User Guide

Array.sortOn() 251
Array.sortOn()
Availability
Flash Player 6; additional capabilities added in Flash Player 7.
Usage
my_array.sortOn("fieldName":String ) : Array
my_array.sortOn("fieldName":String, option:Number | option |... ) : Array
my_array.sortOn( [ "fieldName" , "fieldName" , ... ]:Array) : Array
my_array.sortOn( [ "fieldName" , "fieldName" , ... ]:Array , option:Number |
option |... ) : Array
Note: Where brackets ([]) are shown, you must include them in the code; that is, the brackets don’t
represent optional parameters.
Parameters
fieldName
A string that identifies a field (in an element of the Array) to be used as the
sort value.
option One or more numbers or names of defined constants, separated by the | (bitwise OR)
operator, that change the behavior of the sort from the default. The following values are
acceptable for
option:
• 1 or Array.CASEINSENSITIVE
• 2 or Array.DESCENDING
• 4 or Array.UNIQUESORT
• 8 or Array.RETURNINDEXEDARRAY
• 16 or Array.NUMERIC
For more information about each option, see “Description” on page 251.
Returns
The return value depends on whether you pass any parameters, as described in the following list:
• If you specify a value of 4 or Array.UNIQUESORT for option, and two or more elements being
sorted have identical sort fields, Flash returns a value of 0 and does not modify the array.
• If you specify a value of 8 or Array.RETURNINDEXEDARRAY for option, Flash returns an Array
that reflects the results of the sort and does not modify the array.
• Otherwise, Flash returns nothing and modifies the array to reflect the sort order.
Description
Method; sorts the elements in an array according to one or more fields in the array. If you pass
multiple
fieldName parameters, the first field represents the primary sort field, the second
represents the next sort field, and so on. Flash sorts according to Unicode values. (ASCII is a
subset of Unicode.) If either of the elements being compared does not contain the field specified
in the
fieldName parameter, the field is assumed to be undefined, and the elements are placed
consecutively in the sorted array in no particular order.