Hi Senna,
I am not sure of the exact syntax, I am sure you are correct.
What happened when you issued REQUERY()? In order for this technique to work, the variable that holds the order by clause must exist at the time you issue REQUERY. This technique does work, I use it all the time. You can use macro substitution on any part of an SQL statement to permit runtime modification of the statement. This is a very powerful technique.
Regards, Chaim