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Sort table columns alphabetically ascending or descending

From The Document Foundation Wiki


Description

This macro sorts a table column in LibreOffice Writer alphabetically, for the column which contains the cursor.

The program contains four subroutines which:

  • Sort a column alphabetically ascending
  • Sort a column alphabetically ascending, excluding the header row
  • Sort a column alphabetically descending
  • Sort a column alphabetically descending, excluding the header row

This macro also exists in an equivalent form as an extension, by clicking this link for download of sortwritertable-1.0.0.oxt. Upon download, the extension adds a new toolbar with 4 buttons, which are linked to the four macros.

Code

In LibreOffice Basic:

' Copyright (c) 2011 Frieder Delor, Mailto: delorfr@googlemail.com
'
'    This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
'    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
'    the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
'    (at your option) any later version.
'
'    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
'    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
'    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
'    GNU General Public License for more details.
'
'    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
'    along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

Option Explicit

' Outline of Subs & Functions:
'
'     ---> Sub sortWriterTableAscending
'     ---> Sub sortWriterTableAscendingExclHeader
'     ---> Sub sortWriterTableDescending
'     ---> Sub sortWriterTableDescendingExclHeader
'
'     ---> Sub sortTextTable (sTableName As String, bAscending As Boolean, bHeader As Boolean, nSortColl As Long)
'     ---> Function getTableRange (oTable As Object, nStartRow As Long) As String
'     ---> Function getColumn (sAktivCell As String) As Long


Sub Main
    '''Call one of the four subroutines, based on your needs'''

    sortWriterTableAscending
    'sortWriterTableAscendingExclHeader
    'sortWriterTableDescending
    'sortWriterTableDescendingExclHeader

End Sub ' Main


Sub sortWriterTableAscending
    '''Sorts cursor-selected column alphabetically ascending'''

    Dim sAktivCell$
    Dim sTableName As String
    Dim bAscending As Boolean
    Dim bHeader As Boolean
    Dim nSortColl As Long

    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
    sTableName = ThisComponent.CurrentController.Selection.getByIndex(0).TextTable.Name
    sAktivCell = ThisComponent.CurrentController.Selection.getByIndex(0).Cell.CellName

    bAscending = True ' asc sorting
    bHeader = False ' table contains a header row
    nSortColl = getColumn(sAktivCell) ' the column which is the sorting key (first column=1)
   
    sortTextTable(sTableName, bAscending, bHeader, nSortColl)
    ErrorHandler:

End Sub ' sortWriterTableAscending


Sub sortWriterTableAscendingExclHeader
    '''Sorts cursor-selected column alphabetically ascending, EXCLUDING the header'''

    Dim sAktivCell$
    Dim sTableName As String
    Dim bAscending As Boolean
    Dim bHeader As Boolean
    Dim nSortColl As Long

    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
    sTableName = ThisComponent.CurrentController.Selection.getByIndex(0).TextTable.Name
    sAktivCell = ThisComponent.CurrentController.Selection.getByIndex(0).Cell.CellName

    bAscending = True ' asc sorting
    bHeader = True ' table contains a header row
    nSortColl = getColumn(sAktivCell) ' the column which is the sorting key (first column=1)
   
    sortTextTable(sTableName,bAscending,bHeader,nSortColl)
    ErrorHandler:

End Sub ' sortWriterTableAscendingExclHeader


Sub sortWriterTableDescending
    '''Sorts cursor-selected column alphabetically ascending'''

    Dim sAktivCell$
    Dim sTableName As String
    Dim bAscending As Boolean
    Dim bHeader As Boolean
    Dim nSortColl As Long

    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
    sTableName = ThisComponent.CurrentController.Selection.getByIndex(0).TextTable.Name
    sAktivCell = ThisComponent.CurrentController.Selection.getByIndex(0).Cell.CellName

    bAscending = False ' asc sorting
    bHeader = False ' table contains a header row
    nSortColl = getColumn(sAktivCell) ' the column which is the sorting key (first column=1)
   
    sortTextTable(sTableName,bAscending,bHeader,nSortColl)
    ErrorHandler:

End Sub ' sortWriterTableDescending


Sub sortWriterTableDescendingExclHeader
    '''Sorts cursor-selected column alphabetically descending, EXCLUDING the header'''

    Dim sAktivCell$
    Dim sTableName As String  
    Dim bAscending As Boolean
    Dim bHeader As Boolean
    Dim nSortColl As Long

    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
    sTableName = ThisComponent.CurrentController.Selection.getByIndex(0).TextTable.Name
    sAktivCell = ThisComponent.CurrentController.Selection.getByIndex(0).Cell.CellName

    bAscending = False ' asc sorting
    bHeader = True ' table contains a header row
    nSortColl = getColumn(sAktivCell) ' the column which is the sorting key (first column=1)
   
    sortTextTable(sTableName,bAscending,bHeader,nSortColl)
    ErrorHandler:

End Sub ' sortWriterTableDescendingExclHeader


Sub sortTextTable (sTableName As String, bAscending As Boolean, bHeader As Boolean, nSortColl As Long)
    '''Sorting master subroutine'''

    Dim oTable as Object
    Dim oRange as Object
    Dim nStartRow As Long
    Dim sRange As String
    Dim oSortFields(0) as New com.sun.star.table.TableSortField 
    Dim oDescriptor As Variant

    oTable = ThisComponent.TextTables.getByName(sTableName)
    If bHeader Then
        nStartRow = 1
    Else
        nStartRow = 0
    End if

    sRange = getTableRange(oTable, nStartRow)
    oRange = oTable.getCellRangeByName (sRange)
  
    oSortFields(0).Field = nSortColl
    oSortFields(0).IsAscending = bAscending  
    oSortFields(0).FieldType = com.sun.star.util.SortFieldType.ALPHANUMERIC
  
    oDescriptor = oTable.createSortDescriptor() 

    oDescriptor(0).Name = "IsSortInTable" 
    oDescriptor(0).Value = True 
    'oDescriptor(1).Name = "Delimiter" 
    'oDescriptor(1).Value = True
    oDescriptor(2).Name = "IsSortColumns" 
    oDescriptor(2).Value = False 'True 
    'oDescriptor(3).Name = "MaxSortFieldsCount" 
    'oDescriptor(3).Value = 2 
    oDescriptor(4).Name = "SortFields" 
    oDescriptor(4).Value = oSortFields() 

    oRange.Sort(oDescriptor())

End Sub ' sortTextTable


Function getTableRange (oTable As Object, nStartRow As Long) As String 
    '''Returns the name of the sort-range'''

    Dim sCell As String
    Dim oCursor As Object

    sCell = oTable.getCellByPosition(0, nStartRow).CellName 
    oCursor = oTable.createCursorByCellName (sCell)
 
    oCursor.gotoEnd (True)
    getTableRange = oCursor.getRangeName

End Function ' getTableRange


Function getColumn (sAktivCell As String) As Long
    '''Returns the index of the sort-column'''

    Dim sTableName$
    Dim i%, n%
    Dim sChar$
    Dim nCol as Long

    n = 0
    nCol = 0
    For i = Len(sAktivCell) To 1 Step -1 
        sChar = UCase ( Mid(sAktivCell,i,1) )
        If Not IsNumeric(sChar) Then
            nCol = (Asc(sChar)-64)*(26^n) + nCol
            n = n + 1
        End If
    Next

    getColumn = nCol

End Function ' getColumn

ODT file to test macro