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Incorrect/No Table Sorting

Explorer ,
Mar 26, 2013 Mar 26, 2013

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I have a table with 3 columns.  It had been sorted by the first column (CR Number).  That works fine.

I am now attempting to sort by the third column instead.  A portion of the result is shown below.  It refuses to sort at all, either ascending or descending.  I can still successfully sort by the first column.  Why not this one?

Its not that it is sorting according to some odd rule, its not sorting at all by this column.  I have turned off sorting by any other column but this.

R-Click on table - Sort = Row Sort - Ascending - Only the In Build column is chosen.

The entries are copied and pasted so there should not be any hidden typos or characters to cause this.  I even remade some of the entries to be sure, but it still refuses to sort by this column.

Does anybody have any idea why?

Thanks.

P.S. FM 11 -  Windows 7

Tabel_Sort.jpg

Addendum - After further testing, it is clearly the data itself that FM has an issue with.  Both other columns sort correctly, but this one does not sort at all.

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

LEGEND , Mar 26, 2013 Mar 26, 2013

It looks like a bug. I just tested this with various scenarios of periods in a numeric sequence. If any of the first two sequences (e.g. xx.yy.nn.nnn)  have different xx and yy values, then FM does sort these items.

FM seems to be looking left-to-right and is doing an alpha sort. It assumes they're all sorted if the third sequence (e.g. xx.yy.zz.nnn - the zz term) is also the same in all terms, i.e. it's not looking past the third period to see the remaining "nnn" terms.

Please file this as a bug

...

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LEGEND ,
Mar 26, 2013 Mar 26, 2013

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It looks like a bug. I just tested this with various scenarios of periods in a numeric sequence. If any of the first two sequences (e.g. xx.yy.nn.nnn)  have different xx and yy values, then FM does sort these items.

FM seems to be looking left-to-right and is doing an alpha sort. It assumes they're all sorted if the third sequence (e.g. xx.yy.zz.nnn - the zz term) is also the same in all terms, i.e. it's not looking past the third period to see the remaining "nnn" terms.

Please file this as a bug at: https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform&product=63

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Explorer ,
Mar 26, 2013 Mar 26, 2013

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I was afraid it was a bug.  Sigh.

It does sort fine in Excel and Word, just not in FM.

I have trimmed the column to just the last 2 blocks and it is working, although that is not a long term solution.

I will post it as a bug. 

Thanks.

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Community Expert ,
Mar 26, 2013 Mar 26, 2013

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Is there a chance that the common numbers could exist as autonumbering? That would allow you to sort the entries, while still maintaining the formatting.

-Matt

Matt R. Sullivan
co-author Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FrameMaker 11
P: 714.960.6840 | C: 714.585.2335 | matt@mattrsullivan.com

@mattrsullivan LinkedIn facebook mattrsullivan.com


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Explorer ,
Mar 26, 2013 Mar 26, 2013

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What I ended up doing was to split the column in 2, with the 9.0. bit in one, and the meat in the other.

With a bit of fiddling with spacing, and spanning the title across both columns, it comes out looking a lot like it did originally, and is properly sorted to boot.

It's a bit clunky, but it will do for now.

Bug report submitted.

Thanks to all.

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Community Expert ,
Mar 26, 2013 Mar 26, 2013

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If the table is less than a page, consider importing it from a spreadsheet as PDF or EPS. We routinely export such stuff from OpenOffice/LibreOffice(which has a superb export-selection) calc to PDF. We import as EPS due to unstable PDF import in FM7.

If it really must be an FM table, and some construct of the rows sorts correctly, consider some column tricks to hide the artifice (sorting) columns, like:

  • set them to zero width after sort
  • set them off ahead of or behind the displayed columns using borderless empty columns, so they are off page for rendering

And, of course, never sort FM tables containing Xref Markers, unless just to delete said markers .

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LEGEND ,
Mar 26, 2013 Mar 26, 2013

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Error7103 wrote:

And, of course, never sort FM tables containing Xref Markers, unless just to delete said markers .

That's been fixed since FM10.

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New Here ,
Mar 27, 2013 Mar 27, 2013

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It seems to me that the error does not occur if the decimal separator in the system control is changed from period to comma (FM restart required).

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Mentor ,
Mar 27, 2013 Mar 27, 2013

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Is the comma the expected decimal separator in the language of your FM release? Does this fix the problem in only one language? Perhaps users here using different languages could test this and shed a bit more light.

HTH

Regards,

Peter

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Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

Klaus Müller wrote:

It seems to me that the error does not occur if the decimal separator in the system control is changed from period to comma (FM restart required).

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New Here ,
Mar 27, 2013 Mar 27, 2013

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Hi Peter,

Comma is the default decimal separator in my OS language (German). That's why I could not reproduce the erroneous sorting at first.
The languages my FM releases (English and German) doesn't matter regarding this problem.

Obviously, FrameMaker tries to do an intelligent numeric sorting.

To prevent this, one could temporarily change the decimal separator in the system control – or in the string to sort.

Another workaround to force a string based sorting: Inserting a non-breaking space (or numeric space, or thin space ...) before or after the strings to sort.

Kind regards,
Klaus

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Mentor ,
Mar 27, 2013 Mar 27, 2013

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LATEST

Hi, Klaus:

Althought I had read your ealier post about changing the decimal delimiter to a comma and restarting FM, it didn't sink into my brain at that time, partly because it was noted as a workaround, meaning that FM needed a fix, so that sorting respected the active decimal separator, or perhaps an option in the sorting dialog box for users to select the desired separator. It's worth a formal suggestion to submit it to Wishform as both a bug fix and feature enhancement.

Regards,

Peter

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Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

Klaus Müller wrote:

Hi Peter,

Comma is the default decimal separator in my OS language (German). That's why I could not reproduce the erroneous sorting at first.
The languages my FM releases (English and German) doesn't matter regarding this problem.

Obviously, FrameMaker tries to do an intelligent numeric sorting.

To prevent this, one could temporarily change the decimal separator in the system control – or in the string to sort.

Another workaround to force a string based sorting: Inserting a non-breaking space (or numeric space, or thin space ...) before or after the strings to sort.

Kind regards,
Klaus

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