Support for deep order-by sorting / querying

Problem

Considering the following schema (highly simplified):

model Item {
  id            Int        @id @default(autoincrement()) @db.Int()
  localization  ItemI18n[]
}

model ItemI18n {
  id         Int    @id @default(autoincrement()) @db.Int()
  name       String @db.VarChar(512)
  itemId     Int    @db.Int()
  item       Item   @relation(fields: [itemId], references: [id])

  @@index([itemId], name: "itemId")
}

Using the following SQL Query I can retrieve all items ordered by the name specified in ItemI18n:

SELECT * FROM Item i, ItemI18n i18
ORDER BY i18.name;

But trying the same with prisma fails:

import {PrismaClient} from '@prisma/client';

const prisma = new PrismaClient();

(async () => {
    console.log(
        await prisma.item.findMany({
            orderBy: {
                // Only id is available
            }
        })
    );
})();

Suggested solution

Allowing orderBy to work in both directions (sorry I’m lacking a few terms here)? Something like this:

import {PrismaClient} from '@prisma/client';

const prisma = new PrismaClient();

(async () => {
    console.log(
        await prisma.item.findMany({
            orderBy: {
                localization: {
                    name: 'asc'
                }
            }
        })
    );
})();

Alternatives

None I guess, I could execute a raw query but that’s not doing it in most cases. Or resolve each ItemI18n one-by-one but that’s inherently difficult and cumbersome.

Additional context

I am using:

• Node: v14.15.5
• NPM: 7.5.6
• Prisma: 2.17.0

[jhackett1]

i think this is what i need to. in my case it’s for a chat-like application:

• find all contacts
• include the most recent message exchanged (a nested relation)
• order contacts by the most recent message
• limit (take?) the number of messages to the last one (since the last message is all that’s shown, and there could be hundreds of messages per contact)

this doesn’t work:

    result = await prisma.contact.findMany({
      orderBy: {
        messages: {
          createdAt: "desc",
        },
      },
      include: {
        messages: {
          orderBy: {
            createdAt: "desc",
          },
          take: 1,
        },
      },
    })

more info on prisma slack

[jamesopti]

Any updates on this? Would love to know if its even been prioritized on the roadmap. Seems like it would be pretty useful for a lot of folks!