Sort Order for Fields

This document explains how sort order functions for custom fields throughout Focus. The examples below use student fields and discipline referral fields as examples, but the same logic applies to user fields, school fields, district fields, and incident fields.  

Sort Order

Sort order exists by Source_Class. The source classes are SISDisciplineReferral, SISSchool, FocusUser, SISStudent, and SISDisciplineIncident.

There is a sort order on each category within each source class.  For example:

  • Students
    • Category ESE
    • Category ELL
  • Users
    • Category General
    • Category Teacher
  • Schools
  • Discipline
    • Category Referral

There is also a sort order for Add a Student. Fields added to Add a Student may exist across categories, but are within the same source class. The same is true for Add Referral.

When you are within a source class and then within a category, you are able to select the pull-down for Sort Order and identify where you want the field to be placed in the category (at the beginning, at the end, or before any other field). As you select the location for ordering the fields, it shifts the position of the other fields in the category. 

Student Fields

Example Sort Order Setup within a Category:

Students

  • Category ESE 
    • field "ESE FEFP" is before "Time Total Weekly" (position 5 on the category)
    • field "Time Total Weekly" is before "Time with non-disabled peers" (position 6 on the category)
    • field "Time with non-disabled peers" is before "Gifted Eligibility" (position 7 on the category)
  • Category ELL
    • field "English Language Learner Student" is before "Classification date" (position 5 on the category)
    • field "Classification Date" is before "Tiered Placement" (position 6 on the category)
    • field "Tiered Placement" is before "Exit date" (position 7 on the category)

Discipline

  • Category Referral
    • field "Discipline Code highest" is before "Other Code" (position 5 on the category)
    • field "Other Code" is before "Referral Comments" (position 6 on the category)
    • field "Referral Comments" is before "Referral action log" (position 7 on the category)

Sample change of sort order:

  • Using the Sort Order pull-down from within the ESE category, the user wants field "Gifted Eligibility" (currently in position 8) before "ESE FEFP." The user selects that option from the pull-down. It changes the sort order to be: 
    • Gifted Eligibility  - position 5
    • ESE FEFP  - position 6
    • Time Total Weekly  - position 7
    • Time with non-disabled peers  - position 8
  • There is no impact on the position change of the fields before "ESE FEFP," and it shifts all other fields down one position.
  • There is no impact on any other student category.
  • There is no impact on any other source class’s categories and sort orders.
  • There is no opportunity to have two fields with the same sort order within the same source class and category because you are select beginning, end, or before a field.
  • If a field “lives” on more than one category, there is the opportunity to select the sort order within each category. To adjust the sort order of the field, it will need to be done for each category - that is why separate sort order pull-downs appear when a category is added to a field.

Example of a field that lives in two categories:

Student Fields

Example Sort Order Setup within Add a Student or Add Referral

At the field level, if the toggle for new record is selected (e.g. "New Student" in Student Fields), then an additional Sort Order pull-down will display. The fields that display in the pull-down are all the fields with the new record toggle selected for that source class. This means if the user is on a student field sort order for new record, they will not see fields for new record for discipline or users in the pull-down - only student fields with the new record toggle.

The sort order for Add a Student is stored in the Custom_fields table in the New Record column. The values are listed numerically, with only one instance of each number within the source class. The user might see two 1’s, but they are for different source classes.

Example where a field exists in a student category as well as on Add a Student:

Student Fields

Add a Student:

Students

  • Category ESE 
    • field "ESE FEFP" is before "Time Total Weekly" (position 5 on the category)
    • field "Time Total Weekly" is before "Time with non-disabled peers" (position 6 on the category)
    • field "Time with non-disabled peers" is before "Gifted Eligibility" (position 7 on the category)
  • Category ELL
    • field "English Language Learner Student" is before "Classification date" (position 5 on the category)
    • field "Classification Date" is before "Tiered Placement" (position 6 on the category)
    • field "Tiered Placement" is before "Exit date" (position 7 on the category)

Add a Student - New record current sort order may be:

  • field "ESE FEFP" is before "Time Total Weekly" - Add a Student position 3 (position 5 on the category)
  • field "Time Total Weekly" is before "Time with non-disabled peers" -  Add a Student position 4 (position 6 on the category)
  • field "Time with non-disabled peers" is before "Gifted Eligibility" -  Add a Student position 5 (position 7 on the category)
  • field "Gifted Eligibility" is before "English Language Learner Student" -  Add a Student position 6
  • field "English Language Learner Student" is before "Classification date" -  Add a Student position 7 (position 5 on the category)
  • field "Classification Date" is before "Tiered Placement" -  Add a Student position 8 (position 6 on the category)
  • field "Tiered Placement" is before "Exit date" - Add a Student position 9 (position 7 on the category)

The position within the category does not change, and the position within Add a Student - New Record is sequential within the source class regardless of the category.

If the field "Country of Birth" is added to Add a Student ("New Student" is selected on the field in Student Fields), and in the New Student Sort Order pull-down, the user selects to place this before "ESE FEFP":

  • "Country of Birth" will now have position 3 in the New Record column in the DB, and the other fields will shift to be in positions 4-10 instead of 3-9.

Changing the sort order for Add a Student new record fields does not impact the New Record value for any other source class.

Add Referral:

Discipline

  • Category Referral
    • field "Discipline Code highest" is before "Other Code" (position 5 on the category)
    • field "Other Code" is before "Referral Comments" (position 6 on the category)
    • field "Referral Comments" is before "Referral action log" (position 7 on the category)
    • field "Referral action log" is before "Weapon Related" (position 8 on the category)
    • field "Weapon Related" is position 9

Add Referral has six fields before the "Discipline Code highest" when a user is adding a new referral. "Weapon Related" needs to be on the referral to complete it, but is not needed on the Add Referral screen. The New Record Sort order for the above fields would then be:

  • field "Discipline Code highest" is before "Other Code" - Add Referral position 7 (position 5 on the category)
  • field "Other Code" is before "Referral Comments" - Add Referral position 8 (position 6 on the category)
  • field "Referral Comments" is before "Referral action log" - Add Referral position 9 (position 7 on the category)
  • field "Referral action log" is before "Weapon Related" - Add Referral position 10 (position 8 on the category)
  • field "Weapon Related" is position 9 - Will not have a value for Add Referral - the New Record field value in the custom_fields table will be null

The position within the category does not change, and the position within Add Referral new record is sequential within the source class regardless of whether the district has a local referral category with fields on it.

Changing the sort order for Add Referral new record fields does not impact the New Record value for any other source class.

It is not possible to have the same sort order for two fields within a category, as you are selecting beginning, end, or “before” a field.

It is not possible to have the same sort order for two fields on Add a Student or Add Referral as you are selecting beginning, end, or “before” a field, and the only fields available to select from are those a) in the Source Class and b) with the New Record (e.g. "New Student," "New Referral") toggled on.