BY: how to make a sort of its own, not alphabetically 1

[kaeserea]

Hello!

using the BY Phrase the columns are always sorted alphabetically. Yet in most reports I have to create I need a different sort (mostly arbitrary and doesn't follow a pattern). Those sorts occur only when I have about 2 to 5 values within the column used for sorting the data.

I know I can change the order by using SET STYLEMODE=FIXED and then use IN and shuffle the alphabetical order created by BY. But how can I do this without a FIXED Stylemode?

Eva

 

[GrSw]

Eva,

You can simply use DEFINEd field, to sort on it.
This is a simple example:

DEFINE FILE CAR
WEIGHT/I5 = IF CAR EQ 'TOYOTA' OR 'AUDI' THEN 1 ELSE
IF CAR EQ 'BMW' THEN 2 ELSE 3;
END

TABLE FILE CAR
SUM SALES
BY WEIGHT NOPRINT
BY CAR
END

Hope this helps
Grzegorz

 

[kaeserea]

Hi Grzegorz,

Great. Nice trick and it works perfectly. Thanks a lot.

Eva

 

[focwizard]

An even easier way is to use the 'ROWS' keyword:

DEFINE FILE CAR
WEIGHT/I5 = IF CAR EQ 'TOYOTA' OR 'AUDI' THEN 1 ELSE
IF CAR EQ 'BMW' THEN 2 ELSE 3;
END

TABLE FILE CAR
SUM SALES
BY WEIGHT NOPRINT
BY CAR
ROWS TOYOTA OR AUDI AS 'LABEL1' OVER BMW AS 'LABEL2' OVER ...
END