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Sorting & Pagination

Once an endpoint returns more rows than fit comfortably in one response, sorting and pagination become your tools of choice. This page shows how $orderby, $top, and $skip work together, and which patterns stay fast as your data grows.

Sorting with $orderby ​

Basic Syntax ​

txt
$orderby=field [asc|desc]

Single Field Sorting ​

http
# Ascending (default)
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=Name

# Explicit ascending
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=Name asc

# Descending
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=Price desc

Multiple Field Sorting ​

http
# Primary and secondary sort
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=Category,Price desc

# Multiple fields with mixed directions
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=Category asc,Price desc,Name asc

# Complex sorting
GET /api/prod/Orders?$orderby=CustomerCode,OrderDate desc,Priority asc

Sorting Rules ​

  1. Default order is ascending if not specified
  2. Fields are sorted in the order listed
  3. Field names are case-sensitive
  4. Sorting applies before pagination

Pagination with $top and $skip ​

$top - Limit Results ​

Controls the maximum number of items returned:

http
# Return first 10 items
GET /api/prod/Products?$top=10

# Return first 50 items
GET /api/prod/Products?$top=50

$skip - Skip Results ​

Skips a specified number of items:

http
# Skip first 20 items
GET /api/prod/Products?$skip=20

# Skip first 100 items
GET /api/prod/Products?$skip=100

Combined Pagination ​

http
# Page 1 (items 1-10)
GET /api/prod/Products?$top=10&$skip=0

# Page 2 (items 11-20)
GET /api/prod/Products?$top=10&$skip=10

# Page 3 (items 21-30)
GET /api/prod/Products?$top=10&$skip=20

Pagination Patterns ​

Standard Pagination ​

Implement page-based navigation:

http
# Page size: 25, Page number: 1
GET /api/prod/Orders?$top=25&$skip=0&$orderby=OrderDate desc

# Page size: 25, Page number: 2
GET /api/prod/Orders?$top=25&$skip=25&$orderby=OrderDate desc

# Page size: 25, Page number: 3
GET /api/prod/Orders?$top=25&$skip=50&$orderby=OrderDate desc

Formula:

txt
$skip = (pageNumber - 1) * pageSize
$top = pageSize

Offset-Based Pagination ​

Direct control over starting position:

http
# Get items 51-75
GET /api/prod/Products?$top=25&$skip=50

# Get items 101-150
GET /api/prod/Products?$top=50&$skip=100

Cursor-Based Pagination ​

Use the NextLink provided in responses:

json
{
  "success": true,
  "count": 10,
  "value": [...],
  "nextLink": "/api/prod/Products?$top=10&$skip=10&$orderby=ItemCode"
}
http
# First page
GET /api/prod/Products?$top=10&$orderby=ItemCode

# Next page (use NextLink)
GET /api/prod/Products?$top=10&$skip=10&$orderby=ItemCode

Combining Sort and Pagination ​

Best Practices ​

Always include $orderby when using pagination:

http
# Good - consistent ordering
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=ItemCode&$top=20&$skip=0

# Problematic - inconsistent results
GET /api/prod/Products?$top=20&$skip=0

Common Patterns ​

  1. Recent Items First
http
GET /api/prod/Orders?$orderby=OrderDate desc&$top=10
  1. Alphabetical with Pagination
http
GET /api/prod/Customers?$orderby=LastName,FirstName&$top=50&$skip=0
  1. Priority Sorting
http
GET /api/prod/Tasks?$orderby=Priority asc,DueDate asc&$top=20
  1. Multi-Level Sorting
http
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=Category,SubCategory,Name&$top=100&$skip=0

Performance Optimization ​

Indexed Field Sorting ​

Sort on indexed fields for better performance:

http
# Good - sorting on primary key
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=ItemCode&$top=50

# Good - sorting on indexed field
GET /api/prod/Orders?$orderby=OrderDate desc&$top=20

# Less efficient - non-indexed field
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=Description&$top=50

Efficient Pagination ​

  1. Use Reasonable Page Sizes
http
# Optimal
GET /api/prod/Products?$top=50&$skip=0

# Too large (may timeout)
GET /api/prod/Products?$top=10000&$skip=0

# Too small (many requests)
GET /api/prod/Products?$top=5&$skip=0
  1. Avoid Deep Pagination
http
# Efficient
GET /api/prod/Products?$top=50&$skip=100

# Inefficient (deep pagination)
GET /api/prod/Products?$top=50&$skip=10000

Sorting Performance Tips ​

  1. Single Field vs Multiple Fields
http
# Faster
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=ItemCode

# Slower
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=Category,SubCategory,Name
  1. Direction Matters
http
# Often faster (uses index efficiently)
GET /api/prod/Orders?$orderby=OrderDate desc

