Sorting Google Spreadsheet on edit - sorting

Question

I am searching for a way to sort my spreadsheet. I have looked around and found the "on edit" function but I am not entirely sure on how to use it. And how does it work with the runtime of only 5 minutes for google scripts, does a cellchange act as a trigger?
I found the following code:
function AutoSortOnEdit() {
var sheetNames = ["testsheet456", "testsheet457", "testsheet458"];
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
sheetNames.forEach(function(name) {
var sheet = ss.getSheetByName(name);
var range = sheet.getRange(5, 1, sheet.getLastRow() - 1, sheet.getLastColumn());
range.sort({column: 1, ascending: true});
});
Personally i would use this slightly modified version:
function AutoSortOnEdit() {
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.openById("...").getSheetByName("...");
var range = sheet.getRange(5, 1, sheet.getLastRow() - 1, sheet.getLastColumn());
range.sort({column: 1, ascending: true});
});
Now I want to sort the sheet in alphabetical order sorted by the first row.
My questions are:
Does "ascending" mean that it sorts in alphabetical order?
Where do empty cells land(they should be at the end obviously)?
Does it gets triggered on every change? Can i manipulate to only sort it when Column A gets edited?
Regards Jonny
Edit: In the end i went with my slighlty modified version since onEdit was after all not fitting in the situation.

Answer 1

Yes, ascending is alphabetical. This code looks for only a change in the sheet named Sheet1 and only column A. The function must be named OnEdit (not AutoSortOnEdit).
function onEdit()
{
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sheetName= sheet.getSheetName();
if(sheetName=="Sheet1"){ //sheet to run on edit
var editRange = sheet.getActiveRange();
var editRow = editRange.getRow();
var editCol = editRange.getColumn();
var lr = sheet.getLastRow()
var range = sheet.getRange("A1:A"+lr);//apply on edit to
var rangeRowStart = range.getRow();
var rangeRowEnd = rangeRowStart + range.getHeight()-1;
var rangeColStart = range.getColumn();
var rangeColEnd = rangeColStart + range.getWidth()-1;
if (editRow >= rangeRowStart && editRow <= rangeRowEnd
&& editCol >= rangeColStart && editCol <= rangeColEnd)
{
var range = sheet.getSheetByName(sheetName).getRange(2, 1, sheet.getLastRow() - 1, sheet.getLastColumn());//Assumes header row
range.sort({column: 1, ascending: true});
}}}

Answer 2

Simple event triggers are limited to a 30 second execution time.
onEdit() events must be named simply onEdit() or onEdit(event)
onEdit can take a variable that represents the event that triggered it, that among other things, includes the range that was edited.
Sheet has it's own sort(). If you are trying to sort the entire sheet it is simpler to use that.
function onEdit(event){
if(event.range.getSheet().getName() == "Sheet1" && event.range.getColumn() == 1){//checks to see if the edited range was both on Sheet1 and column 1 (A)
event.range.getSheet().sort(1,true); //sort by first column
// event.range.getSheet().sort(1,false); //decending
}
}
multiple sheets can watched by expanding the conditionals, or aditional if statements.