The following scripts are an example of sorting polygons using qsort

"SortPoly.ave" sets up the sort list and writes the resulting records
"CompPoly.Ave" is the comparison routine for qsort

'***********************************************************************
' SortPoly.ave

' Sorts polygons in the active theme to a new shapefile

theTitle = "Sort Polygons"
theView = av.GetActiveDoc
theTheme = theView.GetActiveThemes.Get(0)
inFTab = theTheme.GetFTab

' Specify the output shapefile...

fnDefault = FileName.GetCWD.MakeTmp("shape","shp")
fnOutput  = FileDialog.Put( fnDefault,"*.shp","Output Shape File" )
if (fnOutput = nil) then exit end

' Use selected shapes if there are any, otherwise iterate
' through the entire FTab...
'
if (inFTab.GetSelection.Count > 0) then
  colToProcess = inFTab.GetSelection
  nRecs = colToProcess.Count
else
  colToProcess = inFTab
  nRecs = colToProcess.GetNumRecords
end

'**** set global variable for the comparison routine

_theFTab = inFTab

'**** generate list of records

rlist = List.Make
for each r in colToProcess
   rlist.Add(r.Clone)
end

'**** sort it

slist = av.Run("qsort",{rlist,"CompPoly"})
_theFTab = nil

'**** now write out the new records

fnOutput.SetExtension("shp")
outFTab = FTab.MakeNew( fnOutput, POLYGON )
inFields = inFTab.GetFields
newFields = List.Make
for each f in inFields
   if (f.GetName <> "shape") then
      newFields.Add(f.Clone)
   end
end
outFTab.AddFields(newfields)

nCount = 0
nRecAdded = 0
mpCount = 0
inSF  = inFTab.FindField("shape")
outSF = outFTab.FindField("shape")
for each r in slist
   nRecNew = outFTab.AddRecord
   for each inF in inFTab.GetFields
      fName = inF.GetName
      outF = outFTab.FindField(fName)
      val = inFTab.ReturnValue(inF,r)
      outFTab.SetValue(outF,nRecNew,val)
   end
   nRecAdded = nRecAdded + 1
   nCount = nCount + 1
   av.SetStatus((nCount / nRecs) * 100)
end

av.ClearStatus
av.ClearMsg

if (MsgBox.YesNo("Add shapefile as theme to a view?",
  theTitle, true).Not) then
  exit
end

thmNew = FTheme.Make(outFTab)
theView.AddTheme( thmNew )
'***********************************************************************


'***********************************************************************
' CompPoly
' Polygon comparison routine for qsort

' Note that polygons to be drawn in the back are "lesser" than
' polygons to be drawn in the front.

a = SELF.Get(0)
b = SELF.Get(1)

sf = _theFTab.FindField("shape")
p1 = _theFTab.ReturnValue(sf,a)
p2 = _theFTab.ReturnValue(sf,b)

if (p1.ReturnArea > p2.ReturnArea) then return -1 end
if (p2.ReturnArea > p1.ReturnArea) then return 1 end

return 0

'***********************************************************************