Portal Sorting that Doesn't Suck

[Fitch]

I hope some of you find this useful.

Blog post and sample file here:

http://www.fitchandfitch.com/2011/05/filemaker-portal-sorting/

[comment]

This is interesting. I like the sort respecting the data type of the field (you could also sort by more than one field). Don't forget you need to re-populate the global upon modifying/adding portal records.

[Raybaudi]

Well done, Fitch !

But I have two questions regarding the Custom sorting...

1) Why it works with 10 and NOT with 9 ? ( I didn't find any particular v.10 feature )

2) Why it doesn't work with the script debugger activated ?

[Fitch]

Don't forget you need to re-populate the global upon modifying/adding portal records.

Good point. The example file is very basic. In real-world use I tend to avoid using portals to create records during data entry, but I wanted to make it easy for people to play around with the example data.

Well done, Fitch !

But I have two questions regarding the Custom sorting...

1) Why it works with 10 and NOT with 9 ? ( I didn't find any particular v.10 feature )

2) Why it doesn't work with the script debugger activated ?

Thank you very much!

1) I only tested in FM 11, but as you say it should work in 9. I don't know.

2) I am able to custom sort with the debugger on.

Please let me know if you figure it out!

[Raybaudi]

Please let me know if you figure it out!

This appears to be a FileMaker bug ( may be fixed on 11 ? ).

If I put a Custom Dialog with $custom ( after the set $custom variable step ), the whole script works; but w/o the dialog doesn't.

I tried to set the $custom to evaluate as a number, with no avail.

I'll try other ways and let you know.

[bruceR]

I've developed a virtual list based sorting technique that has some similarities. Will try to put up an example sometime soon.

[bruceR]

Attached is a virtual list based mod to the technique. An advantage is that you have a single sort script that you pass a field name to using getFieldName().

You can also reverse-sort and with some effort do multicolumn sorts.

PortalSortingVL.fp7.zip

[Fitch]

Nice one -- thanks, Bruce. I'm planning a followup article and would like to include your file (with attribution of course) along with a couple of other mods I've received, if that's all right with you.

[bruceR]

That would be great, thanks. I need to make a few more mods but the basic idea is already there.

[Fitch]

Bruce, it seems like the file you posted relies on the child IDs being consecutive and starting with 1. Am I missing something?

[bruceR]

Bruce, it seems like the file you posted relies on the child IDs being consecutive and starting with 1. Am I missing something?

You're not missing anything except that this was a quickly thrown together proof of concept. The problem is easily solved. For the moment - left to the reader to do so.

[Fitch]

Bruce, you're killing me! I am wrapping up my followup article, but without your file. If you have time to "easily solve" this, awesome, if not it will give me an excuse to write another article.

[bruceR]

Bruce, you're killing me! I am wrapping up my followup article, but without your file. If you have time to "easily solve" this, awesome, if not it will give me an excuse to write another article.

I will be posting about this in the near future myself. But here is a basic revision!

PortalSortingVL2.zip

[Fitch]

Excellent, thanks Bruce! Followup article is now up:

FileMaker Portal Sorting Redux

[supernatural]

Hi Bruce,

May be I missed something. In your file, when there are empty value in Sales, the sorting does not work when sort descending

[bruceR]

You are correct. It's a demo. It's a solvable problem but the level of rigor and completeness put into demo files varies.

[Fitch]

I suppose you'd "pad" the list with zeros (or something -- would need to account for negative numbers).

I dig what you've done Bruce, but for now I will stay with the (relative) simplicity of my original approach.