fix(signage): stable index ordering for pagination

Unordered indexes made OFFSET pagination unstable. Media and template
indexes now return newest first (created_at DESC with an id tiebreak);
the playlists index sorts by name with natural ordering a->z (first
embedded number compared numerically, so "Screen 2" precedes
"Screen 10", case-insensitive). paginate_sql runs its COUNT with
ordering unscoped as Postgres rejects non-aggregated ORDER BY columns
in aggregate queries.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: stakach

spec/controllers/signage/playlist_media_spec.cr

@@ -84,6 +84,18 @@ module PlaceOS::Api
     end
 
     describe "index filtering" do
+      it "returns newest items first" do
+        authority = Model::Authority.find_by_domain("localhost").not_nil!
+        oldest = Model::Generator.item(authority: authority).save!
+        middle = Model::Generator.item(authority: authority).save!
+        newest = Model::Generator.item(authority: authority).save!
+
+        result = client.get(base, headers: Spec::Authentication.headers)
+        result.status_code.should eq 200
+        ids = Array(Hash(String, JSON::Any)).from_json(result.body).map(&.["id"].as_s)
+        ids.should eq [newest.id.to_s, middle.id.to_s, oldest.id.to_s]
+      end
+
       it "scopes non-admin callers to items linked to their groups" do
         authority = Model::Authority.find_by_domain("localhost").not_nil!
         user, headers = Spec::Authentication.authentication(sys_admin: false, support: false)

spec/controllers/signage/playlists_spec.cr

@@ -125,6 +125,28 @@ module PlaceOS::Api
     end
 
     describe "index filtering" do
+      it "sorts playlists by name with natural ordering" do
+        authority = Model::Authority.find_by_domain("localhost").not_nil!
+
+        names = ["Screen 10", "atrium", "Screen 2", "Foyer"]
+        playlists = names.map do |name|
+          playlist = Model::Generator.playlist(authority: authority)
+          playlist.name = name
+          playlist.save!
+        end
+        by_name = playlists.to_h { |p| {p.name, p.id.to_s} }
+
+        result = client.get(base, headers: Spec::Authentication.headers)
+        result.status_code.should eq 200
+        ids = Array(Hash(String, JSON::Any)).from_json(result.body).map(&.["id"].as_s)
+        ids.should eq [
+          by_name["atrium"],
+          by_name["Foyer"],
+          by_name["Screen 2"],
+          by_name["Screen 10"],
+        ]
+      end
+
       it "scopes non-admin callers to playlists linked to their groups" do
         authority = Model::Authority.find_by_domain("localhost").not_nil!
         user, headers = Spec::Authentication.authentication(sys_admin: false, support: false)

spec/controllers/signage/templates_spec.cr

@@ -166,6 +166,18 @@ module PlaceOS::Api
     end
 
     describe "index filtering" do
+      it "returns newest templates first" do
+        authority = Model::Authority.find_by_domain("localhost").not_nil!
+        oldest = Model::Generator.signage_template(authority: authority).save!
+        middle = Model::Generator.signage_template(authority: authority).save!
+        newest = Model::Generator.signage_template(authority: authority).save!
+
+        result = client.get(base, headers: Spec::Authentication.headers)
+        result.status_code.should eq 200
+        ids = Array(Hash(String, JSON::Any)).from_json(result.body).map(&.["id"].as_s)
+        ids.should eq [newest.id.to_s, middle.id.to_s, oldest.id.to_s]
+      end
+
       it "scopes non-admin callers to templates linked to their groups" do
         authority = Model::Authority.find_by_domain("localhost").not_nil!
         user, headers = Spec::Authentication.authentication(sys_admin: false, support: false)

src/placeos-rest-api/controllers/application.cr

@@ -98,7 +98,9 @@ module PlaceOS::Api
       offset : Int32 = 0,
       route : String = base_route,
     )
-      total = query.count.to_i32
+      # ORDER BY must not reach the aggregate — Postgres rejects
+      # non-aggregated order columns in a COUNT query
+      total = query.unscope(:order).count.to_i32
       results = query.offset(offset).limit(limit).to_a
 
       range_end = offset + results.size

src/placeos-rest-api/controllers/signage/playlist_media.cr

@@ -156,6 +156,9 @@ module PlaceOS::Api
         query = query.where("tags && ARRAY[#{placeholders}]::text[]", args: filter_tags)
       end
 
+      # newest items first; id tiebreak keeps pagination stable
+      query = query.order("created_at DESC, id")
+
       paginate_sql(query, type: "playlist_items", limit: limit, offset: offset)
     end
 

src/placeos-rest-api/controllers/signage/playlists.cr

@@ -148,6 +148,15 @@ module PlaceOS::Api
         query = query.where("(name ILIKE ? OR description ILIKE ?)", pattern, pattern)
       end
 
+      # natural name ordering a->z: leading text, then the first embedded
+      # number numerically ("Screen 2" before "Screen 10"), then the full
+      # name case-insensitively; id tiebreak keeps pagination stable
+      query = query.order(
+        "substring(lower(name) from '^\\D*'), " \
+        "NULLIF(substring(name from '\\d+'), '')::numeric NULLS FIRST, " \
+        "lower(name), id"
+      )
+
       paginate_sql(query, type: "playlists", limit: limit, offset: offset)
     end
 

src/placeos-rest-api/controllers/signage/templates.cr

@@ -203,6 +203,9 @@ module PlaceOS::Api
         query = query.where("(name ILIKE ? OR description ILIKE ?)", pattern, pattern)
       end
 
+      # newest templates first; id tiebreak keeps pagination stable
+      query = query.order("created_at DESC, id")
+
       paginate_sql(query, type: "templates", limit: limit, offset: offset)
     end