[ic] Strange Sorting Results

[Adrian P Wilkinson]

Hi Group,

I (with a little bit of help from some IRC users) wrote a little bit of code 
a while ago that compiled a drop-down box of brand names (i.e. Hewlett 
Packard, Apple, etc) and allowed the user to click 'Go!' to display all 
products by that vendor.  Here's the code:

[timed-build period="1 hour" file=timed/list_of_mfr force=1]
<FORM ACTION="[area search]" METHOD="POST">
        <INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="sf" VALUE="vendor">
        <SELECT NAME="se" WIDTH="20">
        [query sql="SELECT DISTINCT vendor FROM products ORDER BY vendor" 
list=1]
          <option value="[sql-param vendor]" selected>[sql-filter 
20.][sql-param vendor][/sql-filter]</option>
        [/query]&nbsp;<input type=submit value="Go!">
          </SELECT>
      </FORM>
[/timed-build]

I've now noticed two very strange little problems with this:

1.  Despite the menu being built from the data available in the tables, it 
won't find certain vendors ("no results") in the list it has populated; an 
example of this is "XFX - PINE VGA CARDS" so I suspect that it's the space 
or the length of the string or something along those lines.

2.  The sorting order is supposed to be by product_group and category, i.e.

       Storage / CD-RW Drives
       - Product 1
       - Product 2
       - Product 3

       Storage / DVD-ROM Drives
       - Product 4
       - Product 5

       ToSortOut / ToSortOut
       - Product 6
       - Product 7

    However, the results come out as follows (for example):

       Storage / CD-RW Drives
       - Product 1
       - Product 2

       Storage / DVD-ROM Drives
       - Product 4

       Storage / CD-RW Drives
       - Product 3

       ToSortOut / ToSortOut
       - Product 6

       Storage / DVD-ROM Drives
       - Product 5

       ToSortOut / ToSortOut
       - Product 7

Is anyone able to offer any pointers as to how to resolve these two annoying 
little problems?  Thanks in advance for any help offered.

Regrads, Ade.