# May be slower (depends on index)
GET /api/prod/Orders?$orderby=OrderDate asc

Complete Examples ​

Product Catalog with Categories ​

http
# Products by category, then price
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=Category,Price desc&$top=20&$skip=0

# Products in "Electronics" category, sorted by price
GET /api/prod/Products?$filter=Category eq 'Electronics'&$orderby=Price desc&$top=10

# Most expensive products per category
GET /api/prod/Products?$select=Category,Name,Price&$orderby=Category,Price desc&$top=5

Customer Order History ​

http
# Recent orders for a customer
GET /api/prod/Orders?$filter=CustomerCode eq 'CUST001'&$orderby=OrderDate desc&$top=10

# Customer's largest orders
GET /api/prod/Orders?$filter=CustomerCode eq 'CUST001'&$orderby=TotalAmount desc&$top=5

# Orders with status tracking
GET /api/prod/Orders?$filter=CustomerCode eq 'CUST001'&$orderby=OrderDate desc&$select=OrderNumber,OrderDate,Status,TotalAmount&$top=20

Inventory Management ​

http
# Low stock items
GET /api/prod/Products?$filter=StockLevel le 10&$orderby=StockLevel asc&$top=20

# Items by warehouse location
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=WarehouseLocation,Bin&$select=ItemCode,Name,WarehouseLocation,Bin,StockLevel&$top=50

# Recent stock movements
GET /api/prod/StockMovements?$orderby=MovementDate desc&$top=100

Error Handling ​

Invalid $orderby Fields ​

http
# Error: Invalid field name
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=InvalidField
Response: 400 Bad Request
{
  "error": "Invalid orderby field: InvalidField"
}

# Error: Missing field name
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=
Response: 400 Bad Request
{
  "error": "Empty orderby clause"
}

Pagination Errors ​

http
# Error: Negative $skip value
GET /api/prod/Products?$skip=-10
Response: 400 Bad Request
{
  "error": "$skip cannot be negative"
}

# Error: $top exceeds maximum
GET /api/prod/Products?$top=10000
Response: 400 Bad Request
{
  "error": "$top cannot exceed 1000"
}

Response Format ​

Standard Pagination Response ​

json
{
  "success": true,
  "count": 10,
  "value": [
    {
      "ItemCode": "PROD001",
      "Name": "Widget A",
      "Price": 29.99,
      "Category": "Widgets"
    },
    {
      "ItemCode": "PROD002",
      "Name": "Widget B",
      "Price": 39.99,
      "Category": "Widgets"
    }
    // ... 8 more items
  ],
  "nextLink": "/api/prod/Products?$orderby=Category,Price desc&$top=10&$skip=10"
}

Last Page Response ​

json
{
  "success": true,
  "count": 5,
  "value": [
    // ... 5 items
  ],
  "nextLink": null
}

Advanced Techniques ​

Stable Sorting ​

Ensure consistent pagination by including a unique identifier:

http
# Good - stable sorting
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=Price desc,ItemCode&$top=20&$skip=0

# Problematic - may have inconsistent ordering
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=Price desc&$top=20&$skip=0

Keyset Pagination ​

More efficient for large datasets:

http
# Traditional offset pagination (slower for large offsets)
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=ItemCode&$top=20&$skip=10000

# Keyset pagination (faster)
GET /api/prod/Products?$filter=ItemCode gt 'PROD10000'&$orderby=ItemCode&$top=20

Dynamic Sorting ​

Build orderby clauses programmatically:

javascript
// JavaScript example
function buildOrderBy(sortFields) {
  return sortFields
    .map(field => `${field.name}${field.desc ? ' desc' : ''}`)
    .join(',');
}

const sortFields = [
  { name: 'Category', desc: false },
  { name: 'Price', desc: true },
  { name: 'Name', desc: false }
];

const orderBy = buildOrderBy(sortFields);
// Result: "Category,Price desc,Name"

Sorting with Nulls ​

Handle null values in sorting:

http
# Nulls typically sort first in ascending order
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=DiscountPrice asc

# Nulls typically sort last in descending order
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=DiscountPrice desc

Troubleshooting ​

Common Issues ​

  1. Inconsistent Pagination Results

    • Always include $orderby for consistent pagination
    • Use a unique identifier as a tiebreaker

  2. Slow Performance

    • Sort on indexed columns when possible
    • Limit page size to reasonable numbers
    • Avoid deep pagination (high $skip values)

  3. Unexpected Sort Order

    • Check field names for case sensitivity
    • Verify sort direction (asc/desc)
    • Consider data type effects on sorting

Performance Monitoring ​

http
# Add timing headers to monitor performance
GET /api/prod/Products?$orderby=Name&$top=100
Response Headers:
X-Query-Time: 45ms
X-Total-Records: 5000
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Last updated: 2026-07-23

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