Product sort order doesn't work- products display randomly!

The products on both my store Homepage and Category pages are being displayed in a random sort order. I've tried changing the following values to no avail:

-Congifuration > Layout Settings > Categories/Products Display Sort Order
-Configuration> All Listing > Display Product Display - Default Sort Order

I'm using a custom template and perhaps some where along the way, a piece of code was incorrectly manipulated. In my template file, under templates/tpl_modules_product_listing.php I see the following code:

$new_products = $db->ExecuteRandomMulti($listing_sql, MAX_DISPLAY_NEW_PRODUCTS);

$row = 0;
$col = 0;
$list_box_contents = array();
$title = '';

$num_products_count = $new_products->RecordCount();

define('SHOW_PRODUCT_INFO_COLUMNS_NEW_PRODUCTS', 4);
// show only when 1 or more
if ($num_products_count > 0) {
if ($num_products_count < SHOW_PRODUCT_INFO_COLUMNS_NEW_PRODUCTS || SHOW_PRODUCT_INFO_COLUMNS_NEW_PRODUCTS == 0 ) {
$col_width = floor(100/$num_products_count);
} else {
$col_width = floor(100/SHOW_PRODUCT_INFO_COLUMNS_NEW_PRODUCTS);
}

while (!$new_products->EOF) {

$products_price = zen_get_products_display_price($new_products->fields['products_id']);

$new_products->fields['products_name'] = zen_get_products_name($new_products->fields['products_id']);
$list_box_contents[$row][$col] = array('params' => 'class="centerBoxContentsNew centeredContent back"' . ' ' . 'style="width:' . $col_width . '%;"',
'text' => (($new_products->fields['products_image'] == '' and PRODUCTS_IMAGE_NO_IMAGE_STATUS == 0) ? '' : '<div class="product_image"><a href="' . zen_href_link(zen_get_info_page($new_products->fields['products_id']), 'products_id=' . $new_products->fields['products_id']) . '">' . zen_image(DIR_WS_IMAGES . $new_products->fields['products_image'], $new_products->fields['products_name'], IMAGE_PRODUCT_NEW_WIDTH, IMAGE_PRODUCT_NEW_HEIGHT) . '</a></div>') . '<div class="product_info"><span class="product_name"><a href="' . zen_href_link(zen_get_info_page($new_products->fields['products_id']), 'products_id=' . $new_products->fields['products_id']) . '">' . $new_products->fields['products_name'] . '</a></span><span class="product_price">' . $products_price . "</span></div>");

$col ++;
if ($col > (SHOW_PRODUCT_INFO_COLUMNS_NEW_PRODUCTS - 1)) {
  $col = 0;
  $row ++;
}
$new_products->MoveNextRandom();

}

/if ($new_products->RecordCount() > 0) {
if (isset($new_products_category_id) && $new_products_category_id != 0) {
$category_title = zen_get_categories_name((int)$new_products_category_id);
$title = '<h2 class="centerBoxHeading">' . sprintf(TABLE_HEADING_NEW_PRODUCTS, strftime('%B')) . ($category_title != '' ? ' - ' . $category_title : '' ) . '</h2>';
} else {
$title = '<h2 class="centerBoxHeading">' . sprintf(TABLE_HEADING_NEW_PRODUCTS, strftime('%B')) . '</h2>';
}
$zc_show_new_products = true;
}/
}
?>

