Sorting a list in Cognos

There are numerous ways to sort lists in Cognos. Usually the 'proven practice' will tell you to do it via the query and parameters and a lot of other complicated ways. Sure, if you don't mind a simple sort being unresponsive (the whole report needs to be re-processed for this to work) and if you have just one table in your report.

However, if the list you are sorting is in 3rd page of your report... Then, after re-sorting you end up in the first page again... Please do post a comment on how to explain this to a user if you have a good way of dealing with this...

Now, assuming you are dealing with a nice list you could use a JavaScript hack provided by Stuart Langridge and updated for Cognos 8.3 by Gilberto Walker. All you need to do is paste the code below into HTML object in your report.

All lists will then become sortable. The user will only need to click on column name to sort on that column.

Seems to be not working with crazy layout lists (grouping, sectioning can make it funky), but works like a charm on standard lists. Also tried and working with Cognos 8.4 and 10.1.1.

Enjoy your ultra-responsive dynamic sort for Cognos lists!




<script>

//  SortTable  version 2
//  7th April 2007
//  Stuart Langridge, http://www.kryogenix.org/code/browser/sorttable/
//
//  Thanks to many, many people for contributions and suggestions.
//  Licenced as X11: http://www.kryogenix.org/code/browser/licence.html
//  This basically means: do what you want with it.
//
// Changed by Gilberto Walker to be used in Cognos 8.3

var stIsIE = /*@cc_on!@*/false;

sorttable = {
  init: function() {
    // quit if this function has already been called
    if (arguments.callee.done) return;
    // flag this function so we don't do the same thing twice
    arguments.callee.done = true;
    // kill the timer
    if (_timer) clearInterval(_timer);
 
    if (!document.createElement || !document.getElementsByTagName) return;
 
    sorttable.DATE_RE = /^(\d\d?)[\/\.-](\d\d?)[\/\.-]((\d\d)?\d\d)$/;
 
    forEach(document.getElementsByTagName('table'), function(table) {
      if (table.className.search(/\bls\b/) != -1) {
        sorttable.makeSortable(table);
      }
    });
 
  },

  makeSortable: function(table) {
    if (table.getElementsByTagName('thead').length == 0) {
      // table doesn't have a tHead. Since it should have, create one and
      // put the first table row in it.
      the = document.createElement('thead');
      the.appendChild(table.rows[0]);
      table.insertBefore(the,table.firstChild);
    }
    // Safari doesn't support table.tHead, sigh
    if (table.tHead == null) table.tHead = table.getElementsByTagName('thead')[0];
 
    if (table.tHead.rows.length != 1) return; // can't cope with two header rows
 
    // Sorttable v1 put rows with a class of "sortbottom" at the bottom (as
    // "total" rows, for example). This is B&R, since what you're supposed
    // to do is put them in a tfoot. So, if there are sortbottom rows,
    // for backwards compatibility, move them to tfoot (creating it if needed).
    sortbottomrows = [];
    for (var i=0; i<table.rows.length; i++) {
      if (table.rows[i].className.search(/\bsortbottom\b/) != -1) {
        sortbottomrows[sortbottomrows.length] = table.rows[i];
      }
    }
    if (sortbottomrows) {
      if (table.tFoot == null) {
        // table doesn't have a tfoot. Create one.
        tfo = document.createElement('tfoot');
        table.appendChild(tfo);
      }
      for (var i=0; i<sortbottomrows.length; i++) {
        tfo.appendChild(sortbottomrows[i]);
      }
      delete sortbottomrows;
    }
 
    // work through each column and calculate its type
    headrow = table.tHead.rows[0].cells;
    for (var i=0; i<headrow.length; i++) {
      // manually override the type with a sorttable_type attribute
      if (!headrow[i].className.match(/\bsorttable_nosort\b/)) { // skip this col
        mtch = headrow[i].className.match(/\bsorttable_([a-z0-9]+)\b/);
        if (mtch) { override = mtch[1]; }
     if (mtch && typeof sorttable["sort_"+override] == 'function') {
       headrow[i].sorttable_sortfunction = sorttable["sort_"+override];
     } else {
       headrow[i].sorttable_sortfunction = sorttable.guessType(table,i);
     }
     // make it clickable to sort
     headrow[i].sorttable_columnindex = i;
     headrow[i].sorttable_tbody = table.tBodies[0];
     dean_addEvent(headrow[i],"click", function(e) {

