# Node Red Dashboard layout

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-dashboard-layout/4223>\
**Category:** Dashboard\
**Created:** [23 October 2018 16:03 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-dashboard-layout/4223 "2018-10-23T16:03:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![scargill](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/scargill/32/1118_2.png) [@scargill](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/scargill)\
**Post date:** [23 October 2018 16:03 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-dashboard-layout/4223/1 "2018-10-23T16:03:40Z")

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I'm sure I'm missing something but can anyone advise.. Dashboasrd, I have a lot of dropdown boxes to put on a page and the order in which they position on the page seems to depend on when they were last updated.. I know how to adjust their width and height but not what order they appear in the page. I assume this applies to all the other dashboard elements. What am I missing?

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**Author:** ![knolleary](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/knolleary/32/3_2.png) [@knolleary](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/knolleary)\
**Post date:** [23 October 2018 16:07 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-dashboard-layout/4223/2 "2018-10-23T16:07:13Z")

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The order is determined by the order they appear in the dashboard sidebar view. They _should_ be fixed in order - but there have been a couple reports where that sometimes doesn't stick, but not sure the root cause of that.

If you drag them around in the tree view to reorder and then drag them back to the order you want they ought to sort themselves out and fix in place.

Nick

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**Author:** ![shrickus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/shrickus/32/517_2.png) [@shrickus](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/shrickus)\
**Post date:** [23 October 2018 16:15 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-dashboard-layout/4223/3 "2018-10-23T16:15:01Z")

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> [@knolleary](#):
>
> but there have been a couple reports where that sometimes doesn't stick, but not sure the root cause of that.

I tried to track that down a long time ago -- iirc, there are some ways (maybe copy/paste? or import an old flow?) that new ui nodes get created with their `order` property == 0. Dragging them around does indeed set that property correctly, but you cannot really know if you've reset all nodes properly.

I think a quick fix would be to check that the order property of all ui nodes matches their position in the dashboard sidebar -- at least when it is first drawn. Of course, if any nodes were found with order == 0, they would be updated, and the flow would have to be re-deployed...

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**Author:** ![scargill](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/scargill/32/1118_2.png) [@scargill](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/scargill)\
**Post date:** [23 October 2018 16:18 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-dashboard-layout/4223/4 "2018-10-23T16:18:53Z")

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Hi Nick - I found the sidebhar and treeview and dragging one of the controls around as you suggest appears to have done the trick for now, thanks for you help. Lastly I have loads of these - umpteen settings per day and same again at the weekend. What is now the right way to make these non-volatille?

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**Author:** ![knolleary](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/knolleary/32/3_2.png) [@knolleary](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/knolleary)\
**Post date:** [23 October 2018 16:21 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-dashboard-layout/4223/5 "2018-10-23T16:21:40Z")

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> [@scargill](#):
>
> What is now the right way to make these non-volatille?

What settings do you mean? If you are referring to the ordering, then you _shouldn't_ have to do anything. It _should_ honour the order you add the widgets in the first place, and honour any reordering you do via the sidebar. But like I said, there have been reports - including yours - of the ordering not sticking if you don't do any interaction with the sidebar.

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**Author:** ![knolleary](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/knolleary/32/3_2.png) [@knolleary](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/knolleary)\
**Post date:** [23 October 2018 16:22 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-dashboard-layout/4223/6 "2018-10-23T16:22:12Z")

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And of course, you still need to click the Deploy button to save _any_ changes you make.

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**Author:** ![scargill](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/scargill/32/1118_2.png) [@scargill](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/scargill)\
**Post date:** [23 October 2018 16:30 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-dashboard-layout/4223/7 "2018-10-23T16:30:19Z")

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Oh, nho, I meant values. I am making a thermostat and so I have several dropdown select boxes (I can just copy them) and each has 96 time/temperature settings, ie every 15 minutes. When we set the time zones to particular times and temperatures I need those values to stay put even after a power cycle.

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**Author:** ![scargill](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/scargill/32/1118_2.png) [@scargill](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/scargill)\
**Post date:** [23 October 2018 17:52 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-dashboard-layout/4223/8 "2018-10-23T17:52:19Z")

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Thanks for the help, Nick, after all that I'd completely forgotten I designed a complete stat back in January 2017 - thank goodness for the blog. Works in the current NR and dashboard no problems. [https://tech.scargill.net/a-thermostat-weekend/](https://tech.scargill.net/a-thermostat-weekend/)

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**Author:** ![craigcurtin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@craigcurtin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/craigcurtin)\
**Post date:** [23 October 2018 22:06 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-dashboard-layout/4223/9 "2018-10-23T22:06:47Z")

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Peter - there is now persistent storage in the global context - this can be setup to write to a file (with a named context so only some options have to go to a file (if you are worried about SD card wear) and others can still go to memory

Craig