I can't find anything on how to do this, and I'm not even sure if it's possible, but here's what I'd like...

My company is implementing a slot system for locating items in our warehouse. To do so, we're giving each location in the warehouse a unique location ID. The ID number is generated as follows:

First digit: Number -> Warehouse # (1, 2, etc...)

Second digit: Letter -> Isle (A, B, etc...)

Third Digit: Number -> Depth (Number of slots down the Isle)

Forth Digit: Letter -> Height (Bottom shelf: A, Next up: B, etc...)

Basically, If an item is in warehouse 2, Isle G, 12 items down and on the second row, its ID would be 2G12B. We would like to be able to sort these numbers for various reasons. The problem is that I'm not sure how to go about sorting the letters. With this system, 1A9C is less then 1B9C. 1F5A is less than 1F5B.

Any suggestions how I can go about sorting these records by both their numbers AND their letters? With my testing, it seems filemaker can't sort by letters, but perhaps I'm missing something entirely basic. Thanks for the help.

Okay, I did miss it. I guess my initial tests were somehow sorting over a relationship or something, and thus not working. But starting from a blank database it works great. Go me.