Sort multidimensional array

[jacque]

Would a custom sort function help? LC doesn't require scripts to use only the built-in options.

[stam]

Would a custom sort function help? LC doesn't require scripts to use only the built-in options.

Hi Jacque - any method for sorting textual list of dates correctly would fix the issue

But ideally the internal command sort container would work as advertised...

[FourthWorld]

Hi Richard,

Thanks Richard -- while i completely agree, that also misses the point of my question a bit

Did it?

Let's see:

Alas, that was not my question.
I fear the speaking of 'arrays' has clouded the issue. What doesn't work is sorting a textual list of dates.

The issue is that

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sort [{lines | items} of] <container> [<direction>] [<sortType>] [by <sortKey> ]

seems to fail on sortType of dateTime
...
So i'll have to disagree, it didn't address my question - which is why sorting a container specifically by dateTime fails, when it works fine for numeric/text, and if this is a bug?

You might want to read the rest of my post. It covers, among other things, why useSystemDate fails in that context.

My post contains not only the fish, but a fishing pole, a boat, a jar of worms, an assortment of tackle, and a field guide to the breeding and eating habits of fish, all tidily packed into just a few paragraphs with a bow on top.

If anticipating these sorts of things in the future isn't of interest and all you want is the fish, see the "international" sort option.


Tip for catching fish: When you have a question unrelated to arrays, choosing a thread explicitly titled as being about arrays as the place to insert it, and repeatedly referring to examples that rely on arrays exclusively, may prompt respondents to believe you have an interest in arrays.

[stam]

Tip for catching fish: When you have a question unrelated to arrays, choosing a thread explicitly titled as being about arrays as the place to insert it, and repeatedly referring to examples that rely on arrays exclusively, may prompt respondents to believe you have an interest in arrays.

Completely my bad, i misunderstood your comment on useSystemDate - i just assumed that if useSystemDate was called within a handler it would be considered local to and apply to any called function from said hander. Very bad assumption on my part!
Adding this in the downstream sort function fixes the issue -- colour me embarrassed

As for catching fish - i didn't choose this thread, it was just a natural continuation (for me anyway!) of the lengthy discussion, and I assumed everyone was on my wavelength, only it seems my wavelength was far, far left field

Thanks as always for your wisdom

[bogs]

I assumed everyone was on my wavelength, only it seems my wavelength was far, far left field

Not so much, I measured your wavelength at 48 ... oops, my ride is here

[FourthWorld]

Completely my bad, i misunderstood your comment on useSystemDate...

No worries. I've seen enough of you posts that I have a good sense of the solid place you're coming from, and TBH you've been so helpful here that in my book you can do no wrong. Indeed, the other day you were in a similar situation yourself.

There's a lot going on in these forums, and threads here tend to sprawl far beyond the OP's imagination. We all miss details now and then (Klaus can list the hundred or so times I have).

Those looking for quick answers in a heavily-moderated venue tightly honed for that are already on StackOverflow.

[bobcole]

Looking at the original dates makes me wonder if they aren't in the right format.
The 1999 dates are in DD/MM/YY format where the 20xx dates are in MM/DD/YYYY format.
The 20xx date sort correctly. The 1999 dates are not sorted as desired.
Might the date format for the 1999 dates be the source of the problem?
Just a thought...
Bob

[bobcole]

Oops, I meant the 19xx dates are in DD/MM/YYYY format
and the 20xx dates dates are in MM/DD/YYYY format.
It seems that LC doesn't understand the 19xx dates fully but it does know to put them at the top of the list based on the century.
Bob

[FourthWorld]

Oops, I meant the 19xx dates are in DD/MM/YYYY format
and the 20xx dates dates are in MM/DD/YYYY format.

Maybe. It depends whether "07/11/2011" refers to July 11 or Nov 7.

Though all of the 20xx dates in that example can seem ambiguous since they use numbers lower than 13 in both the first and second places, Stam seems clear that the full set is in non-US format.

[bogs]

It has to be something like that, I was able to sort these two fields by dateTime (after I figured out I goofed previously)....



It also appears to have correctly sorted by dateTime when the two lists are combined, note the hours especially...



Even though they are a mixed format, they *are* in the correct order.

[bobcole]

the 19xx dates are in DD/MM/YYYY format
and the 20xx dates dates are in MM/DD/YYYY format.
It seems that LC doesn't understand the 19xx dates fully but it does know to put them at the top of the list based on the century.

