Sort Processors

When to Use

Use this guide when you need to control the order of facet result items.

Decision

ID	Title	Weight	Default Enabled	Direction Config
active_widget_order	Sort by active state	20	Yes	ASC = active first
count_widget_order	Sort by count	30	Yes	DESC = highest count first
display_value_widget_order	Sort by display value	40	Yes	ASC = alphabetical
raw_value_widget_order	Sort by raw value	50	No	ASC = lowest first
term_weight_widget_order	Sort by taxonomy weight	60	No	ASC = lightest first

Pattern

Processors execute in weight order. Each processor returns a comparison result (-1, 0, 1) for a pair of results. If a processor returns 0 (equal), the next processor in the chain breaks the tie.

Default order (all three enabled): 1. Active items first (active_widget_order) 2. Then by count descending (count_widget_order) 3. Then alphabetically (display_value_widget_order)

term_weight_widget_order — Uses the taxonomy term's weight field for ordering. Respects the manual ordering set in the taxonomy vocabulary UI. Use when you want a specific non-alphabetical order.

Common Mistakes

• Wrong: Expecting a single sort to govern all items when counts differ → Right: Sort processors chain. Lower weight wins for items with different values; equal values fall through to the next sorter.
• Wrong: Trying to set arbitrary manual order via drag-and-drop → Right: Facets doesn't support manual ordering. Use term_weight_widget_order with taxonomy weights, or create a custom sort processor.

See Also

• Processing Pipeline — sort stage in the pipeline
• Hierarchy — sorting within hierarchy levels
• Reference: web/modules/contrib/facets/src/Plugin/facets/processor/