custom sort order in sharepoint 2010 custom list

Question

How can I add a custom sort order to items in a custom list?

I am building a publishing site with completely custom branding master pages and page layouts if that makes a difference.

--- UPDATE ---

I want to be able to create a custom list, for example - a list of home page slides for a carousel.

I then want to be able to give a content author the ability to sort those slides in a custom order - not by created date or alphabetically.

For example

Slide C Slide A Slide B Slide D Slide E

Answer 1

Does the sort have to happen on the fly? If not, I would create a sort-order column that contained a number value and expose it in a datasheet view so that your author can set it there, and have the default view sort by the sort column.

Answer 2

Another way to do this is:

Create a visual webpart. Use SPQuery to query the list of choice and display in gridview.

To control the sort order you can:

1. Write code in web part to implement custom webpart property. Based on the choice of sort order the SPQuery can be dynamically updated to sort the results...

2. Instead of custom property, provide a textbox on the webpart itself based on which you fire your SPQuery with sort order value fetched from this textbox.