          if (this.className.search(/\bsorttable_sorted\b/) != -1) {
            // if we're already sorted by this column, just
            // reverse the table, which is quicker
            sorttable.reverse(this.sorttable_tbody);
            this.className = this.className.replace('sorttable_sorted',
                                                    'sorttable_sorted_reverse');
            this.removeChild(document.getElementById('sorttable_sortfwdind'));
            sortrevind = document.createElement('span');
            sortrevind.id = "sorttable_sortrevind";
            sortrevind.innerHTML = stIsIE ? '&nbsp<font face="webdings">5</font>' : '&nbsp;&#x25B4;';
            this.appendChild(sortrevind);
            return;
          }
          if (this.className.search(/\bsorttable_sorted_reverse\b/) != -1) {
            // if we're already sorted by this column in reverse, just
            // re-reverse the table, which is quicker
            sorttable.reverse(this.sorttable_tbody);
            this.className = this.className.replace('sorttable_sorted_reverse',
                                                    'sorttable_sorted');
            this.removeChild(document.getElementById('sorttable_sortrevind'));
            sortfwdind = document.createElement('span');
            sortfwdind.id = "sorttable_sortfwdind";
            sortfwdind.innerHTML = stIsIE ? '&nbsp<font face="webdings">6</font>' : '&nbsp;&#x25BE;';
            this.appendChild(sortfwdind);
            return;
          }
       
          // remove sorttable_sorted classes
          theadrow = this.parentNode;
          forEach(theadrow.childNodes, function(cell) {
            if (cell.nodeType == 1) { // an element
              cell.className = cell.className.replace('sorttable_sorted_reverse','');
              cell.className = cell.className.replace('sorttable_sorted','');
            }
          });
          sortfwdind = document.getElementById('sorttable_sortfwdind');
          if (sortfwdind) { sortfwdind.parentNode.removeChild(sortfwdind); }
          sortrevind = document.getElementById('sorttable_sortrevind');
          if (sortrevind) { sortrevind.parentNode.removeChild(sortrevind); }
       
          this.className += ' sorttable_sorted';
          sortfwdind = document.createElement('span');
          sortfwdind.id = "sorttable_sortfwdind";
          sortfwdind.innerHTML = stIsIE ? '&nbsp<font face="webdings">6</font>' : '&nbsp;&#x25BE;';
          this.appendChild(sortfwdind);

       // build an array to sort. This is a Schwartzian transform thing,
       // i.e., we "decorate" each row with the actual sort key,
       // sort based on the sort keys, and then put the rows back in order
       // which is a lot faster because you only do getInnerText once per row
       row_array = [];
       col = this.sorttable_columnindex;
       rows = this.sorttable_tbody.rows;
       for (var j=0; j<rows.length; j++) {
         row_array[row_array.length] = [sorttable.getInnerText(rows[j].cells[col]), rows[j]];
       }
       /* If you want a stable sort, uncomment the following line */
       //sorttable.shaker_sort(row_array, this.sorttable_sortfunction);
       /* and comment out this one */
       row_array.sort(this.sorttable_sortfunction);
     
       tb = this.sorttable_tbody;
       for (var j=0; j<row_array.length; j++) {
         tb.appendChild(row_array[j][1]);
       }
     
       delete row_array;
     });
   }
    }
  },

  guessType: function(table, column) {
    // guess the type of a column based on its first non-blank row
    sortfn = sorttable.sort_alpha;
    for (var i=0; i<table.tBodies[0].rows.length; i++) {
      text = sorttable.getInnerText(table.tBodies[0].rows[i].cells[column]);
      if (text != '') {
        if (text.match(/^-?[£$¤]?[\d,.]+%?$/)) {
          return sorttable.sort_numeric;
        }
        // check for a date: dd/mm/yyyy or dd/mm/yy
        // can have / or . or - as separator
        // can be mm/dd as well
        possdate = text.match(sorttable.DATE_RE)
        if (possdate) {
          // looks like a date
          first = parseInt(possdate[1]);
          second = parseInt(possdate[2]);
          if (first > 12) {
            // definitely dd/mm
            return sorttable.sort_ddmm;
          } else if (second > 12) {
            return sorttable.sort_mmdd;
          } else {
            // looks like a date, but we can't tell which, so assume
            // that it's dd/mm (English imperialism!) and keep looking
            sortfn = sorttable.sort_ddmm;
          }
        }
      }
    }
    return sortfn;
  },

  getInnerText: function(node) {
    // gets the text we want to use for sorting for a cell.
    // strips leading and trailing whitespace.
    // this is *not* a generic getInnerText function; it's special to sorttable.
    // for example, you can override the cell text with a customkey attribute.
    // it also gets .value for <input> fields.
 
