MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004 - ACTIONSCRIPT Reference Manual page 282

Description
Method; sorts the elements in an array. Flash sorts according to ASCII (Unicode) values. If either
of the elements being compared does not contain the field specified in the
the field is assumed to be
array in no particular order.
By default,
Array
•
Sorting is case sensitive (Z precedes a).
•
Sorting is ascending (a precedes b).
•
The array is modified to reflect the sort order; multiple elements that have identical sort fields
are placed consecutively in the sorted array in no particular order.
•
Numeric fields are sorted as if they were strings, so 100 precedes 99, because "1" is a lower
string value than "9".
•
Nothing is returned.
If you want to sort in another way, create a function to do the sorting and pass its name as the
compareFunction
by last name, ascending, and then by ZIP code, descending.
If you want to specify one or more fields on which to sort, using either the default sort or the
parameter, use
options
Example
Usage 1: The following example shows the use of
for :
option
var fruits_array = ["oranges", "apples", "strawberries", "pineapples",
"cherries"];
trace(fruits_array.join());
fruits_array.sort();
trace(fruits_array.join());
fruits_array.sort(Array.DESCENDING);
trace(fruits_array.join());
The Output panel displays the following results:
oranges,apples,strawberries,pineapples,cherries// original array
apples,cherries,oranges,pineapples,strawberries// default sort
strawberries,pineapples,oranges,cherries,apples// descending sort
Usage 2: The following example uses
var passwords = ["mom:glam","ana:ring","jay:mag","anne:home","regina:silly"];
function order (a,b){
//Entries to be sorted are in form name:password
//Sort using only the name part of the entry as a key.
var name1 =a.split(":")[0 ];
var name2 =b.split(":")[0 ];
if (name1 <name2){
return -1;
}
else if (name1 >name2){
return 1;
}
else {
return 0;
282 Chapter 12: ActionScript Dictionary
, and the elements are placed consecutively in the sorted
undefined
. works as follows:
sort()
parameter. You might do this, for example, if you want to sort alphabetically
Array.sortOn()
Array.sort()
.
Array.sort()
with a compare function.
parameter,
fieldName
with and without a value passed