getElementById("page").style.filter = "alpha(opacity=15)";
			document.getElementById("loading").style.display = "block";		

			var ul_div_name = "#" + $(this).attr('ID');			
			
			var num_list_items = $(ul_div_name).children().length;
			
			var stage_ul_id = $(this).attr('ID');
			
			var stage_id = stage_ul_id.substring(stage_ul_id.indexOf('_')+6);	
			
			var list_of_task_ids = new Array();
			
			var num = 0;

			$(ul_div_name + ' li').each(function() {
			
				var id = $(this).attr('id').split('_')[1];
				
				list_of_task_ids[num] = id;	

				num++;	
				
			});				
			
			$.ajax({

				type : 'POST',
				url : '../user/packages.php?action=reorderTasks',
				dataType : 'json',
				
				data: {
					stage_id : stage_id,
					num_list_items : num_list_items,
					list_of_task_ids : list_of_task_ids,
				},
				 
				success: function(data) {
				
					document.getElementById("page").style.opacity = "1";
					document.getElementById("page").style.filter = "alpha(opacity=100)";
					document.getElementById("loading").style.display = "none";	
					
					alert(data.msg);		
					
					$('#package_edit').before('<div class="successtext"><input name="dismiss" type="button" class="deletebutton floatright" value="X" onclick="dismissWindow()" /><p><strong>The Tasks have been reordered successfully</strong></p></div>');
					
					$(".successtext").delay(1000).fadeOut(2000);

				},
				 
				error : function(XMLHttpRequest, textStatus, errorThrown) {
				 
					alert('ERROR!');
						
				}
				
			});	
		
		}	
		
	});	
	
});

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Reordering items in an ordered list using Jquery, Ajax, PHP & Mysql

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