Hi,

The reason is, calling Clear() doesn't automatically set the IsModified boolean for the property to true, so ultimately the change isn't persisted in the database.

You can either remove the items individually:

while (layoutPage.SecondColumnContentArea.Items.Any())
{
    layoutPage.SecondColumnContentArea.Items.RemoveAt(0);
}

or, set IsModified yourself:

layoutPage.SecondColumnContentArea.Items.Clear();
layoutPage.SecondColumnContentArea.IsModified = true;

Unless there is a reason for it you stipped out of your snippet there is also no need to get each block from the content repository. The following should work:

var contentRepository = ServiceLocator.Current.GetInstance<IContentRepository>();

var pageLink = new PageReference(id);

if (ContentReference.IsNullOrEmpty(pageLink))
{
    return;
}

LayoutPage layoutPage;

if (!contentRepository.TryGet(pageLink, out layoutPage))
{
    return;
}

var items = layoutPage?.SecondColumnContentArea?.Items;

if (items == null || !items.Any())
{
    return;
}

layoutPage = (LayoutPage)layoutPage.CreateWritableClone();

if (layoutPage.FirstColumnContentArea == null)
{
    layoutPage.FirstColumnContentArea = new ContentArea();
}

foreach (var item in items)
{
    layoutPage.FirstColumnContentArea.Items.Add(item);
}

while (layoutPage.SecondColumnContentArea.Items.Any())
{
    layoutPage.SecondColumnContentArea.Items.RemoveAt(0);
}

contentRepository.Save(layoutPage, SaveAction.Publish, AccessLevel.NoAccess);

Hi Jake, 

Thank you for your time and your response. In the meantime I figureout why the Clear() is not woriking and to set IsModifid property so that the changes are registered.

And your code is helpfull :) . 

So now the moving items is working but I have another big problem: page versions.

I am trying to achive the same effect when the editor click on the second content area item and drag&drop that item to the first content area and the change is instantly visible and the page draft is saved (autosave).

I manage to move content items but those chages are saved in the previous page draft or on the new page draft and the previous draft is set to Primary Draft.

I tried this in two ways:
1. change event is fired from the DOJO widget and the web api method is called (code snipped in my first post). I tried every combination with SaveAction flags and with versionRepository.SetCommonDraft(saveReference) to force the new page draft to bi set as a Primary Draft.

2. hooked on the content events : tried with SavingContent, CheckingOut, SavedContent and CheckedContent (I know how this events works and what is their function/role) but the result is the same.

In the first approach the changes are instantly visible but I have manually to change to the page draft that have changes and republish them.

In the second apporach the changes are not instantly visibile and I have to refresh the page, of with F5 or just publish the page and then the changes are visible.

Any ideas? Did somebody tried something similar?