IDS Forum

Re: Order External By

Posted By: Art Kagel
Date: Monday, 12 January 2009, at 12:03 p.m.

In Response To: Order External By (KRISHNAN BALASUBRAMANIAN)

No. Your choices are:

1. Remove the ORDER EXTERNAL BY altogether and PREPARE the select from

the temp table in the calling routine with the correct ORDER BY clause so

that the data is passed to the report module in the correct/desired order

without any ORDER BY clause in the report - or -

2. Clone the report module so that you have two different reports one

ORDER BY x, y, z and the other ORDER BY a, x, y, z

BTW, the EXTERNAL clause in the ORDER BY section of a 4GL report module
causes the report to assume that the data was sorted already 'EXTERNAL' to
the report, presumably by an ORDER BY in the driving SELECT statement. If
you are not including an appropriate ORDER BY in the SELECT then you should
remove the EXTERNAL clause from the report module so that the report will
re-sort the data into the correct order. If it is working now, it is
completely accidental. From the 4GL manual:

Specify ORDER EXTERNAL BY if the input records have already been sorted
by the SELECT statement. The list of variables after the keywords ORDER
EXTERNAL BY control the execution order of GROUP BY control blocks.
...
Specifying EXTERNAL to instruct 4GL not to sort the records again might
result
in an improvement in performance.

Art

On Sun, Jan 11, 2009 at 11:53 PM, KRISHNAN BALASUBRAMANIAN <
krishnanbalasubramanian@rediffmail.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I have a informix 4gl (report) program which basically taken data from a
> temporary table which doesnot have order by clause but in the format
> section
> of the report order external by has been used.
>
> Now i need to change that order external by adding new column as the first
> sort and rest are same. Can i use "if condition" and seperate the order
> external by in tow different field sets.
>
> Example: if condition is success - sort on x,y,z otherwise a,x,y,z
>
> Required suggestions from experts.
>
> Thanks
>
>
>
> *******************************************************************************
> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>
>

--
Art S. Kagel
Oninit (www.oninit.com)
IIUG Board of Directors (art@iiug.org)

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions and
do not reflect on my employer, Oninit, the IIUG, nor any other organization
with which I am associated either explicitly or implicitly. Neither do
those opinions reflect those of other individuals affiliated with any entity
with which I am affiliated nor those of the entities themselves.

Messages In This Thread

• Order External By
  KRISHNAN BALASUBRAMANIAN -- Sunday, 11 January 2009, at 11:53 p.m.
  • Re: Order External By
    Art Kagel -- Monday, 12 January 2009, at 12:03 p.m.
    • Re: Order External By
      KRISHNAN BALASUBRAMANIAN -- Tuesday, 13 January 2009, at 7:01 a.m.
      • Re: Order External By
        Art Kagel -- Tuesday, 13 January 2009, at 7:05 a.m.
        • Re: Order External By
          Mike Aubury -- Tuesday, 13 January 2009, at 7:17 a.m.
          • Re: Order External By
            Obnoxio The Clown -- Tuesday, 13 January 2009, at 7:21 a.m.
            • Re: Order External By
              Mike Aubury -- Tuesday, 13 January 2009, at 7:28 a.m.
              • Re: Order External By
                Obnoxio The Clown -- Tuesday, 13 January 2009, at 7:41 a.m.
                • Re: Order External By
                  Mike Aubury -- Tuesday, 13 January 2009, at 7:50 a.m.
        • Re: Order External By
          KRISHNAN BALASUBRAMANIAN -- Wednesday, 14 January 2009, at 5:09 a.m.
          • Re: Order External By
            Art Kagel -- Wednesday, 14 January 2009, at 6:57 a.m.

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