How to sort by an associative array value(Complex array structure)?

Question

Consider the Following:

I am representing data in an array in an HTML table such as:

1) How would I sort the array by b1 or b3 ?

I have tried:

 var o = { "orgs": { "655": { "data": { "cons": 30, "b3ports": 0, "b9": 2, "b1": 25, "b2": 14, "b3": 10, "ports": 0, "rica": 30 }, "depth": 1, "agents": [207072], "orgunit_id": "TEAM00655", "name": "TEAM00655: Jabba - Mooi River (Muhammad Jaffar)" }, "853": { "data": { "cons": 356, "b3ports": 1, "b9": 8, "b1": 283, "b2": 122, "b3": 77, "ports": 1, "rica": 356 }, "depth": 2, "agents": [208162], "orgunit_id": "TEAM00853", "name": "TEAM00853: Jabba - Mooiriver (Bongiwe Gwala)" }, "921": { "data": { "cons": 22, "b3ports": 0, "b9": 2, "b1": 20, "b2": 7, "b3": 5, "ports": 0, "rica": 22 }, "depth": 1, "agents": [210171, 212842], "orgunit_id": "TEAM00921", "name": "TEAM00921: Jabba - Nolwazi Zungu" }, }, "agents": { "207072": { "name": "Bongiwe Gwala", "oid": 655, "depth": 1, "aid": "A0207072", "orgunit_id": "TEAM00655", "data": { "cons": 30, "b3ports": 0, "b9": 2, "b1": 25, "b2": 14, "b3": 10, "ports": 0, "rica": 30 }, "aname": "A0207072: Bongiwe Gwala", "oname": "TEAM00655: Jabba - Mooi River (Muhammad Jaffar)" }, "208162": { "name": "Nkosikhona MADLALA", "oid": 853, "depth": 2, "aid": "A0208162", "orgunit_id": "TEAM00853", "data": { "cons": 356, "b3ports": 1, "b9": 8, "b1": 283, "b2": 122, "b3": 77, "ports": 1, "rica": 356 }, "aname": "A0208162: Nkosikhona MADLALA", "oname": "TEAM00853: Jabba - Mooiriver (Bongiwe Gwala)" }, "212842": { "name": "SANELE KHUMALO", "oid": 921, "depth": 1, "aid": "A0212842", "orgunit_id": "TEAM00921", "data": { "cons": 22, "b3ports": 0, "b9": 2, "b1": 20, "b2": 7, "b3": 5, "ports": 0, "rica": 22 }, "aname": "A0212842: SANELE KHUMALO", "oname": "TEAM00921: Jabba - Nolwazi Zungu" }, }, "orglist": [853, 655, 921], } function sort_data(data, sortby, asc) { console.log(data); if (asc == "asc") { data.sort(function(a, b) { a.sortby - b.sortby; }); } else { data.sort(function(a, b) { a.sortby + b.sortby; }); } // update_data; } var a = sort_data(o, "b1", "asc"); console.log(a); 

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This how ever gives me an error( To view the error, open your console )

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UPDATE:

I got the sorting to work thanks to @NicolasAlbert.

Now I need to order by the agents aswell. It needs to order by orgs first and then by agents I have tried:

  if (asc == "desc") { data.orglist.sort(function(a, b) { a_org = data.orgs[a].data[sortby]; b_org = data.orgs[b].data[sortby]; a_agent = data.agents[a].data[sortby]; b_agent = data.agents[b].data[sortby]; // return d - c; return b_org - a_org && a_agent - b_agent; // data.agents[a].data[sortby] - data.agents[b].data[sortby] }); } else { data.orglist.sort(function(a, b) { a_org = data.orgs[a].data[sortby]; b_org = data.orgs[b].data[sortby]; a_agent = data.agents[a].data[sortby]; b_agent = data.agents[b].data[sortby]; return a_org - b_org && a_agent - b_agent; }); } 

This does not work how ever...

