Getting max value(s) in JSON array

Question

I'm trying to create a JavaScript function which takes information from an array in an external JSON and then takes the max value (or the top 5 values) for one of the JSON variables. For this example, let's say I want to get the max value for the value "ppg". Here is a small sample of the array:

[
{
    "player" : "Andre Drummond",
    "team" : "Detroit Pistons",
    "ppg" : "15.4",
    "rpg" : "11.6",
    "apg" : "2.4",
    "bpg" : "1.6",
    "spg" : "0.8",
    "3pg" : "0.1"
},
{
    "player" : "Anthony Davis",
    "team" : "New Orleans Pelicans",
    "ppg" : "16.4",
    "rpg" : "13.6",
    "apg" : "2.6",
    "bpg" : "3.5",
    "spg" : "1.2",
    "3pg" : "0.1"
},
{
    "player" : "Carmelo Anthony",
    "team" : "New York Knicks",
    "ppg" : "27.4",
    "rpg" : "5.4",
    "apg" : "4.5",
    "bpg" : "1.1",
    "spg" : "1.5",
    "3pg" : "1.6"
}
]

What would be the best way to go through the array to get the max value and then get the values "player" and "team" from this value? The page will be interactive, as I will have a drop-down menu bar with allows the viewer to choose between one of the six JSON values aside from "player" and "team". Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Just cycle through the array, and keep track of the max as you go:

function getMax(arr, prop) {
    var max;
    for (var i=0 ; i<arr.length ; i++) {
        if (max == null || parseInt(arr[i][prop]) > parseInt(max[prop]))
            max = arr[i];
    }
    return max;
}

Usage is like:

var maxPpg = getMax(arr, "ppg");
console.log(maxPpg.player + " - " + maxPpg.team);

Fiddle demo

Edit

You can also use the Javascript "sort" method to get the top n values:

function getTopN(arr, prop, n) {
    // clone before sorting, to preserve the original array
    var clone = arr.slice(0); 

    // sort descending
    clone.sort(function(x, y) {
        if (x[prop] == y[prop]) return 0;
        else if (parseInt(x[prop]) < parseInt(y[prop])) return 1;
        else return -1;
    });

    return clone.slice(0, n || 1);
}

Usage:

var topScorers = getTopN(arr, "ppg", 2);
topScorers.forEach(function(item, index) {
    console.log("#" + (index+1) + ": " + item.player);
});

Fiddle demo

Answer 2

I found the following approach very neat:

arr.sort( 
  function(a, b) {
     return parseFloat(b['ppg']) - parseFloat(a['ppg']);
  }
)[0]['player']

Demo in snippet:

var arr =[
{
    "player" : "Andre Drummond",
    "team" : "Detroit Pistons",
    "ppg" : "15.4",
    "rpg" : "11.6",
    "apg" : "2.4",
    "bpg" : "1.6",
    "spg" : "0.8",
    "3pg" : "0.1"
},
{
    "player" : "Anthony Davis",
    "team" : "New Orleans Pelicans",
    "ppg" : "16.4",
    "rpg" : "13.6",
    "apg" : "2.6",
    "bpg" : "3.5",
    "spg" : "1.2",
    "3pg" : "0.1"
},
{
    "player" : "Carmelo Anthony",
    "team" : "New York Knicks",
    "ppg" : "27.4",
    "rpg" : "5.4",
    "apg" : "4.5",
    "bpg" : "1.1",
    "spg" : "1.5",
    "3pg" : "1.6"
}
]
console.log(
arr.sort( 
    function(a, b) {
       return parseFloat(b['ppg']) - parseFloat(a['ppg']);
    }
    )[0]['player']
);

First, I sort the array in descending order, then I choose the first element which contains the max value. In the code, I found the player who has the max ppg value. Hope this helps!