I tried converting the six dates provided into dateItems. The 20xx dates converted correctly. the 19xx dates did not convert at all. The dates need to be in the same format (based on the locale?) so LC can interpret them correctly.

Converting the dates or times provided by bogs to dateItems helps understand how LC treats them.
Try running this sample statement block on various dates or times:

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put "Sat,Mar 6, 2021" into tValue
convert tValue to dateItems
put tValue & return into message box
convert tValue to long date and abbreviated time
put tValue & return after message box

My two cents,
Bob

[stam]

I tried converting the six dates provided into dateItems. The 20xx dates converted correctly. the 19xx dates did not convert at all. The dates need to be in the same format (based on the locale?) so LC can interpret them correctly.

Hi Bob,
The 6 dates are in UK format (dd/mm/yyyy - i think i actually mentioned that in one of the preceding posts). On further testing, the sorting did work with American formatting (mm/dd/yyyy).
Thanks to Richard, I realised i was setting the set the useSystemDate to true in the wrong place - in the handler calling the sort function, instead of actually inside the sortArray function. Doing the latter fixes the issue.

I tried to abstract the sortArray function as much as possible so only single function can be called no matter if 1-dimensional or multidimensional or what sortDirection/Type, but I hadn't factored in the requirement for date formatting/locale. I've changed my function to include an additional parameter for the useSystemDate, which is now called inside the function.

So this one function should now return a sorted array regardless the nature of the array. Only required parameter is the array. Other params can be set as empty - pDirection will default to ascending, pSortType will default to text, pUseSystemDate will default to true; leaving pKey empty will treat the array as 1-dimensional.

This works well for me now:

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function sortArray @pArray, pDirection, pSortType, pKey, pUseSystemDate
   local tNextIndex, tSortedArray, tSortText
   get the keys of pArray
   set the useSystemDate to pUseSystemDate
   If pUseSystemDate is empty then set the useSystemDate to true // if not provided, default to user's environment
   put "sort lines of it [[pDirection]] [[pSortType]] by pArray[each]" into tSortText //1-dimensional array
   if pKey is not empty then put "[pKey]" after tSortText //multidimensional array
   do merge(tSortText)
   repeat for each line tKey in it
      add 1 to tNextIndex
      put pArray[tKey] into tSortedArray[tNextIndex]
   end repeat
   return tSortedArray
end sortArray

[FourthWorld]

Once the function returns to me this array described as "sorted", what would I expect to see when I obtain its keys?

[stam]

Once the function returns to me this array described as "sorted", what would I expect to see when I obtain its keys?

It returns a numerically keyed array with the same content of the keys in the source array, but ordered as desired...

For other readers, I attach an example - arrays shown with tree view widgets, unfortunately I haven't figured out how to expand all in script so needs to be done manually (set the foldState doesn't seem to work... if you know how to expand all branches of the tree view in script do let me know!).

It's really just a generalised abstraction of the lesson on the same topic, which means i can use only 1 function for all my sorting needs.
Unless you're referring to something else or hinting at an issue that's going way over my head? (very easily done!).



As a sidenote: there is a slight error in my code above, it doesn't like the pUseSystemDate passed as empty as it first tries to assign the boolean, so i've changed the 2 lines of code

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set the useSystemDate to pUseSystemDate
If pUseSystemDate is empty then set the useSystemDate to true

to

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if pUseSystemDate is not empty then set the useSystemDate to pUseSystemDate

empty will default to US format instead of the user's format, but hey ho... (i know i could do a conditional for the reverse, but I'm averse to adding more lines to code...)

[FourthWorld]

Once the function returns to me this array described as "sorted", what would I expect to see when I obtain its keys?

It returns a numerically keyed array with the same content of the keys in the source array, but ordered as desired...

What do you see when you run this?:

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on mouseup
   -- build array:
   put "Carol" into tA[1]["name"]
   put "Jane"  into tA[2]["name"]
   put "Bob"   into tA[3]["name"]
   put "Steve" into tA[4]["name"]
   put "Al"    into tA[5]["name"]
   put "Tina"  into tA[6]["name"]
   put "Kim"   into tA[7]["name"]
   put "Dude"  into tA[8]["name"]
   put "Chris" into tA[9]["name"]
   put "Liz"  into tA[10]["name"]
   --
   -- "sort" it:
   put sortArray(tA, "ascending", "text", "name", empty) into tSortedA
   --
   -- observe the results:
   put the keys of tSortedA
end mouseup