Controlling the order of record results

Specify an explicit sort key in the MDEX Engine query, set a default sort order, or use relevance ranking (for records returned in response to record search queries).

There are three ways of controlling the order in which records are returned:

Specifying an explicit sort key in the MDEX Engine query, either via a URL parameter (Ns) or an ENEQuery setter method (setNavActiveSortKeys())
Specifying a default sort order (Dgidx option).
Using relevance ranking, for records returned in response to record search queries only. Relevance ranking settings can either be implicitly defined as part of the search interface, or explicitly defined in the search query itself.

The priority of record sorting/relevance ranking is as follows:

If none of these three sorting methods is specified, records are returned in an arbitrary, but consistent, order as determined by an internal ID generated by Dgidx during indexing.
If the MDEX Engine query includes an explicit sort key parameter, that sort key overrides all other sorting and relevance ranking settings.
If a default sort key is specified, and no other sort parameters are set, records are returned in default sort order. Ties are broken using the arbitrary internal order described above.
When searching against a search interface that incorporates a relevance ranking strategy, the relevance ranking strategy takes priority but ties are broken using the default sort key, if one has been specified. If there is no default sort key, ties are broken using the internal ID order described above.
If the MDEX Engine query includes a relevance ranking parameter, that setting overrides any relevance ranking strategies configured in the search interface that is being searched against.

A search interface is a named collection of properties and dimensions, each of which has its Enable Record Search option checked. Search interfaces allow your end-users to search on multiple properties and/or dimensions simultaneously. The search interface's name is used just like a normal property or dimension when performing record searches. A record search query on a search interface returns results that match any of the properties or dimensions in the interface.

Note: Fully implementing this feature requires additional work outside of Developer Studio. Please refer to the Endeca Basic Development Guide for details.