Product Listing Default Sort Order

FYI...all of the db changes made in zen_configuration have been applied to each of the listings (new, featured, and all).

I have not tried this, but I believe you will want to change listing_display_order.php

<option value="9" <?php echo ($disp_order == '9' ?  'selected="selected"' : ''); ?>><?php echo  TEXT_INFO_SORT_BY_PRODUCTS_WEIGHT; ?></option>

from 9 to 8 ...

Then, look at the file:
/includes/modules/listing_display_order.php

and add the case for 8:

  case ($_GET['disp_order'] == 8):
  $order_by = " order by p.products_weight, pd.products_name";
  break;

NOTE: I added the products_name in there so there was some order when sorted by weight and there are a dozen products with weight of 1 and something to sort all of those to a logical order ...

The reason to use 8 vs 9 is that the default on the case was intended to work on the sort_order which was what to do when there was no match ... and while the admin settings show 1-8 you will see there is no 8 in the case statements in the original code ...

On your changes for the database settings, change those so that they display with 8 for the weight rather than 9 ...

That did the trick! I left everything labeled as 9 (since the admin area has an 8 for product sort order for new, featured, and all products...).

Thanks for your help.

Is it possible to list products in admin by manufacturer name as search result, sort order or manufacturer page?

Ajeh:

When the Product Listing is displayed, click on the titles ... you will see a sort=#x in the URL ... that is the sort order setting for that display ...

Get the display in the order that you want for the default to be ... then using that sort=#x enter that as the Sort Order on the Product Listing ...

The perfect answer! But I had exactly the same question as morechai 11 years later and the instructions are exactly the same--just as opaque--as they were then. In most of the other configuration boxes the options are described. In the Zen Wiki, this particular setting isn't even addressed--it's link redirects to configuring Gift Certificates!

I searched for this answer for an hour. Thanks again for providing it!

This thread still pops up first for sort order queries.

In this mod
https://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?205606-Product-Listing-Sorter-Drop-Down
there is a detailed description of how the sorting works.