Permanently changing "unsorted" sort order?

[iflurker]

I have a contact management table whose most "natural" sorting order is by the "company name" field. When I view the table in unsorted order, it comes up in the jumbled order of creation, which isn't really useful at all. Right now I have to go to some trouble in scripts to make sure that the found set is always sorted. Instead, would there some way to permanently change Filemaker's default sort order?

One possibility I can think of would be to duplicate all the records in the order that I want and then delete the old ones, but that seems risky and clumsy. Doesn't Filemaker have a feature to easily do this somewhere that I've missed?

Thanks.

[Lee Smith]

I would not do the duplication of records.

Instead, why not just create a Script using the Sort Order you desire, and then attach it to any scripted Finds, etc. where you want this to be the order.

You can attach it to an Open script so that it is part of the opening procedure, script that change layout view, etc.

HTH

Lee

[LaRetta]

Hi iflurker,

It will take some getting used to. You see, the very next time you add a new Company they'll be out of order again. It will drive you insane trying. Look at me!

FileMaker will always list records in their natural creation order. It is up to the Developer to decide how they should be sorted from there, depending upon each need as it arises.

LaRetta

[SlimJim]

One possibility - BACK UP the file before you start - is to sort the records in the order you want, export them to a new fp7 file, delete the records and then import them back into the table.