Starting with Flex 4.5, Apache recommends that you use the spark.collections.Sort class as an alternative to this class.
Provides the sorting information required to establish a sort on an
existing view (ICollectionView interface or class that
implements the interface). After you assign a Sort instance to the view's
sort property, you must call the view's
refresh() method to apply the sort criteria.
Typically the sort is defined for collections of complex items, that is
collections in which the sort is performed on one or more properties of
the objects in the collection.
The following example shows this use:
var col:ICollectionView = new ArrayCollection();
// In the real world, the collection would have more than one item.
col.addItem({first:"Anders", last:"Dickerson"});
// Create the Sort instance.
var sort:ISort = new Sort();
// Set the sort field; sort on the last name first, first name second.
// Both fields are case-insensitive.
sort.fields = [new SortField("last",true), new SortField("first",true)];
// Assign the Sort object to the view.
col.sort = sort;
// Apply the sort to the collection.
col.refresh();
There are situations in which the collection contains simple items,
like String, Date, Boolean, etc.
In this case, apply the sort to the simple type directly.
When constructing a sort for simple items, use a single sort field,
and specify a nullname (first) parameter
in the SortField object constructor.
For example:
var col:ICollectionView = new ArrayCollection();
col.addItem("California");
col.addItem("Arizona");
var sort:Sort = new Sort();
// There is only one sort field, so use a null
// first parameter.
sort.fields = [new SortField(null, true)];
col.sort = sort;
col.refresh();
The Flex implementations of the ICollectionView interface
retrieve all items from a remote location before executing a sort.
If you use paging with a sorted list, apply the sort to the remote
collection before you retrieve the data.
By default this Sort class does not provide correct language specific
sorting for strings. For this type of sorting please see the
spark.collections.Sort and
spark.collections.SortField classes.
Note: to prevent problems like
FLEX-34853
it is recommended to use SortField
instances as immutable objects (by not changing their state).
MXML SyntaxShow MXML Syntax Hide MXML Syntax
In case items have inconsistent data types or items have complex data
types, the use of the default built-in compare functions is not recommended.
Inconsistent sorting results may occur in such cases. To avoid such problem,
provide a custom compare function and/or make the item types consistent.
Just like any other AdvancedStyleClient-based classes,
the Sort and SortField classes do not have a
parent-child relationship in terms of event handling. Locale changes in a
Sort instance are not dispatched to its SortField
instances automatically. The only exceptional case is the internal default
SortField instance used when no explicit fields are provided.
In this case, the internal default SortField instance follows
the locale style that the owner Sort instance has.
[static]
When executing a find return the index for the last matching item.
Sort
Property Detail
compareFunction
property
compareFunction:Function
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
The method used to compare items when sorting.
If you specify this property, Flex ignores any
compareFunction properties that you specify in the
ISortField objects that you use in this class.
The compare function must have the following signature:
function [name](a:Object, b:Object, fields:Array = null):int
This function must return the following value:
-1, if the Object a should appear before the
Object b in the sorted sequence
0, if the Object a equals the
Object b
1, if the Object a should appear after the
Object b in the sorted sequence
To return to the internal comparision function, set this value to
null.
The fields array specifies the object fields
to compare.
Typically the algorithm will compare properties until the field list is
exhausted or a non-zero value can be returned.
For example:
function myCompare(a:Object, b:Object, fields:Array = null):int
{
var result:int = 0;
var i:int = 0;
var propList:Array = fields ? fields : internalPropList;
var len:int = propList.length;
var propName:String;
while (result == 0 && (i < len))
{
propName = propList[i];
result = compareValues(a[propName], b[propName]);
i++;
}
return result;
}
function compareValues(a:Object, b:Object):int
{
if (a == null && b == null)
return 0;
if (a == null)
return 1;
if (b == null)
return -1;
if (a < b)
return -1;
if (a > b)
return 1;
return 0;
}
The default value is an internal compare function that can perform
a string, numeric, or date comparison in ascending or descending order.
Specify your own function only if you need a need a custom
comparison algorithm. This is normally only the case if a calculated
field is used in a display.
Alternatively you can specify separate compare functions for each
sort field by using the ISortField class
compareFunction property; This way you can use the default
comparison for some fields and a custom comparison for others.
Implementation public function get compareFunction():Function public function set compareFunction(value:Function):void
fields
property
fields:Array
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
An Array of ISortField objects that
specifies the fields to compare.
The order of the ISortField objects in the array determines
field priority order when sorting.
The default sort comparator checks the sort fields in array
order until it determinines a sort order for the two
fields being compared.
The default value is null.
This property can be used as the source for data binding.
Implementation public function get fields():Array public function set fields(value:Array):void
Indicates if the sort should be unique.
Unique sorts fail if any value or combined value specified by the
fields listed in the fields property result in an indeterminate or
non-unique sort order; that is, if two or more items have identical
sort field values. An error is thrown if the sort is not unique.
