Order Issue

have a character field that represents a date in the format YYYYMM.
This data is broken down in three month blocks,
12 Dec
11 Nov
10 Oct
by this year and the corresponding 3 month block from last year.
So the data will look like this
200512
200511
200510
200412
200411
200410
I have a report that requires this order, but my result set is already being
put into another order and I want to know if I can convert the current YYYYM
M
format to a valid date.
Can this be done and how?
Thank you~~I'm not sure I follow you. If you have:
ORDER BY thecolumn DESC
don't you get the desired order? Also, why don't you store these as a smalld
atetime column?
Tibor Karaszi, SQL Server MVP
http://www.karaszi.com/sqlserver/default.asp
http://www.solidqualitylearning.com/
"Anthony W DiGrigoli" <AnthonyWDiGrigoli@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message
news:6368A787-C7D5-4DBA-B0DE-4E7D2B6473D3@.microsoft.com...
> have a character field that represents a date in the format YYYYMM.
> This data is broken down in three month blocks,
> 12 Dec
> 11 Nov
> 10 Oct
> by this year and the corresponding 3 month block from last year.
> So the data will look like this
> 200512
> 200511
> 200510
> 200412
> 200411
> 200410
> I have a report that requires this order, but my result set is already bei
ng
> put into another order and I want to know if I can convert the current YYY
YMM
> format to a valid date.
> Can this be done and how?
> Thank you~~|||You can use multiple expressions in the "order by" clause.
Example:
select c1, ..., cn
from table1
order by
cast(left(c1, 4) as int) desc, -- here you order by year
cast(right(c1, 2) as int) desc -- here by month
AMB
"Anthony W DiGrigoli" wrote:

> have a character field that represents a date in the format YYYYMM.
> This data is broken down in three month blocks,
> 12 Dec
> 11 Nov
> 10 Oct
> by this year and the corresponding 3 month block from last year.
> So the data will look like this
> 200512
> 200511
> 200510
> 200412
> 200411
> 200410
> I have a report that requires this order, but my result set is already bei
ng
> put into another order and I want to know if I can convert the current YYY
YMM
> format to a valid date.
> Can this be done and how?
> Thank you~~

ORDER BY, only orders by the first character?

Hi,

I am using a stored procedure that is databound to a dropdownlist. The stored procedure works fine, aside from the fact that the ORDER BY only sorts the list of items using the first character in the cell. E.g. The numbers 1, 20, 100 and 200 would be ordered as follows:

1

100

20

200

clearly i am doing something wrong and i apologise if it is a stupid question, but could anyone please offer me some help?

Thank you,

Shep

ORDER BY a numeric data type as opposed to ORDER BY a character data type.

Run the following code in a test database. Note the absence of indexes.

CREATE TABLE dbo.OrderByInt(number int)

GO

INSERT INTO dbo.OrderByInt(number) VALUES(1)

INSERT INTO dbo.OrderByInt(number) VALUES(10)

INSERT INTO dbo.OrderByInt(number) VALUES(100)

INSERT INTO dbo.OrderByInt(number) VALUES(2)

INSERT INTO dbo.OrderByInt(number) VALUES(20)

INSERT INTO dbo.OrderByInt(number) VALUES(200)

SELECT number FROM dbo.OrderByInt

SELECT number FROM dbo.OrderByInt ORDER BY number

CREATE TABLE dbo.OrderByVarchar(number varchar(3))

GO

INSERT INTO dbo.OrderByVarchar(number) VALUES('1')

INSERT INTO dbo.OrderByVarchar(number) VALUES('10')

INSERT INTO dbo.OrderByVarchar(number) VALUES('100')

INSERT INTO dbo.OrderByVarchar(number) VALUES('2')

INSERT INTO dbo.OrderByVarchar(number) VALUES('20')

INSERT INTO dbo.OrderByVarchar(number) VALUES('200')

SELECT number FROM dbo.OrderByVarchar

SELECT number FROM dbo.OrderByVarchar ORDER BY number

SELECT number FROM dbo.OrderByVarchar ORDER BY CAST(number AS int)

|||

It sounds like you're storing numbers as text (in other words, storing "int" values in a "varchar" column). So, SQL Server is doing a text sort, which does indeed go by the first character.

The best solution is to use a data type that matches the data (use "int" for integer numbers, and nvarchar for text).

