Column reorder in EJ2 JavaScript Grid control

22 Feb 202424 minutes to read

The Syncfusion EJ2 JavaScript Grid control allows to reorder columns by drag and drop of a particular column header from one index to another index within the grid. This feature can be enabled by injecting the Reorder module in the grid.

To reorder the columns, set the allowReordering property to true in the grid.

Here’s an example for column reordering in your Grid control:

index.js
index.html
ej.grids.Grid.Inject(ej.grids.Reorder);
var grid = new ej.grids.Grid({
    dataSource: data,
    allowReordering: true,
    columns: [
        { field: 'OrderID', headerText: 'Order ID', textAlign: 'Right', width: 100 },
        { field: 'CustomerID', headerText: 'Customer ID', width: 120 },
        { field: 'ShipCity', headerText: 'Ship City', width: 100 },
        { field: 'ShipName', headerText: 'Ship Name', width: 100 }
    ],
    height: 315
});
grid.appendTo('#Grid');
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>EJ2 Grid</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript Grid Control">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-base/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-grids/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-buttons/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-popups/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-navigations/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-dropdowns/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-lists/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-inputs/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-calendars/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-splitbuttons/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="es5-datasource.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>  
    <div id="container">
        <div id="Grid"></div>
    </div>
<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
</script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

You can customize the appearance of the column headers during drag and drop by using the columnDrag and columnDrop events.

When columns are reordered, the position of the corresponding column data will also be changed. As a result, you should ensure that any additional code or logic that relies on the order of the column data is updated accordingly.

Prevent reordering for particular column

By default, all columns in the Syncfusion EJ2 JavaScript Grid can be reordered by dragging and dropping their headers to another location within the grid. However, there may be certain columns that you do not want to be reordered. In such cases, you can set the allowReordering property of that particular column to false. Here is an example that demonstrates how to prevent reordering for a specific column:

In this example, the ShipCity column is prevented from being reordered by setting the allowReordering property to false.

index.js
index.html
ej.grids.Grid.Inject(ej.grids.Reorder);
var grid = new ej.grids.Grid({
    dataSource: data,
    allowReordering: true,
    columns: [
        { field: 'OrderID', headerText: 'Order ID', textAlign: 'Right', width: 100 },
        { field: 'CustomerID', headerText: 'Customer ID', width: 120 },
        { field: 'ShipCity', headerText: 'Ship City', width: 100,allowReordering: false },
        { field: 'ShipName', headerText: 'Ship Name', width: 80 }
    ],
    height: 315
});
grid.appendTo('#Grid');
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en">
<head>
    <title>EJ2 Grid</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript Grid Control">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-base/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-grids/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-buttons/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-popups/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-navigations/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-dropdowns/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-lists/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-inputs/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-calendars/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet"> 
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-splitbuttons/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="es5-datasource.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body> 
    <div id="container">
        <div id="Grid"></div>
    </div>
<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
</script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

Reorder columns externally

The Syncfusion Grid EJ2 JavaScript allows you to reorder columns externally, which means that using methods you can programmatically move columns around within the grid, based on their index or target index, or by using their field name.

When reordering columns externally, you must set the allowReordering property of the grid to true.

Reorder column based on index

You can use the reorderColumnByIndex method to reorder columns based on their current index. This method takes two arguments:

fromIndex : Current index of the column to be reordered
toIndex : New index of the column after the reordering

Here is an example of how to use the reorderColumnByIndex method:

In this example, we are moving the column at index 1 to index 3.

index.js
index.html
ej.grids.Grid.Inject(ej.grids.Reorder);
var grid = new ej.grids.Grid({
    dataSource: data,
    allowReordering: true,
    columns: [
        { field: 'OrderID', headerText: 'Order ID', textAlign: 'Right', width: 100 },
        { field: 'CustomerID', headerText: 'Customer ID', width: 120 },
        { field: 'ShipCity', headerText: 'Ship City', width: 100 },
        { field: 'ShipRegion', headerText: 'Ship Region', width: 100 },
        { field: 'ShipName', headerText: 'Ship Name', width: 120 }
    ],
    height: 315
});
grid.appendTo('#Grid');

var reorderByIndex = new ej.buttons.Button({ cssClass: 'e-info' }, '#reorderByIndex');
document.getElementById('reorderByIndex').onclick = function () {
  grid.reorderColumnByIndex(1, 3); // move column at index 1 to index 3
};
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en">
<head>
    <title>EJ2 Grid</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript Grid Control">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-base/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-grids/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-buttons/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-popups/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-navigations/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-dropdowns/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-lists/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-inputs/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-calendars/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-splitbuttons/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="es5-datasource.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <div id="container">
        <button id="reorderByIndex">Reorder column by index</button>
        <div id="Grid"></div>
    </div>
<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
</script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

Reorder column based on target index

You can also use the reorderColumnByTargetIndex method to reorder single column or multiple columns based on the target index. This method takes two arguments:

fieldName: Field name of the column to be reordered
toIndex: New index of the column after the reordering

