Might this work?
str(datakey,20)+str(seq * evl(sortorder,1),20)

>I'm not sure this is possible but, I would like to build an index statement using 3 fields, datakey, seq, and sortorder. All 3 fields are numeric. The first sort would be on datakey. The second sort would be on seq ascending except when sortorder value is -1, in which case the second sort would be descending. So the output would look like this:
>
>datakey seq sortorder
>1 1 0
>1 2 0
>1 3 0
>1 4 0
>2 4 -1
>2 3 -1
>2 2 -1
>2 1 -1
>3 4 -1
>3 3 -1
>3 2 -1
>3 1 -1
>4 1 0
>4 2 0
>4 3 0
>
>
>I could use a index on statement or an sql order by statement, whichever is easier.
>If I can't do it with either of these I'll have to build a couple of complex loops with a new data field. (I guess)
>
>Thanks for any suggestions.