ACC2000: How to Set Multiple Sort Order Values on a Data Access Page

ID: Q234986


The information in this article applies to:

Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.

This article applies to a Microsoft Access database (.mdb) and a Microsoft Access project (.adp).


SUMMARY

This article shows you how to create an HTML page that sorts a data access page by three different fields. This HTML page is a frameset made up of two data access pages. The first page provides the controls to sort the second page.


MORE INFORMATION

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This article show how to create an HTML page (Frameset Page) and two data access pages (Header Page and Detail Page) in the sample database Northwind.mdb.

Header Page

The Header page contains three dropdown list controls, six option buttons, and two command buttons that you use to control the sort order of the Detail page. The dropdown list controls allow you to choose which fields to sort by. The option buttons allow you to decide whether those fields are sorted in ascending or descending order. One command button sorts the Detail page and the other command button resets the dropdown lists, option buttons, and the sort order of the detail page.
  1. Open the sample database Northwind.mdb.


  2. Create the following table named tblSort:


  3. 
       Table: tblSort
       -------------------
       Field Name: SortFld
       Data Type: Text
    
       Table Properties: tblSort
       -------------------------
       PrimaryKey: SortFld 
  4. Add the following records to the table:


  5. 
       City
       CompanyName
       ContactName
       Country
       CustomerID
       Region 
  6. Create the following page named dapSortHeader:


  7. 
       Command button
       --------------
       ID: cmdSort
       Caption: Sort
    
       Command button
       --------------
       ID: cmdClear
       Caption: Clear
    
       Dropdown list
       -----------------------------
       ID: SortList1
       ListRowSource: Table: tblSort
       ListDisplayField: SortFld
       ListBoundField: SortFld
    
       Dropdown list
       ------------------------------
       ID: SortList2
       ListRowSource: Table: tblSort
       ListDisplayField: SortFld
       ListBoundField: SortFld
    
       Dropdown list
       ------------------------------
       ID: SortList3
       ListRowSource: Table: tblSort
       ListDisplayField: SortFld
       ListBoundField: SortFld
    
       Option group 
       ------------------------------
       ID: Frame1
       BorderStyle: none
    
       Set the group legend's Visibility property to hidden.
    
       Option button (inside Frame1)
       ------------------------------
       ID: OptionAsc1
    
       Set the InnerText property of the button's Label to Ascending.
    
       Option button (inside Frame1)
       ------------------------------
       ID: OptionDsc1   
    
       Set the InnerText property of the button's Label to Descending.
    
       Option group 
       ------------------------------
       ID: Frame2
       BorderStyle: none
       
       Set the group legend's Visibility property to hidden.
    
       Option button (inside Frame2)
       ------------------------------
       ID: OptionAsc2
    
       Set the InnerText property of the button's Label to Ascending.
    
       Option button (inside Frame2)
       ------------------------------
       ID: OptionDsc2
    
       Set the InnerText property of the button's Label to Descending.
    
       Option group 
       ------------------------------
       ID: Frame3
       BorderStyle: none
    
       Set the group legend's Visibility property to hidden.
    
       Option button (inside Frame3)
       ------------------------------
       ID: OptionAsc3
    
       Set the InnerText property of the button's Label to Ascending.
    
       Option button (inside Frame3)
       ------------------------------
       ID: OptionDsc3
    
       Set the InnerText property of the button's Label to Descending. 
  8. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Microsoft Script Editor.


  9. On the HTML menu, point to Script Block, and then click Client.


  10. Type the following script:


  11. 
    <SCRIPT language=vbscript>
    <!--
    Public strSort
    -->
    </SCRIPT> 
  12. Using the Script Outline, insert the following script for the onClick event of cmdSort:


  13. 
    <SCRIPT event=onclick for=cmdSort language=vbscript>
    <!--
    Dim i
    
    strSort = ""
    
    For i = 1 to 3
       ' Determine which dropdown lists contain field names.
       If Document.All.Item("sortList" & i).Value <> "" Then
          ' Add the field names to the sort order sting.
          strSort = strSort & Document.All.Item("sortList" & i).Value 
          If Document.All.Item("OptionDsc" & i).Checked = True Then
             ' Add the word "Desc" (to sort the field in descending order)
             '   and a list separator to the sort string.
             strSort = strSort & " Desc, "
          Else
             ' Add a list separator to the sort string. It will automatically
             '   sort the field in ascending order, however, you could include
             '   then word "Asc".
             strSort = strSort & ", "
          End if
       End if
    Next
    
    ' Remove the extra characters from the end of the sort string
    If Right(strSort, 2) = ", " Then
       strSort=Left(strSort, Len(strSort)-2)
    End if
    
    ' Set the sort order for the Detail page.
    Window.Parent.Frames("dtl").MSODSC.DataPages(0).Recordset.Sort=strSort
    -->
    </SCRIPT> 
  14. Using the Script Outline, insert the following script for the onClick event of cmdClear:


  15. 
    <SCRIPT event=onclick for=cmdClear language=vbscript>
    <!--
    
    ' Reset all the dropdown lists and option buttons.
    For i = 1 to 3
       Document.All.Item("SortList" & i).Value = ""
       Document.All.Item("OptionAsc" & i).Checked = False
       Document.All.Item("OptionDsc" & i).Checked = False
    Next
    
    ' Clear the sort string
    strSort = ""
    
    ' Set the sort order for the Detail page back to the default.
    Window.Parent.Frames("dtl").MSODSC.DataPages(0).Recordset.Sort=strSort
    
    -->
    </SCRIPT> 

Detail Page

The Detail page is the page that shows the records in the sort order specified by the Header page.
  1. Create the following page named dapSortDetail based on the Customers table:


  2. 
       Text box
       -------------------------
       ID: CustomerID
       ControlSource: CustomerID
    
       Text box
       --------------------------
       ID: CompanyName
       ControlSource: CompanyName
    
       Text box
       --------------------------
       ID: ContactName
       ControlSource: ContactName
    
       Text box
       -------------------
       ID: City
       ControlSource: City
    
       Text box
       ----------------------
       ID: Country
       ControlSource: Country
    
       Text box
       ---------------------
       ID: Region
       ControlSource: Region 
  3. On the Page Design toolbar, click Sorting and Grouping.


  4. Under Group Record Source, click Customers, and then set the CaptionSection property to Yes. Set the DataPageSize property to 10.


  5. Move the labels to the Caption section.


  6. Arrange all the text boxes and labels in a line near the top of the appropriate section. Decrease the size of section to remove extra blank space.


Frameset Page

The Frameset page is the HTML page that loads the two data access pages.
  1. Using an HTML or text editor, create the following HTML page and save it as SortFrame.htm in the same folder as the two data access pages:


  2. 
    <HTML>
       <FRAMESET ROWS="18%, *">
          <FRAME ID="hdr" SRC="dapSortHeader.htm">
          <FRAME ID="dtl" SRC="dapSortDetail.htm">
       </FRAMESET>
    </HTML> 
  3. Use Microsoft Internet Explorer to open the SortFrame.htm page.


Additional query words: sorted sorting


Keywords          : kbdta AccCon AccDAP DAPScriptHowTo dtavbscript 
Version           : WINDOWS:2000
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto 

Last Reviewed: August 9, 1999