An alternative solution is to use a CAST or CONVERT in your order by to convert it to "int" before sorting -- ORDER BY CAST(myColumn AS int) -- but any sort of bulk operation on an expression like that cripples SQL Server's query optimizer and will hurt performance on large tables.

-Ryan / Kardax

Edit: "lkh" beat me by seconds, and provides a nice illustration of the problem and solution.

|||

Thank you for your reply lkd, however i am still having trouble:

When I try the above code i get the error message 'TABLE NOT SUPPORTED BY THIS EDITOR'

I am using Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition, could this be the problem?

Shep

|||

Sorry I haven't fully explained myself (i missed the most important part, my apologise!)

i am working in units of voltage & power, so there for the listing would be as follows:

1kW

10W

100W

20W

200W

so i dont think its an option to convert the values into integers, given that I have other non-numeric characters in there! Is it a lost cause?

Shep

|||I have never used Visual Web Developer but in a quick tour of the web site I don't see anything about creating objects in a database. You may have to use an editor in your database.|||

My honest though probably not helpful thought is that this is a database design problem. Can you redesign the table to have a column called Watt of int datatype?

Otherwise you could create a complicated CASE statement and sort on that column but that is not ideal.

|||Well the table is supplying the items for the dropdownlist, based on a certain product type. So just using numbers without the corresponding measurements would not look right in the dropdownlist.|||Can you add an int column that wouldn't appear in the UI to the table that would be used in the SELECT statement that populates the dropdown list?|||

If your are only using the single rightmost character ( as in your examples) as alpha, then the following may work for you.

BOTH strip off the last character, AND convert to an Integer ONLY in the ORDER BY clause.

DECLARE @.MyTestTable table
( MyColumn varchar(5) )

INSERT INTO @.MyTestTable ( MyColumn ) VALUES ( '2A' )
INSERT INTO @.MyTestTable ( MyColumn ) VALUES ( '10W' )
INSERT INTO @.MyTestTable ( MyColumn ) VALUES ( '1A' )
INSERT INTO @.MyTestTable ( MyColumn ) VALUES ( '100W' )
INSERT INTO @.MyTestTable ( MyColumn ) VALUES ( '200W' )
INSERT INTO @.MyTestTable ( MyColumn ) VALUES ( '20W' )

SELECT MyColumn
FROM @.MyTestTable
ORDER BY cast( left( MyColumn, ( len( MyColumn) - 1 )) AS int )

|||

Hi,

thanks to everyone for their help, in the end i have resorted to simply using VB to code in the items depending on the category: e.g.

If Value = 2 Then

ddlPara1.Items.Add(New ListItem("50V", "50V"))

ddlPara1.Items.Add(New ListItem("120V", "120V"))

ddlPara1.Items.Add(New ListItem("150V", "150V"))

ddlPara1.Items.Add(New ListItem("300V", "300V"))

ddlPara1.Items.Add(New ListItem("400V", "400V"))

If Value = 3 Then........

This shouldnt affect the performance of my application should it?

Thanks again,

Shep

order by turkish character problem

i want to order by name coloumn.but if i do that ordering is (A,B,C,D,E,F......X,Y,Z,?,?,?,ü). i want to order these letters at place of turkish alphebetical order.how can i do that? i'm sorry for my english.Moving to the Transact-SQL forum from SSIS.|||

1. Check your column datatype it should be NVarchar

2. While inserting the value the string constants should be enclosed with N'....'

3. If the above 2 points are not solving your problem, then create the column with rite collate..

create table #test

(

alphas nvarchar(1) Collate Turkish_CI_AI

)

insert into #test values(N'A');

insert into #test values(N'D');

insert into #test values(N'Y');

insert into #test values(N'?');

insert into #test values(N'?');

insert into #test values(N'?');

insert into #test values(N'ü');

Select alphas from #test Order By alphas Desc

Order By ignoring the hyphen character

Hi,
I'm using the following SQL script to return a list of part number and the order is not what I expect. Perhaps this is a collation problem but I have no idea where to look to modify that.

Thanks in advance, John
select part from transactions T where (T.transdate between '20070701' and '20070705') and
(T.transtype = 'ISSU' or T.transtype = 'RTRN') order by part

Here is the beginning of the Transactions table create script

CREATE TABLE [Transactions] (
[RecNo] [int] IDENTITY (1,1) NOT NULL,
[Part] [nvarchar] (30) NOT NULL ,
[TransDate] [nvarchar] (8) NOT NULL ,
[TransType] [nvarchar] (4) NOT NULL ,
[FromLoc] [nvarchar] (10) ,

The 'Part' column is an alphanumeric field. The problem I am having is that the
Order By seems to ignore the hyphen character '-' when the returned rows
are ordered by the Part (which can contain hyphens in any column).

