Installation

To install EncodingSortForSQL and use it in your project, you just need to follow the steps below:

1. Install the component from the OutSystems Forge.
2. Add a dependency to the library called EncodingSortForSQL.
3. Check BuildSafe_SortClause to sanitize dynamic sort orders.
4. Additionally check TextToSortAttributes if you need to parse a string to SortAttributes to be sanitized with BuildSafe_SortClause.
5. Click on “Add”.

Both server actions use the structure SortAttribute which should be checked automatically, otherwise check it manually.

Usage

There are two options to use the library:

As function call in an expression

If no manipulation of the sort criteria is desired, the server actions can be used directly as a function in an expression:

BuildSafe_SortClause( TextToSortAttributes(Text, Default) )

• The first parameter Text is the dynamic sort string received from the UI table control.
• The second parameter Default allows passing a fallback sort in case the first parameter is an empty string. This suppresses SQL errors due to an invalid sort clause.
• Both parameters allow using multiple columns, separated by a comma (e.g. "LastName, FirstName").

As separate elements in a flow

Alternatively, both server actions can also be used as individual elements in a flow. This allows to access the list generated with TextToSortAttributes and manipulate the sort order before using BuildSafe_SortClause to generate the sanitized text to be used in the advanced SQL. This is useful to add or remove attributes or to force a special order, for example.