CASE statement in the ORDER BY CLAUSE - sql

Question

SQL SERVER
I'm attempting to sort records in my ORDER BY clause in an exact manner. So the records should be sorted in the following manner. I think my issue might be the CASE STATEMENT syntax, but I can't seem to find anything telling me that it's wrong, other than the code not running.
od.Status
Firm,
In Process,
Released,
Everything Else
I believed I could assign each type of record a number, and then sort those numbers.
The code below gives me "ORDER BY items must appear in the select list if SELECT DISTINCT is specified"
SELECT DISTINCT
oh.Order_Number AS Order_Number,
oh.Status AS Order_Status,
oh.Customer_Name AS Customer_Name,
vsc.Salesman_Name AS Salesman_Name,
vsc.Email_Address AS Email_Address,
od.Work_Code AS Work_Code,
od.Product_Code AS Product_Code,
CONVERT(char(10),od.Projected_Ship_Date,101) AS Projected_Ship_Date,
CONVERT(char(10),od.Due_Date,101) AS OD_Due_Date,
format(oh.Gross_Amount, '$#,##0.##') AS Gross_Amount,
DATEDIFF(DAY,oh.Order_Date,'{%Current Date%}') AS DIP,
od.Part_Number AS Part_Number,
od.Status AS Status,
CAST(qd.Delivery_Notes AS NVARCHAR(MAX)) AS Delivery_Notes
FROM
dbo.Order_Header oh LEFT OUTER JOIN dbo.Commission_Distribution cd ON oh.Order_Header_ID = cd.Order_Header_ID LEFT OUTER JOIN
dbo.vSalesman_Code vsc ON cd.Salesman_Code = vsc.Salesman_Code JOIN
dbo.Order_Detail od ON od.Order_Header_ID = oh.Order_Header_ID JOIN
dbo.Quotation_Detail qd ON od.Quotation_Detail_ID = qd.Quotation_Detail_ID JOIN
dbo.Quotation_Header qh ON qd.Quotation_Header_ID = qh.Quotation_Header_ID
WHERE
oh.Status = 'Open' AND
cd.Company_Code = 'AIN' AND
oh.Customer_Name NOT IN ( 'A.I. Innovations' , 'AI PROPERTIES Fortville LLC' , 'AI-IN Intercompany' , 'AI-NC Intercompany' ) AND
od.Status <> 'Closed' AND
LEFT(od.Part_Number, 3) <> 'MTS' AND
vsc.Salesman_Name NOT IN ( 'House' , 'House Accounts' ) AND
od.Status <> 'Hold' AND
od.Product_Code NOT LIKE '%PROCES%' AND
od.Product_Code NOT LIKE '%VISTA WARRANT%'
ORDER BY
CASE
WHEN od.Status = 'Firm' THEN 1
WHEN od.Status = 'In Process' THEN 2
WHEN od.Status = 'Released' THEN 3
ELSE 4
END,
vsc.Email_Address ASC,
CONVERT(char(10),od.Projected_Ship_Date,101) ASC
Any help on this would be appreciated. I haven't been able to find very much on this issue. Most issues I've found want to sort one set DESC, and another set ASC, but not in a particular order.
Thanks

Answer 1

Just updated your query:
SELECT DISTINCT
oh.Order_Number AS Order_Number,
oh.Status AS Order_Status,
oh.Customer_Name AS Customer_Name,
vsc.Salesman_Name AS Salesman_Name,
vsc.Email_Address AS Email_Address,
od.Work_Code AS Work_Code,
od.Product_Code AS Product_Code,
CONVERT(char(10),od.Projected_Ship_Date,101) AS Projected_Ship_Date,
CONVERT(char(10),od.Due_Date,101) AS OD_Due_Date,
format(oh.Gross_Amount, '$#,##0.##') AS Gross_Amount,
DATEDIFF(DAY,oh.Order_Date,'{%Current Date%}') AS DIP,
od.Part_Number AS Part_Number,
od.Status AS Status,
CAST(qd.Delivery_Notes AS NVARCHAR(MAX)) AS Delivery_Notes,
CASE
WHEN od.Status = 'Firm' THEN 1
WHEN od.Status = 'In Process' THEN 2
WHEN od.Status = 'Released' THEN 3
ELSE 4
END As StatusOrderId
FROM
dbo.Order_Header oh LEFT OUTER JOIN dbo.Commission_Distribution cd ON
oh.Order_Header_ID = cd.Order_Header_ID LEFT OUTER JOIN
dbo.vSalesman_Code vsc ON cd.Salesman_Code = vsc.Salesman_Code JOIN
dbo.Order_Detail od ON od.Order_Header_ID = oh.Order_Header_ID JOIN
dbo.Quotation_Detail qd ON od.Quotation_Detail_ID = qd.Quotation_Detail_ID JOIN
dbo.Quotation_Header qh ON qd.Quotation_Header_ID = qh.Quotation_Header_ID
WHERE
oh.Status = 'Open' AND
cd.Company_Code = 'AIN' AND
oh.Customer_Name NOT IN ( 'A.I. Innovations' , 'AI PROPERTIES Fortville LLC' , 'AI-IN Intercompany' , 'AI-NC Intercompany' ) AND
od.Status <> 'Closed' AND
LEFT(od.Part_Number, 3) <> 'MTS' AND
vsc.Salesman_Name NOT IN ( 'House' , 'House Accounts' ) AND
od.Status <> 'Hold' AND
od.Product_Code NOT LIKE '%PROCES%' AND
od.Product_Code NOT LIKE '%VISTA WARRANT%'
ORDER BY
CASE
WHEN od.Status = 'Firm' THEN 1
WHEN od.Status = 'In Process' THEN 2
WHEN od.Status = 'Released' THEN 3
ELSE 4
END,
vsc.Email_Address ASC,
CONVERT(char(10),od.Projected_Ship_Date,101) ASC

Answer 2

The problem is that the "case" statement in your order by must actually appear as a column in the select statement because you are doing a select distinct. Here is an example, the first query is invalid, the second works
select distinct
tableName = t.name
from sys.tables t
order by case
when t.name like '%something%' then 1
else 2
end;
select distinct
orderingColumn = case
when t.name like '%something%' then 1
else 2
end,
tableName = t.name
from sys.tables t
order by case
when t.name like '%something%' then 1
else 2
end
The problem here is that the orderingColumn will be returned by the select statement, and it seems like you don't want that, but that's easily fixed by a CTE or subquery:
with MyQuery as
(
select distinct
orderingColumn = case
when t.name like '%something%' then 1
else 2
end,
tableName = t.name
from sys.tables t
)
select tableName from MyQuery order by orderingColumn;