Setting the default sort order

The sort order of a field will usually default to numeric or text order. Sometimes, this is not what we want because neither may be appropriate for a particular field. We can use a custom sort based on an expression but that adds an additional overhead to the frontend.

The most performant sort is the Load Order sort option. However, we cannot always rely on the order in which that data may have been loaded.

In this recipe, we will show how we can default that sort order.

Getting ready

Load the following script:

Data:
LOAD * INLINE [
  Country, Rank
  France, Low
  Ireland, Low
  Germany, High
  USA, High
  UK, Med
  Japan, Med
];

How to do it...

Follow these steps to set a default sort order:

1. Add a listbox for Country and one for Rank. Note that Rank defaults to a High, Low, or Medium text order.

2. Edit the script. Before the data table load, add the following code:

   Temp:
   Load * INLINE [
     Rank
     High
     Med
     Low
   ];

3. After the data table load, add the following code:

   Drop...