There are a few different functions that can be used to sort and order data in Athennian. These are: orderBy_B and orderBy_A. In the past, the sort function was also used, and may be found in older legacy documents. 

What's the Difference?

*When the positions of alpha-numerics are structured (ie. not mixed positionally), orderBy_B will work as expected by first evaluating all the elements in common, then sorting by the unique/differing element. In this example, it will first evaluate the alphabetical value, then sort by the numerical since no difference is found alphabetically.

**Mixed string refers to data that is a combination of alpha-numerics. 

💡 When in doubt, use orderBy_B! 
If you can't remember which function to use, chances are, orderBy_B will sort how you need.

Syntax

The orderBy_B and orderBy_A functions enable you to sort variables alphabetically or numerically in a list, either in ascending or descending order. The default within Athennian is to generate the list of variables in the order the data is added to the system, if no sorting function is applied.

Ascending Order

When used without additional syntax, the sorting functions default to ascending order (e.g. “A, B, C“; “0, 1 ,2 ,3“)

{#collectionVariable | orderBy_B:'sortingVariable'}

Descending Order

To sort in descending order (e.g. “C, B, A“; “3, 2, 1, 0“), you can append ! to the sorting variable:

{#collectionVariable | orderBy_B:'!sortingVariable'}

Advanced Sorting: Secondary Parameter

Both orderBy_B and orderBy_A are advanced sort methods and can take a second parameter to sub-sort by as a fallback. This means that once the first parameter has been sorted, the secondary parameter will also be evaluated and sorted accordingly. This functionality is particularly useful for registers.

{#shareclasses | orderBy_B:'!totalOutstanding':'className'}

In the above sample code, the shareclasses collection would:

1. be first sorted numerically in descending order by the total number of outstanding shares,

2. then sorted alphabetically in ascending order by class name.

Legacy Function: sort

Syntax

Refactoring for Chronological Order

When used without additional syntax, the sort function defaults to ascending or chronological order (from earliest to latest). 

{#collection | sort:'dateVariable'}

When refactoring for ascending or chronological order, simply replace sort with orderBy_B.

{#collection | orderBy_B:'dateVariable'}

Refactoring for Reverse-Chronological Order

To sort in descending or reverse-chronological order (from latest to earliest), the sort function takes on specific syntax:

{#collection | sort:'dateVariable':true}

When refactoring for descending or reverse-chronological, the coding syntax must be updated for use with orderBy_B, like so:

{#collection | orderBy_B:'!dateVariable'}