Sort

The method to use to order the query results. By default, IDOL Content Component displays results in order of relevance. If several documents have the same relevance, IDOL Content Component orders them by the autn:docid (document ID) number.

You can use one of the following sorting options:

  • Off. Do not sort documents.

  • AutnRank. Sort documents by the value in their AutnRankType field. The document with the highest AutnRankType field value is listed first.

  • Cluster. Sort documents by decreasing cluster ID. To use this option, you must set Cluster to True.

  • Database. Sort documents by increasing database number. The database numbers are defined in the IDOL Content Component configuration file.

  • Date. Sort documents by their date (the date contained in the result DateType fields). The most recent document is listed first.

    If several documents have the same date, IDOL Content Component orders them by the autn:docid (document ID) number (the highest autn:docid is listed first).

  • Distcartesian. Sort documents according to their distance from a point, specified in Cartesian coordinates (X/Y). When you set XMLMeta to True, the action returns the calculated distance in a <autn:fieldsortvalue> tag in the response. Use the following format:

    &Sort=Distcartesian{coordX,coordY}:POSITION

    where,

    • coordX is the specified x coordinate.

    • coordY is the specified y coordinate.

    • POSITION is either: 

      • a single document field that contains the position information in Well-known text format POINT definitions. This field must be a unified GeospatialType field.
      • two fields, in the format X:Y, where X is the document field that contains the X coordinates, and Y is the document field that contains the Y coordinates. These fields must be either GeospatialType or NumericType fields. You must specify the fields in the order X:Y.

    For example:

    &Sort=Distcartesian{10,11}:X:Y

    In this example, IDOL Content Component sorts documents according to their distance from the point (10,11). The position of a document in this example is contained in the fields X and Y, respectively.

  • Distspherical. Sort documents according to their distance from a point, specified in spherical coordinates (latitude and longitude). When you set XMLMeta to True, the action returns the calculated distance in a <autn:fieldsortvalue> tag in the response. Use the following format:

    &Sort=Distspherical{lat,long}:LOCATION

    where,

    • lat is the specified latitude. Specify latitude positions south of the equator as negative.

    • long is the specified longitude. Specify longitude positions west of the Greenwich Meridian as negative.

    • LOCATION is either: 

      • a single document field that contains the location information in Well-known text format POINT definitions. This field must be a unified GeospatialType field.
      • two fields, in the format Latfield:Longfield, where Latfield is the document field that contains the latitude, and Longfield is the document field that contains the longitude. These fields must be either GeospatialType or NumericType fields. You must specify the fields in the order latitude:longitude.

    For example:

    &Sort=Distspherical{37.75,-122.4}:Location

    In this example, IDOL Content Component sorts documents according to their distance from San Francisco (37.75N,122.4W). The latitude and longitude position of a document in this example is contained in the Location field.

  • DocIDDecreasing. Sort documents by autn:docid (document ID). The document with the highest autn:docid is listed first.

  • DocIDIncreasing. Sort documents by autn:docid (document ID). The document with the lowest autn:docid is listed first.

  • fieldName:sortMethod. Sort results according to the value of a specified field.

    NOTE: Documents in which the specified field is empty do not return.

    This sort option is optimized when fieldName is a MatchType field.

    • fieldName. The name of the IDOL Content Component field to use to determine the document order. You can use fields that you create by using the UserMetaFields parameter.

    • sortMethod. The sorting method to apply to the field fieldName. The following sorting methods are available:

      alphabetical

      Sort documents alphabetically by the value of the fieldName field.

      NOTE: IDOL Content Component can perform the sorting process more quickly if fieldName is a MatchType field.
      decreasing

      Sort documents by decreasing order of the value in the fieldName field. The result with the highest number, or last in alphabetical order, is listed first. You can sort by the following metadata fields:

      • <autn_langtype>

      • <autn_language>

      • <autn_nodesize>

      • <autn_refnodesize>

      • <autn_distincttermsperdoc>

      • <autn_termsperdoc>

      NOTE: For NumericType fields, this method is equivalent to numberdecreasing. For MatchType fields, this method is equivalent to reversealphabetical.
      increasing

      Sort documents by increasing order of the value in the fieldName field. The result with the lowest number, or first in alphabetical order, is listed first. You can sort by the following metadata fields:

      • <autn_langtype>

      • <autn_language>

      • <autn_nodesize>

      • <autn_refnodesize>

      • <autn_distincttermsperdoc>

      • <autn_termsperdoc>

      NOTE: For NumericType fields, this method is equivalent to numberincreasing. For MatchType fields, this method is equivalent to alphabetical.
      numberdecreasing

      Sort documents by decreasing order of the number in the fieldName field.

      NOTE: IDOL Content Component can perform the sorting process more quickly if fieldName is a NumericType field.
      numberincreasing

      Sort documents by increasing order of the number in the fieldName field.

      NOTE: IDOL Content Component can perform the sorting process more quickly if fieldName is a NumericType field.
      reversealphabetical

      Sort documents by the reverse alphabetical order of the value in the fieldName field.

      NOTE: IDOL Content Component can perform the sorting process more quickly if fieldName is a MatchType field.

  • Random. Sort documents randomly.

  • Relevance. Sort documents by their relevance (the document with the highest relevance is listed first).

    If several documents have the same relevance, IDOL Content Component orders them by the autn:docid (document ID) number (the highest autn:docid is listed first).

  • ReverseDate. Sort documents by their date (the date contained in the DateType field). The oldest document is listed first.

    If several documents have the same date, IDOL Content Component orders them by the autn:docid (document ID) number (the highest autn:docid is listed first).

  • ReverseRelevance. Sort documents in reverse order of relevance (the document with the lowest relevance is listed first).

    If several documents have the same relevance, IDOL Content Component orders them by the autn:docid (document ID) number (the lowest autn:docid is listed first).

If you want to sort results by several criteria, specify these criteria in order of precedence, as follows:

sortOption1+sortOption2+...

NOTE: if you set Cluster as one of multiple sorting options, it automatically takes precedence over the other sorting options, regardless of its position in the list.

For example:

&Sort=Relevance+DRETITLE:alphabetical+Date

In this example, results order first by Relevance, then alphabetically by DRETITLE, and finally by Date.

Actions: Query
Suggest
SuggestOnText
Type: String
Default: Relevance
Example: Sort=Date
See Also: UserMetaFields
AutnRankType configuration parameter
NumericType configuration parameter
MatchType configuration parameter
SortComparisonMethod configuration parameter