orderBy on Preparse field not returning expected results

[kragit]

I'm not getting the expected sort order when attempting to sort entry elements based on the values of a Preparse field.

• CraftCMS: 5.8.8
• Preparse 3.0.0-alpha.2
• Database: PostgreSQL 16.3
• Sorting method: 'ASC'

A Craft number field produces the following sorting:

A Preparse field set to "Number (integer)" produces the following sorting:

The last bit of code that's executing is a division, which should be outputting a number:
{{ totalSales.sum|number_format(0, '', '') / element.metafields.profit_share|split("\n")|length }}

Craft had a similar issue somewhat recently, but as evidenced by the built-in number field sorting correctly, that doesn't seem to be the issue.

Is there something I'm missing?

[jalendport]

Yeah unfortunately this is an issue I have yet to solve for Craft v5. Content is now stored in a JSON blob instead of in per-field columns, which means I can no longer set the db column type dynamically based on the Preparse field type. The new method must be static, which means I can't reference the field settings and thereby set it to Schema::TYPE_INTEGER for numbers or Schema::TYPE_TEXT for anything else 😐

[kragit]

Understood and thanks for the information! I was able to determine a way to add leading zeros to the numbers so that when they're interpreted as strings, the sorting works as expected.