Allows you to sort a colleciton of objects by any given property within those objects.

sortCollection.js

/**
 * Sorts a collection of objects based on a pipe-delimited list of sorting parameter config strings
 * @param   {array}   collection        Collection of objects
 * @param   {string}  sortKeys          Pipe separated string of sortable properties within the collection model and it's  sort priorities:
 * @param   {string}  invertCollection  invert collection sort
 *
 * @schema  sortKeys: '(string)keyName:(string)keyType:(string)invert|...'
 * @example sortKeys: 'isOldData:boolean|orderTotal:number:invert|productName:string'
 *
 * @return  {array}               The sorted  collection
 */
export function sortCollection(collection, sortKeys = '', invertCollection = false) {

  if (!Array.isArray(collection)) {
    let msg = 'collection must be of type Array'
    console.error(msg, collection)
    throw new Error(msg)
  }

  const TABLE_SORT_DIRECTION = invertCollection ? -1 : 1


  // split sortKeys string by pipes
  sortKeys.split('|')

    // for each sortKey
    .map((el) => {

      if (el.trim().length === 0) {
        return 0
      }

      // split the sortKey into it's key and dataType
      let parts         = el.split(':')
      let keyName       = parts[0].trim()
      let keyType       = (parts[1] || 'string').trim().toLowerCase()               // presume the type is a string if not defined
      let invertColumn  = (parts[2] || '').trim().toLowerCase() === 'invert' ? -1 : 1 // a 3rd config prop should invert the sort

      // console.debug('sortCollection', parts)

      // sort collection by sortKey
      collection.sort((a, b) => {

        let aProp = a[keyName]
        let bProp = b[keyName]

        // manipulate comparator data based on datatype
        switch(keyType) {
          case 'string':
            // ensure the string is actually a string and not null
            aProp = aProp ? aProp + '' : ''
            bProp = bProp ? bProp + '' : ''

            aProp = aProp.toLowerCase().trim()
            bProp = bProp.toLowerCase().trim()
            break;
          case 'number':
          case 'boolean':
          case 'date':
          default:
            break;
        }

        let sortDir = 0

        if (aProp < bProp) sortDir = -1 * TABLE_SORT_DIRECTION * invertColumn
        if (aProp > bProp) sortDir = 1  * TABLE_SORT_DIRECTION * invertColumn

        // console.debug('sortCollection :: sortDir', sortDir, aProp, bProp, TABLE_SORT_DIRECTION, invertColumn)

        return sortDir
      })
    })

  return collection
}