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1

I'm new to JSON and I would like to create a (non-anonymous) function that defines the JSON object and the index name to sort by alphabetically. I only code straight-out JavaScript so frameworks don't help me in the least.

var people = [
{'name': 'a75','item1': false,'item2':  false},
{'name': 'z32','item1': true,'item2':  false},
{'name': 'e77','item1': false,'item2': false},
];
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What do you have so far? Why do you explicitly want a non-anonymous function? – pimvdb Nov 17 '11 at 22:12
A non-anonymous function sorting(json_object,key_to_sort_by) {} – John Nov 17 '11 at 22:14
Added the quotes, haven't coded for a few days! Just want to figure out how JSON and JavaScript set the key and then sort. Figure if it's not integer based I could use the sort method perhaps? – John Nov 17 '11 at 22:16
Anonymous function example: window.onload = function() {/* stuff();*/} – John Nov 17 '11 at 22:16
You want a function to sort the array, then? – Jonathan M Nov 17 '11 at 22:17
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4 Answers

up vote 10 down vote accepted

How about this?

var people = [
    {name: 'a75',
    item1: false,
    item2: false},
    {name: 'z32',
    item1: true,
    item2: false},
    {name: 'e77',
    item1: false,
    item2: false}];

function sortByKey(array, key) {
    return array.sort(function(a, b) {
        var x = a[key]; var y = b[key];
        return ((x < y) ? -1 : ((x > y) ? 1 : 0));
    });
}

people = sortByKey(people, 'name');

This allows you to specify the key by which you want to sort the array so that you are not limited to a hard-coded name sort. It will work to sort any array of objects that all share the property which is used as they key. I believe that is what you were looking for?

And here is a jsFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/6Dgbu/

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Coolbeans, that looks like it works and it's not an anonymous function. Thank you, I'm going to go with this. – John Nov 17 '11 at 22:31
Ah...the visual kicked in, I never would use a,b for two different types which is what had me confused. – John Nov 17 '11 at 22:44
3  
Too bad this doesn't come up first on the gkoberger.github.com/stacksort – vlasits Mar 18 at 20:24
24  
Actually this doesn't work for stacksort (different problems) – roim Mar 18 at 22:12
7  
Not compatible with StackSort. :-( – kba Mar 19 at 3:20
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up vote 5 down vote

You can sort an array ([...]) with the .sort function:

var people = [
    {'name': 'a75', 'item1': false, 'item2': false},
    {'name': 'z32', 'item1': true,  'item2': false},
    {'name': 'e77', 'item1': false, 'item2': false},
];

var sorted = people.sort(function IHaveAName(a, b) { // non-anonymous as you ordered...
    return b.name < a.name ?  1 // if b should come earlier, push a to end
         : b.name > a.name ? -1 // if b should come later, push a to begin
         : 0;                   // a and b are equal
});
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Thanks though that is an annoymous function, I'm trying to do function sort_example(object_name,key_to_sort_by) {} – John Nov 17 '11 at 22:23
@John: It's a named function expression now :) What you want is not too difficult, have a try. – pimvdb Nov 17 '11 at 22:24
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up vote 2 down vote

This isn't a JSON question, per se. Its a javascript array question.

Try this:

people.sort(function(a,b){ 
    var x = a.name < b.name? -1:1; 
    return x; 
});
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1  
What if they are equal? – Rocket Hazmat Nov 17 '11 at 22:20
I'm trying to do function sort_example(object_name,key_to_sort_by) {} – John Nov 17 '11 at 22:23
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up vote 0 down vote 
var people = 
[{"name": 'a75',"item1": "false","item2":"false"}, 
{"name": 'z32',"item1": "true","item2":  "false"}, 
{"name": 'e77',"item1": "false","item2": "false"}]; 

function mycomparator(a,b) {   return parseInt(a.name) - parseInt(b.name);  } 
people.sort(mycomparator);

something along the lines of this maybe (or as we used to say, this should work).

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1  
parseInt('a75') is NaN so this won't really work I guess. – pimvdb Nov 17 '11 at 22:25
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