Why can't locked nodes be reordered?

[RFlannery1]

I have been looking into using locked nodes in my current project.  There are some restrictions on locked nodes, according to this page: http://help.autodesk.com/cloudhelp/2018/ENU/Maya-Tech-Docs/CommandsPython/lockNode.html.  The restrictions for a locked node are as follows:

• It may not be deleted.
• It may not be renamed.
• Its parenting may not be changed.
• Attributes may not be added to or removed from it.
• Locked attributes may not be unlocked.
• Unlocked attributes may not be locked.

These restrictions all make sense to me.  However, I am running into an additional restriction that is not listed: locked nodes cannot be reordered.  And thus anything under the same parent as a locked node cannot be reordered.

My question is, why does this restriction exist?  I understand the rest of the restrictions.  But in my mind, reordering a node doesn't change anything about the node itself.  Is there a situation in which not being able to reorder a node is the desired behavior?

[sean.heasley]

Hi @RFlannery1

What version of Maya are you working with and is it up to date?

I'm looking to make a list of versions this affects so we can see if this is working by design like the other restrictions and/or if this is an issue that needs to be addressed by our dev team.

[RFlannery1]

I am currently working in Maya 2018.3.  I also tried it in Maya 2016 Extension 1 + SP6.

I considered reporting this issue as a bug, but I wasn't sure if it was a bug or not.  So I thought I'd ask here in the forums first.

[Anonymous]

I can confirm that this issue appears in 2016 without Extensions or any SP's.

This same restriction applies to referenced scenes when they are loaded as locked. I had to load the scenes as NOT locked just to re-order them in the Hypergraph if I remember correctly.