Nevermind, got it working by populating a new array with the line details and sorting that.
My solution in case anyone else is interested
<?php
/**
* Email Order Items
*
* This template can be overridden by copying it to yourtheme/woocommerce/emails/email-order-items.php.
*
* HOWEVER, on occasion WooCommerce will need to update template files and you (the theme developer).
* will need to copy the new files to your theme to maintain compatibility. We try to do this.
* as little as possible, but it does happen. When this occurs the version of the template file will.
* be bumped and the readme will list any important changes.
*
* @see http://docs.woothemes.com/document/template-structure/
* @author WooThemes
* @package WooCommerce/Templates/Emails
* @version 2.1.2
*/
if ( ! defined( 'ABSPATH' ) ) {
exit; // Exit if accessed directly
}
$myorder = array();
foreach ( $items as $item_id => $item ) :
$_product = apply_filters( 'woocommerce_order_item_product', $order->get_product_from_item( $item ), $item );
$item_meta = new WC_Order_Item_Meta( $item, $_product );
$categories = get_the_terms( $_product->id, 'product_cat' );
//get the product category
if ( $categories && ! is_wp_error( $category ) ) :
// loop through each cat
foreach($categories as $category) :
if($category->parent == 0){
$cat = $category->name;
//break;
}
endforeach;
endif;
//loop items into a sortable array
$myorder[] = array('id' => $item, 'sku' => $_product->get_sku(), 'name' => apply_filters( 'woocommerce_order_item_name', $item['name'], $item, false ), 'cat' => $cat, 'price' => $_product->price, 'qty' => apply_filters( 'woocommerce_email_order_item_quantity', $item['qty'], $item ), 'subtot' => $order->get_formatted_line_subtotal( $item ) );
endforeach;
//resort array by sku
function compare_sku($a, $b)
{
return strnatcmp($a['sku'], $b['sku']);
}
// sort alphabetically by name
usort($myorder, 'compare_sku');
foreach ( $myorder as $itemline ) {
if ( apply_filters( 'woocommerce_order_item_visible', true, $itemline['id'] ) ) {
?>
<tr>
<td style="text-align:left; vertical-align:middle; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; word-wrap:break-word; padding: 0; padding-left: 12px;"><?php echo $itemline['sku'] ;?></td>
<td style="text-align:left; vertical-align:middle; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; word-wrap:break-word; padding: 0; padding-left: 12px;"><?php echo $itemline['name'] ;?></td>
<td style="text-align:left; vertical-align:middle; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; word-wrap:break-word; padding: 0; padding-left: 12px;"><?php echo $itemline['cat'] ;?></td>
<td style="text-align:right; vertical-align:middle; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; word-wrap:break-word; padding: 0;"><?php echo $itemline['price']; ?></td>
<td style="text-align:right; vertical-align:middle; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; word-wrap:break-word; padding: 0;"><?php echo $itemline['qty']; ?></td>
<td style="text-align:right; vertical-align:middle; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; word-wrap:break-word; padding: 0;"><?php echo $itemline['subtot']; ?></td>
</tr>
<?php
}
}
?>