Another update

I have modified my code to do:

  data.orglist.sort(function(a, b) { a_org = data.orgs[a].data[sortby]; b_org = data.orgs[b].data[sortby]; agents = data.orgs[b].agents.sort(function(a, b){ a_agent = data.agents[a].data[sortby]; b_agent = data.agents[b].data[sortby]; return b_agent - a_agent }); return b_org - a_org && agents; }); 

But this sorts both orgs and agents at the same time.

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LAst update:

I got it to work, sorting both the orgs and the agents , I had to create two sorting functions:

sort_org(o, "b1", "asc");
sort_agent(o, "b1", "asc");

then I just call the functions consecutively... ie

 sort_org(o, "b1", "asc"); sort_agent(o, "b1", "asc"); 

I hope this can help someone...

Answer 1

You can only use .sort method on Array instance, not Object . Your data is store in key/value objects and the order cannot be modified.

If you want order your data, you must introduce Array ( [] ) in it.

May you want order the orglist array like that:

 var o = { "orgs": { "655": { "data": { "cons": 30, "b3ports": 0, "b9": 2, "b1": 25, "b2": 14, "b3": 10, "ports": 0, "rica": 30 }, "depth": 1, "agents": [207072], "orgunit_id": "TEAM00655", "name": "TEAM00655: Jabba - Mooi River (Muhammad Jaffar)" }, "853": { "data": { "cons": 356, "b3ports": 1, "b9": 8, "b1": 283, "b2": 122, "b3": 77, "ports": 1, "rica": 356 }, "depth": 2, "agents": [208162], "orgunit_id": "TEAM00853", "name": "TEAM00853: Jabba - Mooiriver (Bongiwe Gwala)" }, "921": { "data": { "cons": 22, "b3ports": 0, "b9": 2, "b1": 20, "b2": 7, "b3": 5, "ports": 0, "rica": 22 }, "depth": 1, "agents": [210171, 212842], "orgunit_id": "TEAM00921", "name": "TEAM00921: Jabba - Nolwazi Zungu" }, }, "agents": { "207072": { "name": "Bongiwe Gwala", "oid": 655, "depth": 1, "aid": "A0207072", "orgunit_id": "TEAM00655", "data": { "cons": 30, "b3ports": 0, "b9": 2, "b1": 25, "b2": 14, "b3": 10, "ports": 0, "rica": 30 }, "aname": "A0207072: Bongiwe Gwala", "oname": "TEAM00655: Jabba - Mooi River (Muhammad Jaffar)" }, "208162": { "name": "Nkosikhona MADLALA", "oid": 853, "depth": 2, "aid": "A0208162", "orgunit_id": "TEAM00853", "data": { "cons": 356, "b3ports": 1, "b9": 8, "b1": 283, "b2": 122, "b3": 77, "ports": 1, "rica": 356 }, "aname": "A0208162: Nkosikhona MADLALA", "oname": "TEAM00853: Jabba - Mooiriver (Bongiwe Gwala)" }, "212842": { "name": "SANELE KHUMALO", "oid": 921, "depth": 1, "aid": "A0212842", "orgunit_id": "TEAM00921", "data": { "cons": 22, "b3ports": 0, "b9": 2, "b1": 20, "b2": 7, "b3": 5, "ports": 0, "rica": 22 }, "aname": "A0212842: SANELE KHUMALO", "oname": "TEAM00921: Jabba - Nolwazi Zungu" }, }, "orglist": [853, 655, 921] } function sort_data(data, sortby, asc) { console.log(data); if (asc == "asc") { data.orglist.sort(function(a, b) { data.orgs[a].data[sortby] - data.orgs[b].data[sortby]; }); } else { data.orglist.sort(function(a, b) { data.orgs[b].data[sortby] - data.orgs[a].data[sortby]; }); } // update_data; } sort_data(o, "b1", "asc"); console.log(o.orglist); 

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