Re: select order by my_outside_order

"Aviv" <ronensh_at_hotmail.com> wrote

> I want the query to return the records in the order of appearance at
> the vector,

If I understand correctly...

Problem. ID is numeric but not sequential and thus can not be ordered by. Select must return the ID's in the correct vector sequence.

Solution. The vector table needs to have a sequential numbering sequence to number the ID's into the correct sequence for a vector.

E.g.
SELECT seq, id FROM vector ORDER BY seq

SEQ ID
----- ----

1      99
2      98
3      97
4      96
5      95
6      94
7      93
8      92
9      91
10     90

I can not see how you can do it any other way. If Codd's basic design rules have been followed, then the need for this sequence would have been clearly identified.

The bottom line is that you can only order by data that is there - and if you do not know the sequence of the ID's in a vector, there is no way in hell that Oracle can magically know what the order should be.

--
Billy