Here is an example of how to use the reorderColumnByTargetIndex method to reorder single column and multiple columns based on target index:

index.js
index.html
ej.grids.Grid.Inject(ej.grids.Reorder);
var grid = new ej.grids.Grid({
    dataSource: data,
    allowReordering: true,
    columns: [
        { field: 'OrderID', headerText: 'Order ID', textAlign: 'Right', width: 100 },
        { field: 'CustomerID', headerText: 'Customer ID', width: 120 },
        { field: 'ShipCity', headerText: 'Ship City', width: 100 },
        { field: 'ShipRegion', headerText: 'Ship Region', width: 100 },
        { field: 'ShipName', headerText: 'Ship Name', width: 120 }
    ],
    height: 315
});
grid.appendTo('#Grid');

var reorderSingleColumnByTargetIndex = new ej.buttons.Button({ cssClass: 'e-info' }, '#reordersingle');
document.getElementById('reordersingle').onclick = function () {
  grid.reorderColumnByTargetIndex('OrderID', 3); // move column with field name "OrderID" to index 3
};

var reorderMultipleColumnByTargetIndex = new ej.buttons.Button({ cssClass: 'e-info' }, '#reordermultiple');
document.getElementById('reordermultiple').onclick = function () {
  grid.reorderColumnByTargetIndex(['OrderID', 'CustomerID'], 3); // move columns with field name "OrderID" and "CustomerID" to index 3
};
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en">
<head>
    <title>EJ2 Grid</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript Grid Control">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-base/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-grids/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-buttons/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-popups/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-navigations/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-dropdowns/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-lists/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-inputs/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-calendars/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-splitbuttons/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">   
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="es5-datasource.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <div id="container">
        <button id="reordersingle">Reorder single column</button>
        <button id="reordermultiple">Reorder Multiple columns</button>
        <div id="Grid"></div>
    </div>
<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
</script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

Reorder column based on field names

The reorderColumns method of the Grid allows you to reorder single column or list of columns based on their field names. This method takes two arguments:

fromFName: The field name of the column you want to move.
toFName: The field name of the column you want to move the column to.

Here is an example of how to use the reorderColumns method to reorder single column and multiple columns based on field names:

index.js
index.html
ej.grids.Grid.Inject(ej.grids.Reorder);
var grid = new ej.grids.Grid({
    dataSource: data,
    allowReordering: true,
    columns: [
        { field: 'OrderID', headerText: 'Order ID', textAlign: 'Right', width: 100 },
        { field: 'CustomerID', headerText: 'Customer ID', width: 120 },
        { field: 'ShipCity', headerText: 'Ship City', width: 100 },
        { field: 'ShipRegion', headerText: 'Ship Region', width: 100 },
        { field: 'ShipName', headerText: 'Ship Name', width: 120 }
    ],
    height: 315
});
grid.appendTo('#Grid');

var reorderSingleColumnUsingFieldName = new ej.buttons.Button( { cssClass: 'e-info' }, '#reordersingle');
document.getElementById('reordersingle').onclick = function () {
  grid.reorderColumns('ShipCity', 'OrderID');
};

var reorderMultipleColumnsUsingFieldName = new ej.buttons.Button( { cssClass: 'e-info' }, '#reordermultiple');
document.getElementById('reordermultiple').onclick = function () {
  grid.reorderColumns(['ShipCity', 'ShipRegion', 'ShipName'], 'OrderID');
};
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en">
<head>
    <title>EJ2 Grid</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript Grid Control">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-base/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-grids/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-buttons/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-popups/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-navigations/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-dropdowns/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-lists/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-inputs/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-calendars/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-splitbuttons/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="es5-datasource.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <div id="container">
        <button id="reordersingle">Reorder single column</button>
        <button id="reordermultiple">Reorder Multiple columns</button>
        <div id="Grid"></div>
    </div>
<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
</script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

Reorder events

When reordering columns in the Syncfusion EJ2 JavaScript Grid control, you may want to take some specific action in response to the drag and drop events. To handle these events, you can define event handlers for the following events:

1.The columnDragStart event triggers when column header element drag (move) starts.

2.The columnDrag event triggers when column header element is dragged (moved) continuously.

3.The columnDrop event triggers when a column header element is dropped on the target column.

In the following example, we have implemented the columnDragStart, columnDrag, and columnDrop events in the Syncfusion Grid control.

index.js
index.html
ej.grids.Grid.Inject(ej.grids.Reorder);
var grid = new ej.grids.Grid({
    dataSource: data,
    allowReordering: true,
    enableHover: false,
    columns: [
        { field: 'OrderID', headerText: 'Order ID', textAlign: 'Right', width: 100 },
        { field: 'CustomerID', headerText: 'Customer ID', width: 120 },
        { field: 'ShipRegion', headerText: 'Ship Region', width: 100 },
        { field: 'ShipCity', headerText: 'Ship City', width: 100 },
        { field: 'ShipName', headerText: 'Ship Name', width: 120 }
    ],
    columnDrop: function (args) {
        document.getElementById('message').innerText = 'columnDrop event triggered';

        if (args.column.allowReordering == true) {
            grid.getColumnByField(args.column.field).customAttributes = { class: 'customcss' };
        }
    },
    columnDragStart: function (args) {
        document.getElementById('message').innerText = `columnDragStart event triggered`;

        if (args.column.field == 'OrderID') {
            grid.getColumnByField(args.column.field).allowReordering = false;
        }
    },
    columnDrag: function (args) {
        var index = args.target.getAttribute('data-colIndex');
        if (index) {
            document.getElementById('message').innerText = `columnDrag event is triggered. ` + args.column.headerText + ` column is dragged to index ` + index;
        }
    },

    height: 315
});
grid.appendTo('#Grid');
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>EJ2 Grid</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript Grid Control">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-base/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-grids/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-buttons/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-popups/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-navigations/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-dropdowns/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-lists/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-inputs/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-calendars/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/ej2-splitbuttons/styles/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet">
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/25.1.35/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="es5-datasource.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<style>
.event-message {
    text-align: center;
    color: red;
    font-size: 16px;
  }
.e-grid .e-headercell.customcss ,
.e-grid .e-rowcell.customcss {
    background-color: rgb(43, 195, 226);
}
</style>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <div id="container">
        <p class="event-message" id="message"></p>
        <div id="Grid"></div>
    </div>
<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
</script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>