# :order question

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/order-question/162613>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [March 11, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/order-question/162613 "2009-03-11T23:31:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![esdevs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/b4bc9f/32.png) [@esdevs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/esdevs)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/order-question/162613/1 "2009-03-11T23:31:07Z")

</div>

ok so I am trying to do something like the below to order by :joins (I  
know the below won’t work)…the only solution that I can fathom is  
using something like find\_by\_sql - but I certainly would prefer a  
simpler method…any suggestions?

User.find(:all, :joins =\> :deals, :group =\> ‘rev’, :conditions =\>  
[‘saledate \>= ? AND saledate \<= ?’, Time.now.at\_beginning\_of\_month,  
Time.now.at\_end\_of\_month], :order =\> “deals.rev.sum DESC”)

Thanks

Sean

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![esdevs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/b4bc9f/32.png) [@esdevs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/esdevs)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/order-question/162613/2 "2009-03-12T00:06:53Z")

</div>

On Mar 11, 10:30 pm, esdevs [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> ok so I am trying to do something like the below to order by :joins (I  
> know the below won’t work)…the only solution that I can fathom is  
> using something like find\_by\_sql - but I certainly would prefer a  
> simpler method…any suggestions?
> 
> User.find(:all, :joins =\> :deals, :group =\> ‘rev’, :conditions =\>  
> [‘saledate \>= ? AND saledate \<= ?’, Time.now.at\_beginning\_of\_month,  
> Time.now.at\_end\_of\_month], :order =\> “deals.rev.sum DESC”)

I’m not entirely sure what you’re doing - :order has to be a valid sql  
order clause, so order by any column from any of your joined tables,  
or an sql expression is fine (:eg :order =\> “SUM(something)” should be  
ok, although you might need the expression in your order clause to be  
part of the select clause too).

Fred

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![esdevs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/b4bc9f/32.png) [@esdevs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/esdevs)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/order-question/162613/3 "2009-03-12T00:16:50Z")

</div>

so to clarify - I am trying to order by the sum of the items in a  
column in a joined table between a certain date range.

On Mar 11, 7:06 pm, Frederick C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)