#3355: Fix order of external files

[franzliedke]

This now takes into account the time at which they were registered and compares these when the priority of two elements is the same.

Trac ticket: http://trac.elgg.org/ticket/3355

This might seem a little complex at first, but it really is a simple solution that works properly and is clean - I don't like create_function(). The function is still simple enough that noone needs to worry about performance or something like that...

[brettp]

Hey Franz, thanks for the pull request. I see that you're doing this based on load order and not registration order. Do you think this is more intuitive than registration?

[franzliedke]

Maybe the key "load_order" is not obvious enough. It is increased every time something is passed to elgg_load_external_file(), so - to the best of my understanding - this should be registration order.

[brettp]

There are two functions in question: elgg_register_external_file() and elgg_load_external_file(). Callers set the priority in the register function, and only files that have been registered can be loaded. It's possible to call load() in a different order to register(). Your changes make it so the order load() is called determines the order if priority is the same. I was thinking order should be determined by the order register() was called.

[ewinslow]

I could see it going both ways, but I think for consistency I agree with brett -- registration order should determine default final order. It's too bad we can't just have a sort function that maintains original order in case of ties...

[franzliedke]

Ah, yes, of course you are right, Brett. Don't know why I didn't discover the right function right away. Will push a fix later on.

[franzliedke]

Actually, when looking at it again. We only display loaded files, so this should only take loaded files into account.

Also, I cannot easily add a reg_order parameter since files can also be registered by using the elgg_load_external_file() function, which would potentially mess things up...

[brettp]

My initial thought was to add a static var to elgg_register_external_file() that increments the default priority each time a file is registered without an explicit priority. Didn't follow the logic all the way through, but it seemed like a simple fix. It would still work for loaded vs unloaded files and their positions.

[brettp]

@lie2815 - Did you have any ideas for this (if you're still interested in working on it)? If not I'll implement something...just let me know.

[franzliedke]

Whoops, I am. I just kind of forgot. If some time this week is good enough, I'll do it.

[franzliedke]

Gosh, right now I'm glad I didn't make it into GSoC. I am swamped, can you take care of this? I hope this is at least a little start that may help you along...

[brettp]

Yeup np. Should be fairly easy. Thanks!