Sorting a JSON object in Javascript

Question

I've been looking for a while to sort a JSON object like this

{"results": [
  {
    "layerId": 5,
    "layerName": "Pharmaceutical Entities",
    "attributes": {
      "OBJECTID": "35",
      "FACILITYTYPE": "Pharmacy",
      "FACILITYSUBTYPE": "24 Hr Pharmacy",
      "COMMERCIALNAME_E": "SADD MAARAB PHARMACY",
      },
    "geometryType": "esriGeometryPoint",
   },
  {
    "layerId": 5,
    "layerName": "Pharmaceutical Entities",
    "attributes": {
      "OBJECTID": "1",
      "FACILITYTYPE": "Pharmacy",
      "FACILITYSUBTYPE": "24 Hr Pharmacy",
      "COMMERCIALNAME_E": "GAYATHY HOSPITAL  PHARMACY",

    },
    "geometryType": "esriGeometryPoint",
  },
     {
    "layerId": 5,
    "layerName": "Pharmaceutical Entities",
    "attributes": {
      "OBJECTID": "255",
      "FACILITYTYPE": "Pharmacy",
      "FACILITYSUBTYPE": "24 Hr Pharmacy",
      "COMMERCIALNAME_E": "AL DEWAN PHARMACY",
      },
    "geometryType": "esriGeometryPoint",
   }
]}

alphabetically by value of "COMMERCIALNAME_E" to get

{"results": [
   {
    "layerId": 5,
    "layerName": "Pharmaceutical Entities",
    "attributes": {
      "OBJECTID": "255",
      "FACILITYTYPE": "Pharmacy",
      "FACILITYSUBTYPE": "24 Hr Pharmacy",
      "COMMERCIALNAME_E": "AL DEWAN PHARMACY",
      },
    "geometryType": "esriGeometryPoint",
   },
  {
    "layerId": 5,
    "layerName": "Pharmaceutical Entities",
    "attributes": {
      "OBJECTID": "1",
      "FACILITYTYPE": "Pharmacy",
      "FACILITYSUBTYPE": "24 Hr Pharmacy",
      "COMMERCIALNAME_E": "GAYATHY HOSPITAL  PHARMACY",
       },
    "geometryType": "esriGeometryPoint",
   },
   {
    "layerId": 5,
    "layerName": "Pharmaceutical Entities",
    "attributes": {
      "OBJECTID": "35",
      "FACILITYTYPE": "Pharmacy",
      "FACILITYSUBTYPE": "24 Hr Pharmacy",
      "COMMERCIALNAME_E": "SADD MAARAB PHARMACY",
      },
    "geometryType": "esriGeometryPoint",
   }
]}

I can't find any code that will do this. Can anyone give me some help?

Answer 1

function sortJsonArrayByProperty(objArray, prop, direction){
    if (arguments.length<2) throw new Error("sortJsonArrayByProp requires 2 arguments");
    var direct = arguments.length>2 ? arguments[2] : 1; //Default to ascending

    if (objArray && objArray.constructor===Array){
        var propPath = (prop.constructor===Array) ? prop : prop.split(".");
        objArray.sort(function(a,b){
            for (var p in propPath){
                if (a[propPath[p]] && b[propPath[p]]){
                    a = a[propPath[p]];
                    b = b[propPath[p]];
                }
            }
            // convert numeric strings to integers
            a = a.match(/^\d+$/) ? +a : a;
            b = b.match(/^\d+$/) ? +b : b;
            return ( (a < b) ? -1*direct : ((a > b) ? 1*direct : 0) );
        });
    }
}

sortJsonArrayByProperty(results, 'attributes.OBJECTID');
sortJsonArrayByProperty(results, 'attributes.OBJECTID', -1);

UPDATED: DON'T MUTATE

function sortByProperty(objArray, prop, direction){
    if (arguments.length<2) throw new Error("ARRAY, AND OBJECT PROPERTY MINIMUM ARGUMENTS, OPTIONAL DIRECTION");
    if (!Array.isArray(objArray)) throw new Error("FIRST ARGUMENT NOT AN ARRAY");
    const clone = objArray.slice(0);
    const direct = arguments.length>2 ? arguments[2] : 1; //Default to ascending
    const propPath = (prop.constructor===Array) ? prop : prop.split(".");
    clone.sort(function(a,b){
        for (let p in propPath){
                if (a[propPath[p]] && b[propPath[p]]){
                    a = a[propPath[p]];
                    b = b[propPath[p]];
                }
        }
        // convert numeric strings to integers
        a = a.match(/^\d+$/) ? +a : a;
        b = b.match(/^\d+$/) ? +b : b;
        return ( (a < b) ? -1*direct : ((a > b) ? 1*direct : 0) );
    });
    return clone;
}

const resultsByObjectId = sortByProperty(results, 'attributes.OBJECTID');
const resultsByObjectIdDescending = sortByProperty(results, 'attributes.OBJECTID', -1);

Answer 2

First extract the JSON encoded data:

var data = JSON.parse(yourJSONString);
var results = data['results'];

Then sort with a custom(user) function:

results.sort(function(a,b){
    //return a.attributes.OBJECTID - b.attributes.OBJECTID;
    if(a.attributes.OBJECTID == b.attributes.OBJECTID)
        return 0;
    if(a.attributes.OBJECTID < b.attributes.OBJECTID)
        return -1;
    if(a.attributes.OBJECTID > b.attributes.OBJECTID)
        return 1;
});

I assumed you wanted to sort by OBJECTID, but you can change it to sort by anything.

Answer 3

you can sort an ordered array of anything by providing a custom compare function as a parameter to Array.Sort().

var myObject = /* json object from string */ ;

myObject.results.sort(function (a, b) {

    // a and b will be two instances of your object from your list

    // possible return values
    var a1st = -1; // negative value means left item should appear first
    var b1st =  1; // positive value means right item should appear first
    var equal = 0; // zero means objects are equal

    // compare your object's property values and determine their order
    if (b.attributes.COMMERCIALNAME_E < a.attributes.COMMERCIALNAME_E) {
        return b1st;
    }
    else if (a.attributes.COMMERCIALNAME_E < b.attributes.COMMERCIALNAME_E) {
        return a1st;
    }
    else {
        return equal;
    }
});

Answer 4

you can easily do it with array.sort()

[
    { name: "Robin Van Persie", age: 28 },
    { name: "Theo Walcott", age: 22 },
    { name: "Bacary Sagna", age: 26  }
].sort(function(obj1, obj2) {
    // Ascending: first age less than the previous
    return obj1.age - obj2.age;
});
// Returns:  
// [
//    { name: "Theo Walcott", age: 22 },
//    { name: "Bacary Sagna", age: 26  },
//    { name: "Robin Van Persie", age: 28 }
// ]

example is taken from here, learn more about it from here