Changing fields order in QGIS

Question

I have to draw several stuff and input the data, all the layers have the same data fields but some require 2\5 attributes to be filled.

Is there a way to change the order of those fields to be on top so I get to input them easier without changing the order of the field themselves?

Answer 1

Open the attribute table. Right-click the column headings in the attribute table. Select "Organize columns" in the drop-down menu.

Then, just drag the heading to the position you want it to be in (See the image of the "organize table columns" box below).

Click OK. Headings should have rearranged the way you want them to be arranged in the attribute table.

Answer 2

Open the Fields tab from the Layer properties. From there, select the Drag and drop designer option and drag to the right the fields you want to edit. You can also change the field order.

You can then edit a feature and choose to display the fields in form view. Only the fields you selected in the previous step will be shown.

Answer 3

If I understand your question, you may use the "Refactor fields" algorithm from the Processing Toolbox (Ctrl+Alt+T): it allows manipulating the order of your fields stored in the Attribute Table.

Allows editing the structure of the attribute table of a vector layer.

Fields can be modified in their type and name, using a fields mapping.

The original layer is not modified. A new layer is generated, which contains a modified attribute table, according to the provided fields mapping.

Answer 4

This solution only changes the order of columns in the attribute table, and not in the original file.

This PyQGIS solution utilizes the setColumns() and setAttributeTableConfig() methods.

Let's assume there is a layer called 'gis_osm_buildings', see the image below.

To get the original order of fields:

layer = iface.activeLayer()
print([layer.attributeDisplayName(index) for index in layer.attributeList()])

that gives:

['osm_id', 'lastchange', 'code', 'fclass', 'geomtype', 'name', 'type', 'height', 'levels']

To set a new order of fields one can achieve with the following function:

from qgis.core import QgsProject

def setting_new_columns_order(layer_name: str, new_order: list) -> None:
    """
    Changes order of all columns in the layer
    Parameters:
    ==========
    :param layer_name: name of the layer
    :param new_order: a list with a new order of columns
    """

    layer = QgsProject.instance().mapLayersByName(layer_name)[0]

    layer_attr_table_config = layer.attributeTableConfig()
    columns_config = layer_attr_table_config.columns()

    columns_new_order_dict = {column : new_order.index(column.name) for column in columns_config if
                              column.type == 0 and column.name in new_order}
    columns_new_order_list = sorted(columns_new_order_dict, key=columns_new_order_dict.get, reverse=False)

    layer_attr_table_config.setColumns(columns_new_order_list)
    layer.setAttributeTableConfig(layer_attr_table_config)

    return

setting_new_columns_order('gis_osm_buildings', ['name', 'type', 'osm_id', 'code', 'fclass', 'height', 'levels', 'lastchange', 'geomtype'])

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References:

• PyQGIS Developer Cookbook

Answer 5

You may also use the "Table manager" plugin only available on QGIS 2.18 and > which only lets you edit the vector file without creating a new one.