Content query web part group by sort

Question

When I enable grouping in the CQWP I can sort in either ascending or descending order based on the values in the field by which I'm grouping. How do I customize that sort order?

For instance, let's say I have a field "PersonType" which has three values: "Players", "Coaches", and "Officials". If I group by field "PersonType" my groups will either be "Coaches", "Officials", and "Players", if I sort ascending, or "Players", "Officials", "Coaches" if I sort descending. How do I customize that sort order?

Answer 1

You can use the XSLT <xsl:sort> element to customize your sort order.

https://sites.google.com/site/icsharepoint2010/xslt/sorting-in-xslt

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"  version="1.0">
  <xsl:output method="text"/>

  <xsl:template match="employees">
    <xsl:apply-templates>
      <xsl:sort select="salary"/>
    </xsl:apply-templates>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="employee">
    Last:      <xsl:apply-templates select="last"/>
    First:     <xsl:apply-templates select="first"/>
    Salary:    <xsl:apply-templates select="salary"/>
    Hire Date: <xsl:apply-templates select="@hireDate"/>
    <xsl:text>
  </xsl:text>

  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>