Sorting of Swimlanes (Parent Item Assignment Type)

Planningboard allows you to display different Assignment Types in swimlanes (rows) - for example, Users (Assignee), Projects, or an Enumeration field. Each type helps visualize work differently depending on your planning needs. 

In this article, we focus on sorting swimlanes when using the Parent Item Assignment Type, which allows you to order swimlanes by selected fields such as ID, title, or priority. This feature makes the navigation clearer and the layout more predictable and has been available since version 25.9.0.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• How it works
• Configuration steps

How it works

When you set the Assignment Type to Parent Item, each swimlane represents a parent WI. The Sort by parameter defines the order in which these rows are displayed.

You can type one or more WI fields into the Sort by parameter - for example:

• priority → sorts by priority value
• title → alphabetical order by title
• id → sorts by ID
• severity id → combined sorting (by severity, then ID)

You can also use the tilde operator (~) to specify descending order. For example:

• ~title → reverse alphabetical order

• priority ~id → sort by priority ascending, and if equal, by ID descending

If you leave the field empty, the rows appear in the default order returned by Polarion.

Configuration steps

• Go to your Widget Parameters → Unplanned Sidebar. 
• Set Load Parents to at least 1 and set Parent Roles:

• Go to your Widget Parameters → Swimlanes (Rows).
• Set Assignment Type to Parent Item.
• In Parent Role, choose the link role that connects child and parent items (for example, implements, is parent of, verifies, etc.).
• Enter one or more sortable fields in Sort by, such as priority, title, or combinations using ~.
• Save and refresh the Planningboard.

• Additionally, you can add a Parent Query, decide if you want to Filter Parents, and add a Report Link.
  

For any assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out by submitting a ticket here.