Why do ordering attributes need boolvalue="true"

Ordering attributes on folders in the system filesystem allow you to specify that a file should be returned before/after another file in the list of DataObjects in that folder.

Since they are file attributes , and attributes are key-value pairs, there needs to be something specified for the value of the attribute. The value must be Boolean.TRUE for any new ordering attributes you create in your layers, if you are using them to specify ordering for items your module provides.

There is a case for using Boolean.FALSE: If you want to disable an ordering attribute from a module you depend on. In rare cases, a branding layer for an application built on the NetBeans Platform may want to do this, if it wants to reuse menu items or toolbar buttons, but change their ordering in a dramatic way. For example, if you wanted to make Exit the first item in the File menu and Open File the last one, you'd need to do this.