Moving Cards

Moving a card changes the order's sub-status on that board. There are three ways to do it, and all three call the same engine method, KanbanBoardService::move(), so WIP limits, the order status roll-up, the engine's hooks, automations, and broadcasting apply to every move.

Moving needs kanbanCard.move on the board. Without it, cards don't drag and "Move to…" is not offered. Cards don't drag in "Edit board" mode either, where the column headers drag instead.

Dragging

Drag a card to another column, or up and down within its column. Cards keep the position you drop them at: the board stores a manual order, so "next up" stays at the top.

A drop is optimistic. The card stays where you dropped it and dims ("Moving…") while the request runs. When the move goes through, only the two columns it touched re-render. When it is refused, the card goes back where it came from, is outlined and marked "Move undone" for a moment, and a toast says why. The same happens when the request itself fails, for example when you hit the rate limit (the toast then says how long to wait), and a move that gets no answer at all is put back after 20 seconds and the board re-reads.

A drop into a column already at its WIP limit is refused in the browser before anything moves, and the engine checks the limit again on the server.

Keyboard

Every card is focusable. With a card focused:

Each step is announced to screen readers with the order, the column, and the position, for example "Order 1002 moved to Packing, position 1 of 2." See Accessibility.

"Move to…"

Every card's actions menu has Move to…, and so does the card slide-out. It opens a dialog titled "Move order N" with:

• Column: every column on the board. The card's own column is marked "(current column)". A column at its WIP limit is marked "(at its WIP limit)" and can't be chosen.
• Position: Top of the column, Bottom of the column, or After a card (offered when the column has other cards), which adds an After list of that column's cards. The list holds the column's first 50 cards; when the column has more, a hint says so, and Top, Bottom, or dragging reach the rest.

Move runs the move. When it is refused, the dialog stays open and a toast says why. When it goes through, focus returns to the moved card.

"Move to…" is the single-pointer alternative to dragging (WCAG 2.2 SC 2.5.7), and works the same as a drop.

Exit columns ask first

A column whose sub-status belongs to the cancelled, refunded, or failed system status is an exit column. Moving a card into one changes the whole order's status, on every board the order is on, so the board asks first:

Move order 1003 to Cancelled? This changes the whole order's status to Cancelled, on every board it is on.

Move confirms; Cancel leaves the card where it was. Moves within an exit column don't ask.

WIP limits

A column with a WIP limit shows its count as n / limit. At the limit, the count turns to the warning color, adds a warning icon, and reads "n of limit cards, WIP limit reached" to screen readers. Moves into a full column are refused: by the browser on a drop, by the dialog (the column can't be chosen), and by the engine in every case.

The limit counts every card in the column, whatever the filters show. Set a column's limit in Edit board mode or in the admin.

Why a move is refused

The engine's status machine decides which moves are valid. For example, a single-board order can't go from pending straight to complete. See the engine's kanban documentation ("Moving cards" and "Status roll-up").

Every refusal also runs the ap.ecommerceKanbanLivewire.cardMoveFailed action with the code. See Hooks Reference.

After a move

• The board's automations for the move run in the engine, and the person who moved the card gets one toast naming those that ran or failed. See Automations.
• Other people's boards pick the move up live or on their next poll. See Real-Time Updates.