Default tab selection in System Config

Question

I installed an extension and the default section selected, when System -> Configuration is clicked, is that of this extension, instead of General (section) -> General (group).

I can't seem to find what configuration is doing this. If it's not configuration, what else is it?

EE 1.13

Answer 1

The first section to show up is the one with the lowest sort order. If you have the following code in your system.xml:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>    
    <sections>
        <your_section translate="label" module="your_helper_alias">
            <label>Your Section</label>
            <tab>any</tab>
            <sort_order>10</sort_order>
            <show_in_default>1</show_in_default>
            <show_in_website>1</show_in_website>
            <show_in_store>1</show_in_store>
            <groups>
                [...]
            </groups>
        </your_section>
    </sections>
</config>

Then your section will be displayed first because "10" is the lowest sort_order of any section in the system (at least in a standard Magento shop).

Answer 2

For anyone else looking for a definitive answer for this question, I had to set the sort order of my section to 200 to make Magento load the default general config first. I am new to Magento development and made the assumption that the sort order applied only to the sections in my tab. Hope this saves someone 30 mins of head scratching.