1. Copy ITEMSORT.EXE to the /UTILITY directory.
  2. Create an ITEMSORT.DAT file in the application directory as specified in the next section.
  3. Style it into the application as specified in the Styling Section.

ItemSort.Dat

Each line should contain the first characters of the item being keyed on and the sort priority number separated by a comma.  The last line should contain a comma with no other characters.  All lines end in a carriage return.  DOS’s EDIT works fine for this purpose.

The Itemsort name is compared with the first characters of each item in the CHECK.TXT file.  The first three columns are ignored as are any leading spaces after that.  Intermediate and trailing spaces are used in the compare and the compare is case-sensitive.  Care must be taken when creating the ITEMSORT file to make sure that all sorted items and only sorted items in the Product Database match the Item sort names.

If a line in CHECK.TXT matches with more than one line in ITEMSORT.DAT then the first match is used.  The same sort priority number can be used on more than one line.  The system will then sort in the order entered.

Example:
        Pep,201
        Mush,205
        Pine,203
        «,100
        Uncooked,10
          (…)
        Well Done,10
        ,
Sort Priority Values

1 to 99    Items to sort prior to the split sections
100        « Descriptor
101        Descriptors to stay unsorted(i.e. follow the previous
                descriptor such as On the Side)
201 to 299  Items to sort only within the split section such as
                toppings on pizza.
All other values assumed to be 0.
Styling

  1. Create a shell called ITEMSORT with the directory blank.  In the command line put ITEMSORT.  Check the Preserve Screen and Swap to XMS/EMS/VMS boxes.
  2. Immediately after the Do Template command for any template that is to be sorted place the command Shell to ITEMSORT.

Command Line Options

/DEBUG – Optional.  Causes program to create an ITEMSORT.LOG file on the Z: drive showing how the sort order was determined.
       
Maximums

Max lines in CHECK.TXT    = 65 unmatched lines up to 300 total lines.
Max lines in ITEMSORT.DAT = 300
Revisions

5/11/95 Ver 1.02  ITEMSORT no longer gives file not found error when CHECK.TXT file does not exist.

8/08/95 Ver 1.03  ITEMSORT no longer gives error 6.  Changed variables to LONG from INTEGER.  Also increased number of lines in CHECK.TXT and ITEMSORT.DAT to 300 from 200.