orderable search container in liferay by example

Liferay provide us with many good taglib out of them search container is one of them.It is widely used taglib. For simple understanding of search container please check Wiki here is the link Wiki Search Container. One thing that article is missing how to implement ordering using. For that we will follow few step and will do a simple example.
Step 1: Read the wiki article Search Container.
Step 2:Now write the below code in your jsp.

<%
PortalPreferences portalPrefs = PortletPreferencesFactoryUtil.getPortalPreferences(request);
String orderByCol = ParamUtil.getString(request, "orderByCol");

String orderByType = ParamUtil.getString(request, "orderByType");

if (Validator.isNotNull(orderByCol) && Validator.isNotNull(orderByType)) {
portalPrefs.setValue("KK_3", "kk-order-by-col", orderByCol);
portalPrefs.setValue("KK_3", "kk-order-by-type", orderByType);

} else {

orderByCol = portalPrefs.getValue("KK_3", "kk-order-by-col", "name");
orderByType = portalPrefs.getValue("KK_3", "kk-order-by-type", "asc");

}

OrderByComparator orderByComparator = AddressBookUtil.getAddressBookOrderByComparator(orderByCol, orderByType);
%>


Now I will explain what is happening we are getting the column on which we have to do ordering in orderByCol and order asc or desc in orderByType.
In line portalPrefs.setValue("KK_3", "kk-order-by-col", orderByCol);
here "KK_3" is namespace , "kk-order-by-col" is key and orderByCol is value.
In last line OrderByComparator orderByComparator = AddressBookUtil.getAddressBookOrderByComparator(orderByCol, orderByType);
For this you need to write a comparator , I have written it in com.ext.portlet.addressBook.util.AddressBookUtil and write this code


public class AddressBookUtil {

/**
*
* @param orderByCol
* @param orderByType
* @return
*/

public static OrderByComparator getAddressBookOrderByComparator(
String orderByCol, String orderByType) {

boolean orderByAsc = false;

if (orderByType.equals("asc")) {
orderByAsc = true;
}

OrderByComparator orderByComparator = null;

if (orderByCol.equals("name")) {
orderByComparator = new AddressBookNameComparator(orderByAsc);
} else if (orderByCol.equals("status")) {
orderByComparator = new AddressBookStatusComparator(orderByAsc);
}

return orderByComparator;
}

}

Now in same package write AddressBookNameComparator and AddressBookStatusComparator if you want you can write any where else and do the required imports. Below is the code for AddressBookNameComparator

public class AddressBookNameComparator extends OrderByComparator {

public static String ORDER_BY_ASC = "name ASC";

public static String ORDER_BY_DESC = "name DESC";

public AddressBookNameComparator() {
this(false);
}

public AddressBookNameComparator(boolean asc) {
_asc = asc;
}

public int compare(Object obj1, Object obj2) {
AddressBook project1 = (AddressBook) obj1;
AddressBook project2 = (AddressBook) obj2;

int value = project1.getName().toLowerCase().compareTo(
project2.getName().toLowerCase());

if (_asc) {
return value;
} else {
return -value;
}
}

public String getOrderBy() {
if (_asc) {
return ORDER_BY_ASC;
} else {
return ORDER_BY_DESC;
}
}

private boolean _asc;

}

Do the required imports .Same way you can do for other columns.
Step 3: Use the SearchContainer taglib.

<liferay-ui:search-container
emptyResultsMessage="No Result Found"
orderByCol="<%= orderByCol %>"
orderByType="<%= orderByType %>"
>
<liferay-ui:search-container-results results="<%= AddressBookLocalServiceUtil.getAddressBookList(searchContainer.getStart(), searchContainer.getEnd(),orderByComparator)%>">
total="<%= AddressBookLocalServiceUtil.getAddressBookCount() %>"
/>
<liferay-ui:search-container-row classname="com.ext.portlet.addressBook.model.AddressBook" escapedmodel="<%= true %>">
keyProperty="bookId"
modelVar="addressBook"
>


<liferay-ui:search-container-column-text name="name" orderable="<%= true %>" orderableproperty="name">
>

<%= addressBook.getName() %>

</liferay-ui:search-container-column-text>

<liferay-ui:search-container-column-text name="status" orderable="<%= true %>" orderableproperty="status" property="status">
/>

</liferay-ui:search-container-column-text>


<liferay-ui:search-iterator />
</liferay-ui:search-container-row></liferay-ui:search-container-results>
That is all about orderable search container.If you have read the wiki article then you will easily understand this.

HTH