如何同时按年份，月份和季节排序？

Question

So, I'm using this code to help sort a "Date" column in my table:

jQuery.extend( jQuery.fn.dataTableExt.oSort, {
"monthYear-pre": function ( a ) {
    return new Date('01 '+a);
},

"monthYear-asc": function ( a, b ) {
    return ((a < b) ? -1 : ((a > b) ? 1 : 0));
},

"monthYear-desc": function ( a, b ) {
    return ((a < b) ? 1 : ((a > b) ?  -1 : 0));
}
} );

It works fine with dates such as "Jul 2012" but it won't cooperate with dates that have just the year (eg "2004) or have a season (eg Spring 2008). Also, if I've got "unknown" I'd like it to always appear last.

Any ideas? I think making the seasons analogous to a month would be the easiest way to sort that (eg Spring=Mar, Summer=Jun, Autumn=Sep and Winter=Dec) but I'm not sure how to go about it.

Thank you!

PS I'm a novice - I kind of understand what the second two strings are doing, but the first "monthYear-pre" is a mystery. If anyone would like to explain then I'd be thrilled.

Answer 1

"seasonYear-pre": (function() {
    var seasons = /\s*(winter|spring|summer|fall|autumn),?\s*(\d{4})\s*/,
        matchedMonths = {winter: '02-01', spring: '05-01', 
                         summer: '08-01', fall: '11-01', autumn: '11-01'}
    return function(a) {
        var match = seasons.exec(a.toLowerCase());
        return new Date(match[2] + "-" + matchedMonths[match[1]]);
    };
})();

This places winter at the beginning of the year, but you can change the canonical dates in the list above as you please. It matches strings like "Winter 2012", or "Autumn, 2007". (The comma is optional, and it's case-insensitive.) I don't know this table-sorter API. I modeled this off the "monthYear-pre", but if it needs to be a plain sort method, it would be easy to change.