The sorting logic uses this unique property value only if sort
field(s) are specified explicitly. If no sort fields are specified
explicitly, no error is thrown even when there are identical value
elements.
The default value is false.
Implementation public function get unique():Boolean public function set unique(value:Boolean):void
Constructor Detail
Sort
()
Constructor
public function Sort(fields:Array = null, customCompareFunction:Function = null, unique:Boolean = false)
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Constructor.
Creates a new Sort with no fields set and no custom comparator.
Parameters
fields:Array (default = null) — An Array of ISortField objects that
specifies the fields to compare.
customCompareFunction:Function (default = null) — Use a custom function to compare the
objects in the collection to which this sort will be applied.
unique:Boolean (default = false) — Indicates if the sort should be unique.
Method Detail
createEmptySortField
()
method
protected function createEmptySortField():ISortFieldReturns
public function findItem(items:Array, values:Object, mode:String, returnInsertionIndex:Boolean = false, compareFunction:Function = null):int
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Finds the specified object within the specified array (or the insertion
point if asked for), returning the index if found or -1 if not.
The ListCollectionView class findxxx()
methods use this method to find the requested item; as a general rule,
it is easier to use these functions, and not findItem()
to find data in ListCollectionView-based objects.
You call the findItem() method directly when writing a
class that supports sorting, such as a new ICollectionView
implementation.
The input items array need to be sorted before calling this function.
Otherwise this function will not be able to find the specified value
properly.
Parameters
items:Array — the Array within which to search.
values:Object — Object containing the properties to look for (or
the object to search for, itself).
The object must consist of field name/value pairs, where
the field names are names of fields specified by the
fields property, in the same order they
are used in that property.
You do not have to specify all of the fields from the
fields property, but you
cannot skip any in the order.
Therefore, if the fields
properity lists three fields, you can specify its first
and second fields in this parameter, but you cannot
specify only the first and third fields.
mode:String — String containing the type of find to perform.
Valid values are:
ANY_INDEX_MODE
Return any position that
is valid for the values.
FIRST_INDEX_MODE
Return the position
where the first occurrance of the values is found.
LAST_INDEX_MODE
Return the position where the
last ocurrance of the specified values is found.
returnInsertionIndex:Boolean (default = false) — If the method does not find an item
identified by the values parameter,
and this parameter is true the
findItem()
method returns the insertion point for the values,
that is the point in the sorted order where you
should insert the item.
compareFunction:Function (default = null) — a comparator function to use to find the item.
If you do not specify this parameter or , or if you
provide a null value,
findItem() function uses the
compare function determined by the ISort
instance's compareFunction property,
passing in the array of fields determined
by the values object and the current
SortFields.
If you provide a non-null value, findItem()
function uses it as the compare function.
The signature of the function passed as
compareFunction must be as follows:
function myCompareFunction(a:Object, b:Object):int.
Note that there is no third argument unlike the
compare function for ISort.compareFunction()
property.
Returns
int — int The index in the array of the found item.
If the returnInsertionIndex parameter is
false and the item is not found, returns -1.
If the returnInsertionIndex parameter is
true and the item is not found, returns
the index of the point in the sorted array where the
values would be inserted.
propertyAffectsSort
()
method
public function propertyAffectsSort(property:String):Boolean
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Return whether the specified property is used to control the sort.
The function cannot determine a definitive answer if the sort uses a
custom comparator; it always returns true in this case.
Parameters
property:String — The name of the field to test.
Returns
Boolean — Whether the property value might affect the sort outcome.
If the sort uses the default compareFunction, returns
true if the
property parameter specifies a sort field.
If the sort or any ISortField uses a custom comparator,
there's no way to know, so return true.
reverse
()
method
public function reverse():void
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Goes through the fields array and calls
reverse() on each of the ISortField objects in
the array. If the field was descending now it is ascending,
and vice versa.
Note: an ICollectionView does not automatically
update when the objects in the fields array are modified;
call its refresh() method to update the view.
Note: a future release of Apache Flex SDK will change the signature
of this function to return a reversed clone of this Sort instance. See
FLEX-34853.
sort
()
method
public function sort(items:Array):void
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
Apply the current sort to the specified array (not a copy).
To prevent the array from being modified, create a copy
use the copy in the items parameter.
Flex ICollectionView implementations call the
sort method automatically and ensure that the sort is
performed on a copy of the underlying data.
Parameters
items:Array — Array of items to sort.
Constant Detail
ANY_INDEX_MODE
Constant
public static const ANY_INDEX_MODE:String = any
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
When executing a find return the index any matching item.
FIRST_INDEX_MODE
Constant
public static const FIRST_INDEX_MODE:String = first
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
When executing a find return the index for the first matching item.
LAST_INDEX_MODE
Constant
public static const LAST_INDEX_MODE:String = last
Language Version :
ActionScript 3.0
Product Version :
Flex 3
Runtime Versions :
Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1
When executing a find return the index for the last matching item.