How to set Custom Sort order on a given field (Data Column) using using Spotfire® C# API

Introduction

It is possible to re-order the values in a Data Column using the API DataColumnProperties.SetCustomSortOrder Method.

Sample tool code to do this is included below:

Code Sample

// Copyright © 2017. TIBCO Software Inc. Licensed under TIBCO BSD-style license.
// Pick the first string column.
DataColumn dataColumn = null;
foreach (var column in application.Document.Data.Tables.DefaultTableReference.Columns)
{
    if (column.Properties.DataType == DataType.String)
    {
        dataColumn = column;
        break;
    }
}
// Get the distinct values in a column.
DataNodeCollection nodes;
if (!dataColumn.Hierarchy.Levels.LeafLevel.TryGetNodes(500, out nodes))
{
    // Probably too many nodes.
    return;
}

List values = new List();
foreach (var node in nodes)
{
    var dataValue = node.Value;
    if (dataValue.IsNullValue)
    {
        continue;
    }

    values.Add((string)dataValue.ValidValue);
}

// Shuffle the values.
Random random = new Random();
for (int i = 0; i < values.Count; ++i)
{
    int j = random.Next(i, values.Count);
    var temp = values[j];
    values[j] = values[i];
    values[i] = temp;
}

dataColumn.Properties.SetCustomSortOrder(values);

MessageBox.Show("New custom sort order assigned for column: " + dataColumn.Properties.Name);

References

• API Reference: Spotfire Analyst
• API Reference: DataColumnProperties. SetCustomSortOrder Method

License:  TIBCO BSD-Style License