VI Sort Process Object

Object Attributes

You set attributes for the Sort process object in the object attributes pane.

Attribute	Description
Input	Defines the object from which the data flow arrives. Use one of the following methods to attach the Sort object to an input data flow object: Right-click the input data flow object, and click New Object after this > Process > Sort. Place the Sort object on the task flow, and click its Input attribute's browse button. Move the pointer to the task flow, and note that a dotted-line connector is attached to the Sort object. Attach this connector to the input data flow object. NOTE: The Sort object's Input attribute is now populated with the name of the input data flow object
Reverse_All	Defines the direction the order is sorted. true—The sort is performed in reverse order. false (default)—The sort is not performed in reverse order.
Case_Sensitive	Controls whether comparisons are case-sensitive. true—Comparisons are case-sensitive. false (default)—Comparisons are case-insensitive.
Locale	Defines whether or not the sort comparisons use the locale collation sequence to reflect international sort sequences. true—Comparisons use the current system locale. Set to true, this attribute overrides the Case_Sensitive attribute. false (default)—Comparisons do not use the locale collation sequence.
Sort_Size	Defines an approximate amount of memory assigned for the sort, in bytes. If the data volume exceeds this size, the sort object switches to an external sort and use temporary files for intermediate results. The maximum sort sized is limited to 2,147,483,647 bytes, which is approximately 2 GB.
Temp_Directory	Defines the directory to use for any temporary files required to process the sort. DI recommends you set this optional attribute to a location known to have enough space for the data flowing through the Sort object. Click the browse button that appears in the Temp_Directory box to choose a location.

Comments

Each object has an area where you can enter comments.

It is a DI best practice to enter a note for every object in a VI script. You can set a VI preference to give a warning for each object without a note. For more information, see Visual Integrator Preferences.

Sort process object with comments

Column Grid

The Sort column grid displays the input columns where you can define the sort order and set other attributes.

Attribute	Description
Input Column	Displays the name of each input column. This attribute is read-only.
Source Object	Displays the name and object type of the source object. Double-click the Source Object for a column to change the task flow focus to that object.
Sort Order	Defines which input columns control the sort. 1—Primary sort is based on this column. 2—Secondary sort is based on this column. One column must be specified as the primary sort.
Numeric	Defines which columns are treated as numeric values. Values in these columns are compared numerically, instead of alphabetically. When selected, a number is automatically added to the Sort Order column.
Reverse	Defines which sort columns are sorted in reverse order. This attribute and the Reverse_All attribute are combined with an exclusive OR. If a Reverse column is selected and the Reverse_All attribute is set to true, the reverse function is applied twice and the column sorts in ascending order. When selected, a number is automatically added to the Sort Order column.

Example

This example sorts an input file with people's names and ages.

With the following input data:

Set the Sort Order to 1 for the Person column and 2 for the Age column.
Save the tab.
Right-click the Sort object, and click Test Object.

The Results displays the sorted columns.

NOTE: The data is sorted based on the primary sort, the Person column. Rows with the same name are secondarily sorted by Age column.