    hasInputs = (typeof node.getElementsByTagName == 'function') &&
                 node.getElementsByTagName('input').length;
 
    if (node.getAttribute("sorttable_customkey") != null) {
      return node.getAttribute("sorttable_customkey");
    }
    else if (typeof node.textContent != 'undefined' && !hasInputs) {
      return node.textContent.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '');
    }
    else if (typeof node.innerText != 'undefined' && !hasInputs) {
      return node.innerText.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '');
    }
    else if (typeof node.text != 'undefined' && !hasInputs) {
      return node.text.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '');
    }
    else {
      switch (node.nodeType) {
        case 3:
          if (node.nodeName.toLowerCase() == 'input') {
            return node.value.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '');
          }
        case 4:
          return node.nodeValue.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '');
          break;
        case 1:
        case 11:
          var innerText = '';
          for (var i = 0; i < node.childNodes.length; i++) {
            innerText += sorttable.getInnerText(node.childNodes[i]);
          }
          return innerText.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '');
          break;
        default:
          return '';
      }
    }
  },

  reverse: function(tbody) {
    // reverse the rows in a tbody
    newrows = [];
    for (var i=0; i<tbody.rows.length; i++) {
      newrows[newrows.length] = tbody.rows[i];
    }
    for (var i=newrows.length-1; i>=0; i--) {
       tbody.appendChild(newrows[i]);
    }
    delete newrows;
  },

  /* sort functions
     each sort function takes two parameters, a and b
     you are comparing a[0] and b[0] */
  sort_numeric: function(a,b) {
    aa = parseFloat(a[0].replace(/[^0-9.-]/g,''));
    if (isNaN(aa)) aa = 0;
    bb = parseFloat(b[0].replace(/[^0-9.-]/g,''));
    if (isNaN(bb)) bb = 0;
    return aa-bb;
  },
  sort_alpha: function(a,b) {
    if (a[0]==b[0]) return 0;
    if (a[0]<b[0]) return -1;
    return 1;
  },
  sort_ddmm: function(a,b) {
    mtch = a[0].match(sorttable.DATE_RE);
    y = mtch[3]; m = mtch[2]; d = mtch[1];
    if (m.length == 1) m = '0'+m;
    if (d.length == 1) d = '0'+d;
    dt1 = y+m+d;
    mtch = b[0].match(sorttable.DATE_RE);
    y = mtch[3]; m = mtch[2]; d = mtch[1];
    if (m.length == 1) m = '0'+m;
    if (d.length == 1) d = '0'+d;
    dt2 = y+m+d;
    if (dt1==dt2) return 0;
    if (dt1<dt2) return -1;
    return 1;
  },
  sort_mmdd: function(a,b) {
    mtch = a[0].match(sorttable.DATE_RE);
    y = mtch[3]; d = mtch[2]; m = mtch[1];
    if (m.length == 1) m = '0'+m;
    if (d.length == 1) d = '0'+d;
    dt1 = y+m+d;
    mtch = b[0].match(sorttable.DATE_RE);
    y = mtch[3]; d = mtch[2]; m = mtch[1];
    if (m.length == 1) m = '0'+m;
    if (d.length == 1) d = '0'+d;
    dt2 = y+m+d;
    if (dt1==dt2) return 0;
    if (dt1<dt2) return -1;
    return 1;
  },

  shaker_sort: function(list, comp_func) {
    // A stable sort function to allow multi-level sorting of data
    // see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_sort
    // thanks to Joseph Nahmias
    var b = 0;
    var t = list.length - 1;
    var swap = true;

    while(swap) {
        swap = false;
        for(var i = b; i < t; ++i) {
            if ( comp_func(list[i], list[i+1]) > 0 ) {
                var q = list[i]; list[i] = list[i+1]; list[i+1] = q;
                swap = true;
            }
        } // for
        t--;

        if (!swap) break;

        for(var i = t; i > b; --i) {
            if ( comp_func(list[i], list[i-1]) < 0 ) {
                var q = list[i]; list[i] = list[i-1]; list[i-1] = q;
                swap = true;
            }
        } // for
        b++;

