Sorting By Number

[Ben Ball]

How can I sort records in a portal so it recognises the number (as a whole number) inputted and not just the first number.

i.e Sort order should be

6

8

20

100

[color:red]Not

100

6

8

20

[LaRetta]

Well, I would have said that the numeric field is a text field except for the 20 at the end which blows the theory. Regardless, if the field being sorted is a true number field then it should sort as you wish. :wink2:

[IdealData]

Have you actually set the portal to sort by the number field?

You haven't said that you have done this yet.

Edited February 26, 2008 by Guest

[Ben Ball]

Umm, I guess that is my problem... I have a mixture of text and numbers.. for metric and imperial sizes like M5 and 1"... It really gets complicated with the inches...

But I am only really concerned with the metric sizes... but unfortunately I have to keep it as a text field.. I should have added this detail in my first post...

[Ben Ball]

In response to idealdata... Yes I have sorted by that field.. that was the first thing to check... but the detail above should clarify further.. The problem is established that its a text field.. so wont sort in numerical values.. due to the need for imperial differentiation...

[comment]

You could add a calculation field (result is Number) = YourTextfield, and sort by it. Perhaps the formula could be a bit smarter, so that imperial sizes are normalized to some uniform base - and sorted correctly too.

In general, it's best to keep separate fields for values and their units.

[Ben Ball]

Thanks for the advice... Yes I can see that its definetely better to keep the units seperate...

I mean metric is very easy to remedy...Its just standard spec to list a bolt or hole size as M5 or M10 but the imperial sizes are listed as fractions which cause even further problems... if I put 1 1/8" in a number field it can take it as being a calc field... a bit of a nightmare..