If you use the multiSelect control in a dialog to select three nodes A, B and C, Magnolia will correctly save something like

• myMultiValueNode
  • 0: A
  • 1: B
  • 2: C

But when you open the dialog the next time, chances are that the order will not be correct anymore. You save again and the order will now also be messed up in the repository. I don't know exactly why this is happening, but it boils down to Content.getNodeDataCollection() not returning the nodes in the "proper" order.

However this is easily fixed: Simply sort the NodeDatas by name when retrieved from the Content object:

ArrayList<NodeData> nodeDatas = new ArrayList<NodeData>(this.getStorageNode().getContent(this.getName()).getNodeDataCollection());

Collections.sort(nodeDatas, new Comparator() {
@Override
public int compare(Object arg0, Object arg1)

});
Iterator it = nodeDatas.iterator();
...

The attached patch does exactly this.