Here is an example of what I get.

130909N9
130909N9
130909N9
1-480698-0 * These two should not be here
1-480699-0 *
15-423
164-07700
164-07700
164-07700
1683
I was expecting this ( and I get this in and older database ).

068-03000
068-03000
06A19956
074-03200
077-367-0
08DU08
1-480698-0 * These should be here eariler in the data
1-480699-0
100-364072
100-364072

It is by design. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305704

What about using another column for sorting?

SELECT part, replace(part,'-','00000') as partForSortingHyphen

FROM Transactions

ORDER BY partForSortingHyphen ASC

|||Thanks,
Your suggusted workaround did the trick.
John
sql

Order By ignoring the hyphen character

Hi,
I'm using the following SQL script to return a list of part number and the order is not what I expect. Perhaps this is a collation problem but I have no idea where to look to modify that.

Thanks in advance, John
select part from transactions T where (T.transdate between '20070701' and '20070705') and
(T.transtype = 'ISSU' or T.transtype = 'RTRN') order by part

Here is the beginning of the Transactions table create script

CREATE TABLE [Transactions] (
[RecNo] [int] IDENTITY (1,1) NOT NULL,
[Part] [nvarchar] (30) NOT NULL ,
[TransDate] [nvarchar] (8) NOT NULL ,
[TransType] [nvarchar] (4) NOT NULL ,
[FromLoc] [nvarchar] (10) ,

The 'Part' column is an alphanumeric field. The problem I am having is that the
Order By seems to ignore the hyphen character '-' when the returned rows
are ordered by the Part (which can contain hyphens in any column).

Here is an example of what I get.

130909N9
130909N9
130909N9
1-480698-0 * These two should not be here
1-480699-0 *
15-423
164-07700
164-07700
164-07700
1683
I was expecting this ( and I get this in and older database ).

068-03000
068-03000
06A19956
074-03200
077-367-0
08DU08
1-480698-0 * These should be here eariler in the data
1-480699-0
100-364072
100-364072

It is by design. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305704

What about using another column for sorting?