    } // while(swap)
  }
}

/* ******************************************************************
   Supporting functions: bundled here to avoid depending on a library
   ****************************************************************** */

// Dean Edwards/Matthias Miller/John Resig

/* for Mozilla/Opera9 */
if (document.addEventListener) {
    document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", sorttable.init, false);
}

/* for Internet Explorer */
/*@cc_on @*/
/*@if (@_win32)
    document.write("<script id=__ie_onload defer src=javascript:void(0)><\/script>");
    var script = document.getElementById("__ie_onload");
    script.onreadystatechange = function() {
        if (this.readyState == "complete") {
            sorttable.init(); // call the onload handler
        }
    };
/*@end @*/

/* for Safari */
if (/WebKit/i.test(navigator.userAgent)) { // sniff
    var _timer = setInterval(function() {
        if (/loaded|complete/.test(document.readyState)) {
            sorttable.init(); // call the onload handler
        }
    }, 10);
}

/* for other browsers */
window.onload = sorttable.init;

// written by Dean Edwards, 2005
// with input from Tino Zijdel, Matthias Miller, Diego Perini

// http://dean.edwards.name/weblog/2005/10/add-event/

function dean_addEvent(element, type, handler) {
if (element.addEventListener) {
element.addEventListener(type, handler, false);
} else {
// assign each event handler a unique ID
if (!handler.$$guid) handler.$$guid = dean_addEvent.guid++;
// create a hash table of event types for the element
if (!element.events) element.events = {};
// create a hash table of event handlers for each element/event pair
var handlers = element.events[type];
if (!handlers) {
handlers = element.events[type] = {};
// store the existing event handler (if there is one)
if (element["on" + type]) {
handlers[0] = element["on" + type];
}
}
// store the event handler in the hash table
handlers[handler.$$guid] = handler;
// assign a global event handler to do all the work
element["on" + type] = handleEvent;
}
};
// a counter used to create unique IDs
dean_addEvent.guid = 1;

function removeEvent(element, type, handler) {
if (element.removeEventListener) {
element.removeEventListener(type, handler, false);
} else {
// delete the event handler from the hash table
if (element.events && element.events[type]) {
delete element.events[type][handler.$$guid];
}
}
};

function handleEvent(event) {
var returnValue = true;
// grab the event object (IE uses a global event object)
event = event || fixEvent(((this.ownerDocument || this.document || this).parentWindow || window).event);
// get a reference to the hash table of event handlers
var handlers = this.events[event.type];
// execute each event handler
for (var i in handlers) {
this.$$handleEvent = handlers[i];
if (this.$$handleEvent(event) === false) {
returnValue = false;
}
}
return returnValue;
};

function fixEvent(event) {
// add W3C standard event methods
event.preventDefault = fixEvent.preventDefault;
event.stopPropagation = fixEvent.stopPropagation;
return event;
};
fixEvent.preventDefault = function() {
this.returnValue = false;
};
fixEvent.stopPropagation = function() {
  this.cancelBubble = true;
}

// Dean's forEach: http://dean.edwards.name/base/forEach.js
/*
forEach, version 1.0
Copyright 2006, Dean Edwards
License: http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php
*/

// array-like enumeration
if (!Array.forEach) { // mozilla already supports this
Array.forEach = function(array, block, context) {
for (var i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
block.call(context, array[i], i, array);
}
};
}

// generic enumeration
Function.prototype.forEach = function(object, block, context) {
for (var key in object) {
if (typeof this.prototype[key] == "undefined") {
block.call(context, object[key], key, object);
}
}
};

// character enumeration
String.forEach = function(string, block, context) {
Array.forEach(string.split(""), function(chr, index) {
block.call(context, chr, index, string);
});
};

// globally resolve forEach enumeration
var forEach = function(object, block, context) {
if (object) {
var resolve = Object; // default
if (object instanceof Function) {
// functions have a "length" property
resolve = Function;
} else if (object.forEach instanceof Function) {
// the object implements a custom forEach method so use that
object.forEach(block, context);
return;
} else if (typeof object == "string") {
// the object is a string
resolve = String;
} else if (typeof object.length == "number") {
// the object is array-like
resolve = Array;
}
resolve.forEach(object, block, context);
}
};

</script>

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