Ordering Parameters

[cwalsh561]

I have a design which demands many parameters and I now have an armful on screen. 

I know the question has been asked before - several years ago - but is there any way of ordering parameters?  Even just a simple alpha-numeric listing would be very useful.
Fusion 360 is such a powerful tool, I'm amazed if this has not been considered.
Chris

[jeff_strater]

this has certainly been considered.  I think a project to implement improvements in the parameter dialog in general is working its way into the plans, but no way of knowing when it may get implemented.  

I assume, here, that you are only referring to the "favorites" and "user parameters".  It would not make sense to reorder the "model parameters", as they are grouped by component and feature.

Also, when we last talked about this, our thinking was more "filtering/search" rather than ordering.  Would that work?

[kgrunawalt]

If we did have filtering, we could flatten our table display and have columns for "component" and "feature". That would make them easier to sort and filter. We'd lose the expandability but gain a lot. 

[laughingcreek]

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@jeff_strater wrote:

...when we last talked about this, our thinking was more "filtering/search" rather than ordering.  ...

Jeff, I think you need both.  for those who are disciplined with their nomenclature, being able to order the list may be all they ever need, and less tedious than having to filter/search.

[cwalsh561]

Jeff. 
Filter and search are to some extent available by drawing an element and then starting to type the parameter in the dimension field.  Fusion then offers parameters which contain the text as it is typed and this is useful.
However, if we had an ordered or alpha-numeric list of the user parameters, it would be much easier to find them without having to get halfway through the new feature.
Perhaps it's just me but, as I'm developing a design, I often need to re-visit a particular area long after I've moved on from the initial sketch. So the newly added parameters are positioned well away from the originals on the User Parameters list.

[GRSnyder]

For what it's worth, I agree with @laughingcreek; both filtering and ordering are needed. What's not necessary is arbitrary custom ordering, i.e., the ability to drag parameters around and have them stay where you put them.

Ideally, one could sort on any column in either direction. However, I've never personally wanted to use any sort order but ascending alpha on parameter name. If that were made the standard order but was not modifiable, I still think it would be a big improvement. The current order, chronological by wall-clock time of creation/definition, is useless.

Filtering and ordering need to work together. Ordered parameter names naturally lead to structured names such as bearing_6702_id. However, some things take a lot of parameters to fully nail down. Just filtering by "bearing" or even "bearing_6702" may winnow you down to a dozen parameters, but you'll still need to manually search for the one you want within that result list unless the list is sorted.

Of course, you could filter on the full name "bearing_6702_id," but that's a horrible use case to target. What people will actually want to do is type something like "be" and get a sorted, mostly-filtered list that might include some extranea.

[cwalsh561]

I can imagine situations where arbitrary custom re-ordering would be helpful and I cannot see a reason why it should not be included for those who would find it useful.
However, if that is difficult to incorporate, then alpha-numeric ordering alone would be a great benefit.