SELECT part, replace(part,'-','00000') as partForSortingHyphen

FROM Transactions

ORDER BY partForSortingHyphen ASC

|||Thanks,
Your suggusted workaround did the trick.
John

Order a character field numercially

I have a table with code and description columns. The code column is a CHAR
(10) with values like:
1, 101, 15, DC1, etc.
This code is displayed in a drop down list and sorts as follows because it i
s a character field:
1
101
15
DC1
I need to have this drop down sorted in a manner that takes into account the
numeric order of the code, as follows:
1
15
101
DC1
The codes are industry standard codes, so I cannot tell users to enter 001,
015, 101, etc. The codes are alphanumeric in nature. There are hundreds of
codes, which makes it difficult for a user to scroll down to find the corre
ct code. Is there a way to
sort a character field in this manner? ThanksORDER BY CASE ISNUMERIC(column) WHEN 1 THEN CONVERT(INT, column) ELSE column
END
( Except note that there are some isNumeric exceptions...
http://www.aspfaq.com/show.asp?id=2390 )
Aaron Bertrand
SQL Server MVP
http://www.aspfaq.com/
"Don Jones" <anonymous@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BC13D832-F8E6-4519-AB33-E67034971D27@.microsoft.com...
> I have a table with code and description columns. The code column is a
CHAR(10) with values like:
> 1, 101, 15, DC1, etc.
> This code is displayed in a drop down list and sorts as follows because it
is a character field:
> 1
> 101
> 15
> DC1
> I need to have this drop down sorted in a manner that takes into account
the numeric order of the code, as follows:
> 1
> 15
> 101
> DC1
> The codes are industry standard codes, so I cannot tell users to enter
001, 015, 101, etc. The codes are alphanumeric in nature. There are
hundreds of codes, which makes it difficult for a user to scroll down to
find the correct code. Is there a way to sort a character field in this
manner? Thanks
>|||you could try:
ORDER BY
CASE PATINDEX('[a-z]', LEFT(YourColumn, 1))
WHEN 0 THEN RIGHT(REPLICATE('0', 10) + RTRIM(YourColumn), 10)
ELSE YourColumn
END
This assumes that all codes with alphas begin with an alpha. If that's not
true, change it to:
ORDER BY
CASE PATINDEX('%[a-z]%', YourColumn)
WHEN 0 THEN RIGHT(REPLICATE('0', 10) + RTRIM(YourColumn), 10)
ELSE YourColumn
END
You also may have to compensate for a case-sensitive collation setting, and
possibly other issues... But this is a start, at least.
"Don Jones" <anonymous@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BC13D832-F8E6-4519-AB33-E67034971D27@.microsoft.com...
> I have a table with code and description columns. The code column is a
CHAR(10) with values like:
> 1, 101, 15, DC1, etc.
> This code is displayed in a drop down list and sorts as follows because it
is a character field:
> 1
> 101
> 15
> DC1
> I need to have this drop down sorted in a manner that takes into account
the numeric order of the code, as follows:
> 1
> 15
> 101
> DC1
> The codes are industry standard codes, so I cannot tell users to enter
001, 015, 101, etc. The codes are alphanumeric in nature. There are
hundreds of codes, which makes it difficult for a user to scroll down to
find the correct code. Is there a way to sort a character field in this
manner? Thanks
>|||Don
CREATE TABLE TEST
(
COL VARCHAR(4)
)
GO
INSERT INTO TEST VALUES ('1')
INSERT INTO TEST VALUES ('101')
INSERT INTO TEST VALUES ('15')
INSERT INTO TEST VALUES ('DC1')
GO
SELECT * FROM TEST ORDER BY RIGHT('0000'+COL,4)
GO
DROP TABLE TEST
"Don Jones" <anonymous@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BC13D832-F8E6-4519-AB33-E67034971D27@.microsoft.com...
> I have a table with code and description columns. The code column is a
CHAR(10) with values like:
> 1, 101, 15, DC1, etc.
> This code is displayed in a drop down list and sorts as follows because it
is a character field:
> 1
> 101
> 15
> DC1
> I need to have this drop down sorted in a manner that takes into account
the numeric order of the code, as follows:
> 1
> 15
> 101
> DC1
> The codes are industry standard codes, so I cannot tell users to enter
001, 015, 101, etc. The codes are alphanumeric in nature. There are
hundreds of codes, which makes it difficult for a user to scroll down to
find the correct code. Is there a way to sort a character field in this
manner? Thanks
>|||Yet another solution:
ORDER BY LEN(YourColumn), YourColumn
Hope this helps,
Gert-jan
Don Jones wrote:
> I have a table with code and description columns. The code column is a CH
AR(10) with values like:
> 1, 101, 15, DC1, etc.
> This code is displayed in a drop down list and sorts as follows because it
is a character field:
> 1
> 101
> 15
> DC1
> I need to have this drop down sorted in a manner that takes into account t
he numeric order of the code, as follows:
> 1
> 15
> 101
> DC1
> The codes are industry standard codes, so I cannot tell users to enter 001, 015, 1
01, etc. The codes are alphanumeric in nature. There are hundreds of codes, which
makes it difficult for a user to scroll down to find the correct code. Is there a w
ay
to sort a character field in this manner? Thanks
(Please reply only to the newsgroup)

