Blocks are returned in the wrong order to a backoffice view

[sussexrick]

Which Umbraco version are you using?

17.0.0-rc1

Bug summary

Suppose you have a page with a block list property (A). You add a block, which itself has a block list property (B). The block has a custom backoffice view which loops through the blocks in its property (B). Those blocks are not returned to the backoffice view in the correct order. They appear to be returned in the order the blocks were created.

Specifics

No response

Steps to reproduce

I've uploaded a repro at https://github.com/[sussexrick/umbraco-v17-block-order-repro](https://github.com/sussexrick/umbraco-v17-block-order-repro) based on the standard starter kit.

Backoffice login details are test@example.org with a password of testtesttest.

I've added an extra block list property to the 'Feature' document type to demonstrate the issue.

Go to the Products > Unicorn page and observe the Features section, which has a custom backoffice view. Its child blocks are in the wrong order. This does reflect the order the child blocks were created, before I moved one of them further down the block list using drag and drop.

Click on the edit item for that block and the child blocks are in the correct order.

The custom backoffice view is:

import { html, customElement, LitElement, property, repeat } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/external/lit';
import { UmbElementMixin } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/element-api';
import type { UmbBlockEditorCustomViewElement } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/block-custom-view';

@customElement('demo-feature')
export class FeatureView extends UmbElementMixin(LitElement) implements UmbBlockEditorCustomViewElement {

    @property({ attribute: false })
    content?: any;
    constructor() {
        super();
    }

    override render() {
        return html`<h2>Feature block custom view</h2>
                ${this?.content?.childBlockList?.contentData ? repeat(this.content?.childBlockList?.contentData,
            (child: any) => child.key,
            (child: any) => {
                const label = child?.values.find((props: any) => props.alias == "label")?.value;

                return html`<p>${label}</p>`
            }
        ) : null}`;
    }
}

export default FeatureView;

Expected result / actual result

I would expect the blocks to be returned to in the correct order.

Failing that, I would expect them to have an order property that could be used to sort them.

[github-actions]

Hi there @sussexrick!

Firstly, a big thank you for raising this issue. Every piece of feedback we receive helps us to make Umbraco better.

We really appreciate your patience while we wait for our team to have a look at this but we wanted to let you know that we see this and share with you the plan for what comes next.

• We'll assess whether this issue relates to something that has already been fixed in a later version of the release that it has been raised for.
• If it's a bug, is it related to a release that we are actively supporting or is it related to a release that's in the end-of-life or security-only phase?
• We'll replicate the issue to ensure that the problem is as described.
• We'll decide whether the behavior is an issue or if the behavior is intended.

We wish we could work with everyone directly and assess your issue immediately but we're in the fortunate position of having lots of contributions to work with and only a few humans who are able to do it. We are making progress though and in the meantime, we will keep you in the loop and let you know when we have any questions.

Thanks, from your friendly Umbraco GitHub bot 🤖 🙂

[nielslyngsoe]

Hi @sussexrick

This is actually by technical-design, its because the Blocks data are stored unsorted in contentData and settingsData.

The correct order is stored in layout — I understand this adds a bit of complexity when wanting to loop over the layout entries to then read the content, or settings. But this is the data structure of the Block Editors.

— I may give you a bit more of a holistic view by introducing the aspect of the Block Grid editor where the layout can be polymorphic. This abstraction enables the backend code to read all content without understanding the complexity of the layout.
Also notice, when we introduce Global Blocks, the content data of a block will not exist in the model but be owned elsewhere.

I hope it makes sense and motivated you to restructure this code. Good luck.