Next Run Date column not sorting

[Rich Hurley]

We've just installed SQL Server 2000 on one of our servers and have
noticed a strange behavior. When clicking the column headings in the
job display in Enterprise Manager, the list is sorted (first click
ascending, then descending) on the column clicked except for "Next Run
Date." When we click on "Next Run Date," the list is reordered, but
randomly. Each time we click it we get a different order but never
ascending or descending. This is true whether we're at the server or
on a remote machine. We never saw this behavior with SQL Server 7.0.

Any ideas? Thanks!

[Simon Hayes]

"Rich Hurley" <Ri*********@mci.com> wrote in message
news:e3**************************@posting.google.c om...

We've just installed SQL Server 2000 on one of our servers and have
noticed a strange behavior. When clicking the column headings in the
job display in Enterprise Manager, the list is sorted (first click
ascending, then descending) on the column clicked except for "Next Run
Date." When we click on "Next Run Date," the list is reordered, but
randomly. Each time we click it we get a different order but never
ascending or descending. This is true whether we're at the server or
on a remote machine. We never saw this behavior with SQL Server 7.0.

Any ideas? Thanks!

The problem with Enterprise Manager is that you never really know what it's
doing. If you run a SELECT query with an ORDER BY clause in Query Analyzer,
does it return the correct order? QA is a much better and simpler tool for
retreiving and manipulating data than EM, because there's no guesswork
involved and you can control exactly what data you retrieve and how.

Simon

[Rich Hurley]

"Simon Hayes" <sq*@hayes.ch> wrote in message news:<41********@news.bluewin.ch>...

"Rich Hurley" <Ri*********@mci.com> wrote in message
news:e3**************************@posting.google.c om...

The problem with Enterprise Manager is that you never really know what it's
doing. If you run a SELECT query with an ORDER BY clause in Query Analyzer,
does it return the correct order? QA is a much better and simpler tool for
retreiving and manipulating data than EM, because there's no guesswork
involved and you can control exactly what data you retrieve and how.

Simon

ORDER BY works fine in QA. Ordering also works fine in other columns
of the job list in Ent. Mgr. The "Next Run Date" column is the only
one that is acting weird. If I use SQL 2000 Ent. Mgr. from my laptop
to look at any of our servers (4 SQL 7.0 & 1 SQL 2000) the same
behavior occurs. Ent. Mgr. on our 7.0 servers works fine but, of
course, cannot connect to the 2000 server.

Rich

[Simon Hayes]

"Rich Hurley" <Ri*********@mci.com> wrote in message
news:e3**************************@posting.google.c om...

"Simon Hayes" <sq*@hayes.ch> wrote in message
news:<41********@news.bluewin.ch>...

"Rich Hurley" <Ri*********@mci.com> wrote in message
news:e3**************************@posting.google.c om...

The problem with Enterprise Manager is that you never really know what
it's
doing. If you run a SELECT query with an ORDER BY clause in Query
Analyzer,
does it return the correct order? QA is a much better and simpler tool
for
retreiving and manipulating data than EM, because there's no guesswork
involved and you can control exactly what data you retrieve and how.

Simon

ORDER BY works fine in QA. Ordering also works fine in other columns
of the job list in Ent. Mgr. The "Next Run Date" column is the only
one that is acting weird. If I use SQL 2000 Ent. Mgr. from my laptop
to look at any of our servers (4 SQL 7.0 & 1 SQL 2000) the same
behavior occurs. Ent. Mgr. on our 7.0 servers works fine but, of
course, cannot connect to the 2000 server.

Rich

If it's a date column, then perhaps some sort of regional settings issue
might be causing it? Although if it works properly in QA, then I personally
wouldn't worry about it; EM has plenty of other data manipulation issues
anyway, as described in some detail here:

http://www.aspfaq.com/show.asp?id=2455

Simon

[Rich Hurley]

"Simon Hayes" <sq*@hayes.ch> wrote in message news:<41**********@news.bluewin.ch>...

If it's a date column, then perhaps some sort of regional settings issue
might be causing it? Although if it works properly in QA, then I personally
wouldn't worry about it; EM has plenty of other data manipulation issues
anyway, as described in some detail here:

http://www.aspfaq.com/show.asp?id=2455

Simon

If the job list was sorted consistently when I click on the column
heading I'd believe it was a regional setting. But everytime I click
the "Next Run Time" heading, I get a random result. The other columns
sort ascending on the first click and descending on a second click and
continue to flip-flop as many times as they are clicked. Not so with
the "Next Run Time" column. There's no rhyme or reason to the order
that jobs are displayed no matter how many times I click -- it's
different each time -- not just a reverse of the previous display.

QA doesn't help when managing jobs -- as the article points out EM is
the preferred tool for that -- QA queries would simply be too long and
too complex. I'm just puzzled by what could cause this weird behavior
in EM.

Thanks,
Rich