Order a character field numercially

I have a table with code and description columns. The code column is a CHAR(10) with values like:
1, 101, 15, DC1, etc.
This code is displayed in a drop down list and sorts as follows because it is a character field:
1
101
15
DC1
I need to have this drop down sorted in a manner that takes into account the numeric order of the code, as follows:
1
15
101
DC1
The codes are industry standard codes, so I cannot tell users to enter 001, 015, 101, etc. The codes are alphanumeric in nature. There are hundreds of codes, which makes it difficult for a user to scroll down to find the correct code. Is there a way to
sort a character field in this manner? Thanks
ORDER BY CASE ISNUMERIC(column) WHEN 1 THEN CONVERT(INT, column) ELSE column
END
( Except note that there are some isNumeric exceptions...
http://www.aspfaq.com/show.asp?id=2390 )
Aaron Bertrand
SQL Server MVP
http://www.aspfaq.com/
"Don Jones" <anonymous@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BC13D832-F8E6-4519-AB33-E67034971D27@.microsoft.com...
> I have a table with code and description columns. The code column is a
CHAR(10) with values like:
> 1, 101, 15, DC1, etc.
> This code is displayed in a drop down list and sorts as follows because it
is a character field:
> 1
> 101
> 15
> DC1
> I need to have this drop down sorted in a manner that takes into account
the numeric order of the code, as follows:
> 1
> 15
> 101
> DC1
> The codes are industry standard codes, so I cannot tell users to enter
001, 015, 101, etc. The codes are alphanumeric in nature. There are
hundreds of codes, which makes it difficult for a user to scroll down to
find the correct code. Is there a way to sort a character field in this
manner? Thanks
>
|||you could try:
ORDER BY
CASE PATINDEX('[a-z]', LEFT(YourColumn, 1))
WHEN 0 THEN RIGHT(REPLICATE('0', 10) + RTRIM(YourColumn), 10)
ELSE YourColumn
END
This assumes that all codes with alphas begin with an alpha. If that's not
true, change it to:
ORDER BY
CASE PATINDEX('%[a-z]%', YourColumn)
WHEN 0 THEN RIGHT(REPLICATE('0', 10) + RTRIM(YourColumn), 10)
ELSE YourColumn
END
You also may have to compensate for a case-sensitive collation setting, and
possibly other issues... But this is a start, at least.
"Don Jones" <anonymous@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BC13D832-F8E6-4519-AB33-E67034971D27@.microsoft.com...
> I have a table with code and description columns. The code column is a
CHAR(10) with values like:
> 1, 101, 15, DC1, etc.
> This code is displayed in a drop down list and sorts as follows because it
is a character field:
> 1
> 101
> 15
> DC1
> I need to have this drop down sorted in a manner that takes into account
the numeric order of the code, as follows:
> 1
> 15
> 101
> DC1
> The codes are industry standard codes, so I cannot tell users to enter
001, 015, 101, etc. The codes are alphanumeric in nature. There are
hundreds of codes, which makes it difficult for a user to scroll down to
find the correct code. Is there a way to sort a character field in this
manner? Thanks
>
|||Don
CREATE TABLE TEST
(
COL VARCHAR(4)
)
GO
INSERT INTO TEST VALUES ('1')
INSERT INTO TEST VALUES ('101')
INSERT INTO TEST VALUES ('15')
INSERT INTO TEST VALUES ('DC1')
GO
SELECT * FROM TEST ORDER BY RIGHT('0000'+COL,4)
GO
DROP TABLE TEST
"Don Jones" <anonymous@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BC13D832-F8E6-4519-AB33-E67034971D27@.microsoft.com...
> I have a table with code and description columns. The code column is a
CHAR(10) with values like:
> 1, 101, 15, DC1, etc.
> This code is displayed in a drop down list and sorts as follows because it
is a character field:
> 1
> 101
> 15
> DC1
> I need to have this drop down sorted in a manner that takes into account
the numeric order of the code, as follows:
> 1
> 15
> 101
> DC1
> The codes are industry standard codes, so I cannot tell users to enter
001, 015, 101, etc. The codes are alphanumeric in nature. There are
hundreds of codes, which makes it difficult for a user to scroll down to
find the correct code. Is there a way to sort a character field in this
manner? Thanks
>
|||Yet another solution:
ORDER BY LEN(YourColumn), YourColumn
Hope this helps,
Gert-jan
Don Jones wrote:
> I have a table with code and description columns. The code column is a CHAR(10) with values like:
> 1, 101, 15, DC1, etc.
> This code is displayed in a drop down list and sorts as follows because it is a character field:
> 1
> 101
> 15
> DC1
> I need to have this drop down sorted in a manner that takes into account the numeric order of the code, as follows:
> 1
> 15
> 101
> DC1
> The codes are industry standard codes, so I cannot tell users to enter 001, 015, 101, etc. The codes are alphanumeric in nature. There are hundreds of codes, which makes it difficult for a user to scroll down to find the correct code. Is there a way
to sort a character field in this manner? Thanks
(Please reply only to the newsgroup)

