How to order by more than one field in Grails?

Question

Is there a way to get a list ordered by two fields, say last and first names?

I know .listOrderByLastAndFirst and .list(sort:\'last, first\')

Answer 1

If you were sorting lists on the contents of their items, you would need to implement a comparator which would have some smarts to enable to you decide the sort order based on multiple properties.

Some examples of Groovy-style comparators are shown here

However if the list you are sorting is being returned from a database query, you would be better off sorting it using a CrteriaQuery and sorts on that

Answer 2

This old solution no longer works. Please see mattlary's answer below

You may have to write a custom finder in HQL or use the Criteria Builder.

MyDomain.find("from Domain as d order by last,first desc")

Or

def c = MyDomain.createCriteria()
def results = c.list {
       order("last,first", "desc")
}

Answer 3

This query is working on the basis of first field. When the first field is blank then it is shorted by the second field.

order('last','desc')
order('first','desc')

Answer 4

you can do this

def results=MyDomain.findAll([sort:"last",order:'desc'],[sort:"first",order:'desc']);

this line of code will first sort results from domain class "MyDomain" first by last name and then by first name of the person .

Answer 5

I think a criteria is the best bet, but you did the right thing by attempting a finder first. When retrieving domain objects from GORM, the right order to make the attempt is: dynamic finder, criteria, HQL.

Answer 6

More complicated ordering criteria, (tested in Grails 2.1.0)

def c = MyDomain.withCriteria {
    property {
        order('last', 'desc')
    }
    order('first', 'desc')
}

sorts first by MyDomain.property.last then by MyDomain.first