Sorting resources in a view

When you open a resource view, the resources are sorted by a resource attribute (a column in the view). With CICS® TS Version 4.2 and later, you can sort the resources by any column in the view, and change the sort order.

Before you begin

You must have a CMCI connection to a CICS TS Version 4.2 or later system. If you are connected to an earlier version of CICS TS and you attempt to sort by column, there is no effect.

Some other CICS system connections, for example CICSPlex® SM Data Interface, do not support sorting by columns. If you use such a connection and open a view that has sorting specified, an error message is displayed. You can use the Clear Sort option to remove the sorting and open the view, but you cannot change the sorting.

About this task

By default, resources are typically sorted by the resource attribute values in the first column, in ascending order. For a configured view, resources are sorted by the sorting that is specified in the view configuration.

If a view is already configured to sort resources, the status bar in the view indicates that the records are sorted. You can hover the mouse over the status bar to display a tooltip that shows details of the sorts that are applied.

For most CICS resource table views, to sort resources by a column in a view, you can use the relevant column header in the view. If you change a sort in this way, it overrides the current sorting in the view, but does not change the view configuration.

You can sort resources by one or more columns, and by any attribute that applies to the view, when you configure a view. See Configuring a CICS resource table view.

The following procedure does not apply to the Resource Group Definitions view, Group List Definitions view, and a small number of older-style views, as listed in Changing specific resource views. For the procedure that applies to these views, see Sorting data by column in specific views.

Procedure

  1. Start from the resource view that you want to sort.
  2. Ensure that the column to sort by is visible in the view (use the scroll bar if necessary). If the column to sort by is not displayed in the view, you can add it. See Changing columns in a view.
  3. Click the column header to display the resources in the required order. Each time you click the column header, the resources are refreshed and displayed in the new sort order. The sort order rotates as follows:
    • Ascending order. The column header shows an up arrow.
    • Descending order. The column header shows a down arrow.
    • Original sort order.
  4. Optional: To return to the original sort order in the view, click the View Menu icon View menu icon in the toolbar of the view, then click Clear Sort.
  5. Optional: To reset the view to its configured columns, filters and sorting, click the Reset to Configuration button reset to configuration option in the toolbar all options of the view.

Results

The sort order that you specified is applied to the resources in the view. The status bar in the view shows how many records are collected and indicates that the records are sorted. If you hover the mouse over the status bar, a tooltip shows all the sorts that are applied. The column header for the attribute used to sort the resources shows an arrow that indicates the sort order.

If you refresh the view, the current sort order is retained. If you close the view, the sort order is remembered and displayed again the next time you open the view.