Order a character field numercially

I have a table with code and description columns. The code column is a CHAR(10) with values like
1, 101, 15, DC1, etc
This code is displayed in a drop down list and sorts as follows because it is a character field
10
1
DC
I need to have this drop down sorted in a manner that takes into account the numeric order of the code, as follows
1
10
DC
The codes are industry standard codes, so I cannot tell users to enter 001, 015, 101, etc. The codes are alphanumeric in nature. There are hundreds of codes, which makes it difficult for a user to scroll down to find the correct code. Is there a way to sort a character field in this manner? ThankORDER BY CASE ISNUMERIC(column) WHEN 1 THEN CONVERT(INT, column) ELSE column
END
( Except note that there are some isNumeric exceptions...
http://www.aspfaq.com/show.asp?id=2390 )
--
Aaron Bertrand
SQL Server MVP
http://www.aspfaq.com/
"Don Jones" <anonymous@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BC13D832-F8E6-4519-AB33-E67034971D27@.microsoft.com...
> I have a table with code and description columns. The code column is a
CHAR(10) with values like:
> 1, 101, 15, DC1, etc.
> This code is displayed in a drop down list and sorts as follows because it
is a character field:
> 1
> 101
> 15
> DC1
> I need to have this drop down sorted in a manner that takes into account
the numeric order of the code, as follows:
> 1
> 15
> 101
> DC1
> The codes are industry standard codes, so I cannot tell users to enter
001, 015, 101, etc. The codes are alphanumeric in nature. There are
hundreds of codes, which makes it difficult for a user to scroll down to
find the correct code. Is there a way to sort a character field in this
manner? Thanks
>|||you could try:
ORDER BY
CASE PATINDEX('[a-z]', LEFT(YourColumn, 1))
WHEN 0 THEN RIGHT(REPLICATE('0', 10) + RTRIM(YourColumn), 10)
ELSE YourColumn
END
This assumes that all codes with alphas begin with an alpha. If that's not
true, change it to:
ORDER BY
CASE PATINDEX('%[a-z]%', YourColumn)
WHEN 0 THEN RIGHT(REPLICATE('0', 10) + RTRIM(YourColumn), 10)
ELSE YourColumn
END
You also may have to compensate for a case-sensitive collation setting, and
possibly other issues... But this is a start, at least.
"Don Jones" <anonymous@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BC13D832-F8E6-4519-AB33-E67034971D27@.microsoft.com...
> I have a table with code and description columns. The code column is a
CHAR(10) with values like:
> 1, 101, 15, DC1, etc.
> This code is displayed in a drop down list and sorts as follows because it
is a character field:
> 1
> 101
> 15
> DC1
> I need to have this drop down sorted in a manner that takes into account
the numeric order of the code, as follows:
> 1
> 15
> 101
> DC1
> The codes are industry standard codes, so I cannot tell users to enter
001, 015, 101, etc. The codes are alphanumeric in nature. There are
hundreds of codes, which makes it difficult for a user to scroll down to
find the correct code. Is there a way to sort a character field in this
manner? Thanks
>|||Don
CREATE TABLE TEST
(
COL VARCHAR(4)
)
GO
INSERT INTO TEST VALUES ('1')
INSERT INTO TEST VALUES ('101')
INSERT INTO TEST VALUES ('15')
INSERT INTO TEST VALUES ('DC1')
GO
SELECT * FROM TEST ORDER BY RIGHT('0000'+COL,4)
GO
DROP TABLE TEST
"Don Jones" <anonymous@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BC13D832-F8E6-4519-AB33-E67034971D27@.microsoft.com...
> I have a table with code and description columns. The code column is a
CHAR(10) with values like:
> 1, 101, 15, DC1, etc.
> This code is displayed in a drop down list and sorts as follows because it
is a character field:
> 1
> 101
> 15
> DC1
> I need to have this drop down sorted in a manner that takes into account
the numeric order of the code, as follows:
> 1
> 15
> 101
> DC1
> The codes are industry standard codes, so I cannot tell users to enter
001, 015, 101, etc. The codes are alphanumeric in nature. There are
hundreds of codes, which makes it difficult for a user to scroll down to
find the correct code. Is there a way to sort a character field in this
manner? Thanks
>|||Yet another solution:
ORDER BY LEN(YourColumn), YourColumn
Hope this helps,
Gert-jan
Don Jones wrote:
> I have a table with code and description columns. The code column is a CHAR(10) with values like:
> 1, 101, 15, DC1, etc.
> This code is displayed in a drop down list and sorts as follows because it is a character field:
> 1
> 101
> 15
> DC1
> I need to have this drop down sorted in a manner that takes into account the numeric order of the code, as follows:
> 1
> 15
> 101
> DC1
> The codes are industry standard codes, so I cannot tell users to enter 001, 015, 101, etc. The codes are alphanumeric in nature. There are hundreds of codes, which makes it difficult for a user to scroll down to find the correct code. Is there a way to sort a character field in this manner? Thanks
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