<div id="productListing"> <?php // only show when there is something to submit and enabled if ($show_top_submit_button == true) { ?> <div class="buttonRow forward"><?php echo zen_image_submit(BUTTON_IMAGE_ADD_PRODUCTS_TO_CART, BUTTON_ADD_PRODUCTS_TO_CART_ALT, 'id="submit1" name="submit1"'); ?></div> <br class="clearBoth" /> <?php } // show top submit ?> <?php if ( ($listing_split->number_of_rows > 0) && ( (PREV_NEXT_BAR_LOCATION == '1') || (PREV_NEXT_BAR_LOCATION == '3') ) ) { ?> <div id="productsListingTopNumber" class="navSplitPagesResult back"><?php echo $listing_split->display_count(TEXT_DISPLAY_NUMBER_OF_PRODUCTS); ?></div> <div id="productsListingListingTopLinks" class="navSplitPagesLinks forward"><?php echo TEXT_RESULT_PAGE . ' ' . $listing_split->display_links(MAX_DISPLAY_PAGE_LINKS, zen_get_all_get_params(array('page', 'info', 'x', 'y', 'main_page'))); ?></div> <br class="clearBoth" /> <?php } ?> <?php /** * load the list_box_content template to display the products */ //require($template->get_template_dir('tpl_tabular_display.php',DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'common'). '/tpl_tabular_display.php'); require($template->get_template_dir('tpl_columnar_display.php',DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'common'). '/tpl_columnar_display.php'); ?> <?php if ( ($listing_split->number_of_rows > 0) && ((PREV_NEXT_BAR_LOCATION == '2') || (PREV_NEXT_BAR_LOCATION == '3')) ) { ?> <div id="productsListingBottomNumber" class="navSplitPagesResult back"><?php echo $listing_split->display_count(TEXT_DISPLAY_NUMBER_OF_PRODUCTS); ?></div> <div id="productsListingListingBottomLinks" class="navSplitPagesLinks forward"><?php echo TEXT_RESULT_PAGE . ' ' . $listing_split->display_links(MAX_DISPLAY_PAGE_LINKS, zen_get_all_get_params(array('page', 'info', 'x', 'y'))); ?></div> <br class="clearBoth" /> <?php } ?> <?php // only show when there is something to submit and enabled if ($show_bottom_submit_button == true) { ?> <div class="buttonRow forward"><?php echo zen_image_submit(BUTTON_IMAGE_ADD_PRODUCTS_TO_CART, BUTTON_ADD_PRODUCTS_TO_CART_ALT, 'id="submit2" name="submit1"'); ?></div> <br class="clearBoth" /> <?php } // show_bottom_submit_button ?> </div> <?php // if ($show_top_submit_button == true or $show_bottom_submit_button == true or (PRODUCT_LISTING_MULTIPLE_ADD_TO_CART != 0 and $show_submit == true and $listing_split->number_of_rows > 0)) { if ($show_top_submit_button == true or $show_bottom_submit_button == true) { ?> </form> <?php } ?>

Does anyone see any glaring issues as to why the products display randomly? I could really use some guidance from the ZC aficionados here...appreciate your help!

They display randomly because that is how those displays are designed.

Hey Kim, what do you mean by that? I simply want my category index pages to be sorted by sort ID.

To change display order in category listing you need to edit:

-Configuration> Product Listing > Display Product Listing Default Sort Order

To change display order in category listing you need to edit:

-Configuration> Product Listing > Display Product Listing Default Sort Order

I set this value to 2a but that didnt seem to work.

FYI heres the page I'm talking about: http://www.aplombclothing.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1

Intersting, since your site seems to sort by random.

yeah I'm thinking my tpl_modules_product_listing.php is messed up. I think this module is what generates the content on the page but then again I don't really know much about PHP ... any help would be great

I suspect this line:

			 				$new_products = $db->ExecuteRandomMulti($listing_sql, MAX_DISPLAY_NEW_PRODUCTS);

Check the default template, see if they have it there.

Yes it appears that the > ExecuteRandomMulti($listing_sql, MAX_DISPLAY_NEW_PRODUCTS); function is causing my store to break. I tried changing this to > Execute($listing_sql, MAX_DISPLAY_NEW_PRODUCTS); but this doesn't seem to work either. Does anyone understand how this function works?

The Centerboxes are designed to be random sort orders ...

The Listings each have their own settings for the display that you can configure on each of the Listing settings ...