Sorting an array of objects alphanumerically

Question

I have an array of objects that I need to sort alphanumerically. I can easily sort a simple array of strings/numbers alphanumerically with the code below. But I need to sort an array of objects the same way. I’ve tried writing my own sorting functions but I cannot seem to alphanumerically sort an array of objects properly. The example below is what my array of objects looks like, I need to sort this array of objects by the ‘ClientID’. When sorted properly the first three ClientID’s should be 21,41,45,..

/** Array of Objects **/
    var array = [
    { Code: "Code1S3", ClientID: "211", ReceiptDate: "2018-10-19T04:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S43", ClientID: "2247", ReceiptDate: "2019-01-08T05:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S12", ClientID: "3678", ReceiptDate: "2018-10-19T04:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S10", ClientID: "39920", ReceiptDate: "2018-10-19T04:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S19", ClientID: "39920", ReceiptDate: "2018-11-19T05:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S4", ClientID: "21", ReceiptDate: "2018-10-19T04:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S35", ClientID: "338x24", ReceiptDate: "2018-12-18T05:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S13", ClientID: "40466", ReceiptDate: "2018-10-19T04:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S22", ClientID: "40466", ReceiptDate: "2018-11-19T05:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S9", ClientID: "40656", ReceiptDate: "2018-10-19T04:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S18", ClientID: "40656", ReceiptDate: "2018-11-19T05:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S5", ClientID: "41", ReceiptDate: "2018-10-19T04:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S24", ClientID: "2468", ReceiptDate: "2018-11-19T05:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S11", ClientID: "41193", ReceiptDate: "2018-10-19T04:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S20", ClientID: "41193", ReceiptDate: "2018-11-19T05:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S21", ClientID: "36780", ReceiptDate: "2018-11-19T05:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S36", ClientID: "45", ReceiptDate: "2019-01-08T05:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S31", ClientID: "52x386", ReceiptDate: "2018-11-19T05:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S1", ClientID: "550", ReceiptDate: "2018-10-19T04:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S23", ClientID: "41318", ReceiptDate: "2018-11-19T05:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S2", ClientID: "526", ReceiptDate: "2018-10-19T04:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S14", ClientID: "41318", ReceiptDate: "2018-10-19T04:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S32", ClientID: "63x386", ReceiptDate: "2018-11-19T05:00:00.000Z" },
    { Code: "Code1S30", ClientID: "68x34", ReceiptDate: "2018-11-19T05:00:00.000Z" }
    ];

/** Example of Alphanumeric Sort on Array of Strings **/
var data = [];
_.each(array, function(value) {
  data.push(value.ClientID);
});

var collator = new Intl.Collator(undefined, {
  numeric: true,
  sensitivity: 'base'
});
console.log("sorted: ", data.sort(collator.compare));

/** Sorting attempts, ( they don't sort alphanumerically ) **/
var sorted = _.sortBy(array, 'ClientID');
console.log("sorted: ", sorted);

function compare(a, b) {
  if (a.ClientID < b.ClientID)
    return -1;
  if (a.ClientID > b.ClientID)
    return 1;
  return 0;
}

array.sort(compare);
console.log(array)

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/lodash.js/4.17.11/lodash.min.js"></script>

UPDATE (Solved): I solved this, I first looped through the array and got an array of strings to sort. I alphanumerically sorted that array and saved another array of the sorted indexes. I used that array of indices to sort the initial array of objects to the proper order. The code below...

function sortWithIndeces(toSort) {
    var collator = new Intl.Collator(undefined, { numeric: true, sensitivity: 'base' });
    for (var i = 0; i < toSort.length; i++) {
        toSort[i] = [toSort[i], i];
    }
    toSort.sort(collator.compare);
    toSort.sortIndices = [];
    for (var j = 0; j < toSort.length; j++) {
        toSort.sortIndices.push(toSort[j][1]);
        toSort[j] = toSort[j][0];
    }
    return toSort;
}
function reorderByIndexes(arr, order) {
    return order.map((index) => arr[index]);
}

// Success
var data = [];
_.each( array, function(value) {
    data.push( value.ClientID );
});

var sortedArray = sortWithIndeces( data )
var sortedIndices = sortedArray.sortIndices;
var Sorted = reorderByIndexes( array, sortedIndices);
console.log("sorted: ", Sorted );

As it's a string you should parse out the numbers from it and then your solution should work. — Taavi Kivimaa, Mar 14 '19 at 14:41
@TaaviKivimaa, sounds like a decent solution. Do you have an example? — MostlyRquestions, Mar 14 '19 at 15:07
In you custom compare function, you should use parseInt(a.ClientID, 10). parseInt() will return to you Integer and trim characters from original string. Also, if your ClientID starts with a character, parseInt() would return to you NaN. But I think you can ignore this occurance. — marinbgd, Mar 14 '19 at 15:12

Sorting an array of objects alphanumerically

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