SQL Custom sorting

I need to be able to custom sort values that come from a query basically i have a query like this


SELECT Name from Table

and i want to be able to custom order the values

Ideally, it would add an extra field to the SQL query at runtime so the result would be something like this

Name             SortOrder
------------------------------------
John               1
Sam               2
Susan           3
Andy            4
vbnetcoderAsked:
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Jim HornMicrosoft SQL Server Data DudeCommented:
Expand on 'custom sort'.  Are you trying to get an incrementing integer value for each name, or establishing a sort order other than A-Z name?
vbnetcoderAuthor Commented:
establishing a sort order other than A-Z name?
vbnetcoderAuthor Commented:
sorry: My comment was a statement in answer to your question not intended to be a question.
Jim HornMicrosoft SQL Server Data DudeCommented:
If the names are fixed then you can do something like this...
SELECT blah, blah, blah
FROM your_table
ORDER BY CASE
   WHEN name='John' THEN 1
   WHEN name='Sam' THEN 2
   WHEN name='Susan' THEN 3
   WHEN name='Andy' THEN 4 END

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An illustration can be found in SQL Server CASE Solutions

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Microsoft SQL Server 2008

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