Custom Array Sorting?

[PeteMichaud]

In vanilla javascript arrays can be sorted like this: arr.sort((a,b) => /*logic returning -1, 0, or 1*/), but dv collections have their own sort method where the comparator just returns an arbitrary value to be sorted by generic sort logic. It's blocking me from my custom sorting logic.

To make it concrete:

I am using Dataview with Longform. Longform has an index of files that determines the order of the files in a manuscript. I can get the ordered collection like so:

let longform_index = dv.pages('"Book/Index"');
let ordered_scenes = longform_index.drafts.scenes; // array of strings

It's a different order than, eg, let book_pages = dv.pages('"Book/Drafts/Draft 1"') -- that order is just the dumb file folder order, not the smart Longform order from ordered_scenes.

I want my dv collection of book_pages to be in the same order as ordered_scenes, using something like this logic:

return book_pages.sort((a, b) => { 
		const i1 = ordered_scenes.indexOf(a.file.name); 
		const i2 = ordered_scenes.indexOf(b.file.name); 
		return ( (i1 > -1 ? i1 : Infinity) - (i2 > -1 ? i2 : Infinity) ); 
	});

But the sort method isn't the normal javascript sort, so it doesn't work.

I've thought about mapping the ordered_scenes to Dataview page objects, but I don't know if it's possible to do that without breaking all the query and group functionality.

Here's what I'm ultimately trying to do:

let longform_index = dv.pages('"Book/Index"');
let current_draft_folder = longform_index.drafts.folder; 
let book_pages = dv.pages('"Book/Drafts/'+ current_draft_folder +'"');
let ordered_scenes = longform_index.drafts.scenes;

// list of all scenes grouped by the Point of View (POV) character
for(let group of book_pages.groupBy(p => p.pov)) {
	const rows_longform_order = somehow_sort???(group.rows by ordered_scenes);
	dv.header(2, group.key);
	dv.table(
		["Scene", "OtherData"],
		rows_longform_order.map(scene => [scene.file.link, scene.other_data])
			
	)
}

[AB1908]

Use the longform index to generate the DV index? Seems neater that way. If you have the list of paths from long form, you could just .map(t=>dv.page(t)) it.

[AB1908]

A little busy ATM but will dig deeper into this when I have the time. Custom comparators should also work, or at least they did for me.

[PeteMichaud]

Thanks @AB1908! I found that custom compare does actually work! Here's some working code for anyone who stumbles on this in the future:

let longform_index = dv.pages('"Book/Index"');
let current_draft_folder = longform_index.drafts.folder; 
let book_pages = dv.pages('"Book/Drafts/'+ current_draft_folder +'"');
let longformOrder = longform_index.drafts.scenes;

const longformSort = (a, b) => {
		const i1 = longformOrder.indexOf(a); 
		const i2 = longformOrder.indexOf(b); 		
		return ( (i1 > -1 ? i1 : Infinity) - (i2 > -1 ? i2 : Infinity) ); 
};

//

for(let group of book_pages.groupBy(p => p.arc).sort(g => g.key, "desc")) {
	dv.header(2, group.key);

	dv.table(
		["Scene", "POV"],
		group.rows
			.sort(scene => scene.file.name, "asc", longformSort) //<-- here is where to put the custom sort
			.map(scene => [scene.file.link, scene.pov])
			
	)
}

[blacksmithgu]

Ah, yes - sort does support arbitary comparators, but it is of the form (key, direction, customSort), which does not agree with the default javascript! Good catch.