Details on Column Properties

Details on Column Properties – Sort Order

When the selected column is a String, it is possible to change the sort order from the standard sort order of the data type to natural string sort or to a custom sort order.

Note: If you are working with in-database data and the external data source already has defined a sort order, then you will not be able to modify the sort order here.

To reach the Column Properties dialog:

On the menu bar, click Data > Column properties.

Click the Sort Order tab.

Top part of dialog

Option

Description

Data table

Only available when more than one data table is available in the analysis. Specifies the data table that you are currently viewing column properties for.

Columns and hierarchies

Lists all columns and hierarchies available in the data table. You can narrow down the list of available columns by typing a part of a name in the "Type to search" field. You can also enter an expression in the field, using the rules described on the Searching in TIBCO Spotfire page.

Insert

Calculated Column

Opens the Add Calculated Column dialog, where you can create a new column from an expression.

Binned Column

Opens the Add Binned Column dialog, where you can group the values of a column into a smaller number of bins (groups).

Hierarchy

Opens the Add Hierarchy dialog, where you can create a hierarchy (an ordered structure) by combining columns with each other.

Delete

Removes the selected column or hierarchy from the data table.

Sort Order tab

Option

Description

Sort column values by

[The options below are only applicable to String columns.]

Standard sort order for data type

Use this option to apply the standard sort order for the data type of the selected column. For example, this means that a string column will be sorted alphabetically. Below is an example of how strings containing digits and non-alphanumeric characters will be sorted:

a20

Natural string sort

Use this option to apply natural string sort order to the selected column. This means that a string column will be sorted alphabetically. Below is an example of how strings containing digits and non-alphanumeric characters will be sorted:

a20

Custom sort order

Use this option to specify a different sort order. For example, a column containing months could be sorted by the actual order of months as in the example in the image above.
Note: Custom sort order will be disabled if the column contains a large number of unique values.

Configure

Opens the Custom Sort Order dialog, where the desired sort order can be specified.

Sample

Displays a sample of how the column will be sorted using the current settings.

Apply sort order from column

[The options below are only applicable to String columns.]
To be able to apply a sort order from another column, there must be some matching values in the two columns. If the column with the sort order you want to apply for example contains months, the column you want to sort must contain some of the months. This means that you cannot use a column with months sorted alphabetically to sort a column with names alphabetically.

Data table

Specifies the data table containing the column from which you wish to copy a sort order.

Column

Select a column from the drop-down list to copy a sort order from another column.

Apply Sort Order

Applies the sort order from the chosen column to the currently selected column.