Change compose output to alphabetical sequence

[ricky10ss]

Was wondering is there a way to change the composed output file to sort alphabetically by the last name which is a field in the csv file instead of the sequence provide in the csv? I would be using FP Imposer to impose.

[step]

Why not just sort the data before it gets to FusionPro? That would save you from reworking your template code.

 

But if you really want FusionPro to do it, it's possible. You'll have to link to your primary data file as an external data file, push all of the records into an array and then sort the records based on the "Last Name" field. From there, you'll have to reference the array to determine the correct record number to use and read it from the external data file.

 

JavaScript Globals

ex = null;
data = [];
function ExField(name) {
 return ex.GetFieldValue(data[FusionPro.Composition.inputRecordNumber - 1], name);
}

OnJobStart

ex = new ExternalDataFileEx(PrimaryInputFile(), ',');
for (var i=1; i <= ex.recordCount; i++)
   data.push({ 
       name: ex.GetFieldValue(i, 'Last Name'), 
       rec: i 
   });

data = data.sort(function(a,b){ 
   return a.name < b.name ? -1 : a.name > b.name ? 1 : 0; 
}).map(function(s){ return s.rec });

 

Note, that you'll have to replace any use of the "Field" function in your rules with "ExField."