I have a question on using querystrings. Is there some way to set a default value that is used when NO querystring is added to the URL?

I have a page that displays product information in a table form. I decided to make an option for the user to sort the data, so I created a variable which changes the SORT clause in the SQL statement. The variable is controlled using a querystring. So for example, "products.asp?sort=price" would sort products by price instead of model. This part works fine.

Here's where I need some help... When I initially load the page, I do not want the querystring added to the URL. I basically want to just load "products.asp" and have a default sort order. I assume I need something like "if not querystring", but I don't know if it's possible to use the presence of a querystring as an IF condition.

I'm looking for some suggestions. Any help is appreciated.

Sort_Order = "your default sort order"
If Request.QueryString ("sortorder") <> "" then
     Sort_Order = Request.QueryString ("sortorder")
     ' your sort order querystring instructions here.
end if

That oughta get you started.

Thanks, this gave me a start... Now I have a new question.

If I sort by price, "$1000" will be listed before "$100". Is there any way to control this? I do not want preceding 0's added to all my prices. There are multiple prices which range from hundreds to thousands, so setting ASC or DESC won't make a difference.

You would better start a new thread for your question, rather than overloading this one.
Anyway, for that ( and depending of your DB), you will need to cast your column type from string to number.

It depends of your db, so check you documentation, but once you do the cast to numeric, and strip every non numeric character, an ASC or DESC sort order will do the trick.

I just checked in mysql5, and this DB does the cast itself, it seems:

mysql> create table sandbox( txt varchar(20) );
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.02 sec)

mysql> insert into sandbox values ('100$');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> insert into sandbox values ('1000$');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> insert into sandbox values ('1050$');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> select * from sandbox order by txt desc;
+-------+
| txt   |
+-------+
| 1050$ |
| 1000$ |
| 100$  |
+-------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql>

Originally Posted by jfdt

Thanks, this gave me a start... Now I have a new question.

If I sort by price, "$1000" will be listed before "$100". Is there any way to control this? I do not want preceding 0's added to all my prices. There are multiple prices which range from hundreds to thousands, so setting ASC or DESC won't make a difference.

As text, 9 is greater/more than 10. As integer or any numeric value, though, that's just plain wrong.

Chop off the $ and then force an integer or a floating point type conversion.