SortField

(Preview)

Package	spark.collections
Class	public class SortField
Inheritance	SortField AdvancedStyleClient EventDispatcher Object
Implements	ISortField

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flex 4.5

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 10.1, AIR 2.5

Provides the sorting information required to establish a sort on a field or property in a collection view. SortField class is meant to be used with Sort class. Typically the sort is defined for collections of complex items, that is items in which the sort is performed on properties of those objects. As in the following example:


     var col:ICollectionView = new ArrayCollection();
     col.addItem({first:"Anders", last:"Dickerson"});
     var sort:Sort = new Sort();
     var sortfield:SortField = new SortField("first", true);
     sortfield.setStyle("locale", "en-US");
     sort.fields = [sortfield];
     col.sort = sort;

There are situations in which the collection contains simple items, like String, Date, Boolean, etc. In this case, sorting should be applied to the simple type directly. When constructing a sort for this situation only a single sort field is required and should not have a name specified. For example:


     var col:ICollectionView = new ArrayCollection();
     col.addItem("California");
     col.addItem("Arizona");
     var sort:Sort = new Sort();
     var sortfield:SortField = new SortField(null, true);
     sortfield.setStyle("locale", "en-US");
     sort.fields = [sortfield];
     col.sort = sort;

The default comparison provided by the SortField class provides correct language specific sorting for strings. The language is selected by the setting the locale style on an instance of the class in one of the following ways:

By using the class in an MXML declaration and inheriting the locale from the document that contains the declaration.

  <fx:Declarations> 
         <s:SortField id="sf" /> 
  </fx:Declarations>

By using an MXML declaration and specifying the locale value in the list of assignments.

  <fx:Declarations> 
      <s:SortField id="sf_SimplifiedChinese" locale="zh-Hans-CN" /> 
  </fx:Declarations>

Calling the setStyle method, e.g. sf.setStyle("locale", "zh-Hans-CN")
Inheriting the style from a UIComponent by calling the UIComponent's addStyleClient() method.

MXML Syntax expanded

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The <s:SortField> tag has the following attributes:

  <s:SortField
  Properties
  compareFunction="Internal compare function"
  descending="false"
  name="null"
  numeric="null"
  />

View the examples

More examples

Sorting and filtering data for viewing
Sorting and matching

Related API Elements

mx.collections.ICollectionView
spark.collections.Sort

Public Properties

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	Property		Defined By
		arraySortOnOptions : int [read-only] This helper property is used internally by the findItem() and sort() methods.	SortField
		className : String [read-only] The name of the component class.	AdvancedStyleClient
		compareFunction : Function The function that compares two items during a sort of items for the associated collection.	SortField
		constructor : Object A reference to the class object or constructor function for a given object instance.	Object
		descending : Boolean Specifies whether this field should be sorted in descending order.	SortField
		id : String The identity of the component.	AdvancedStyleClient
		inheritingStyles : Object An object containing the inheritable styles for this non-visual style client instance.	AdvancedStyleClient
		moduleFactory : IFlexModuleFactory A module factory is used as context for finding the style manager that controls the styles for this non-visual style client instance.	AdvancedStyleClient
		name : String The name of the field to be sorted.	SortField
		nonInheritingStyles : Object The beginning of this component's chain of non-inheriting styles.	AdvancedStyleClient
		numeric : Object Specifies that if the field being sorted contains numeric (number/int/uint) values, or string representations of numeric values, the comparator use a numeric comparison.	SortField
		styleDeclaration : CSSStyleDeclaration The style declaration that holds the inline styles declared by this object.	AdvancedStyleClient
		styleManager : IStyleManager2 [read-only] Returns the StyleManager instance used by this component.	AdvancedStyleClient
		styleName : Object The source of this object's style values.	AdvancedStyleClient
		styleParent : IAdvancedStyleClient A component's parent is used to evaluate descendant selectors.	AdvancedStyleClient
		usingCustomCompareFunction : Boolean [read-only] True if this ISortField uses a custom comparator function.	SortField

Public Methods

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	Method		Defined By
		SortField(name:String = null, descending:Boolean = false, numeric:Object = null) Constructor.	SortField
		addEventListener(type:String, listener:Function, useCapture:Boolean = false, priority:int = 0, useWeakReference:Boolean = false):void Registers an event listener object with an EventDispatcher object so that the listener receives notification of an event.	EventDispatcher
		clearStyle(styleProp:String):void Deletes a style property from this component instance.	AdvancedStyleClient
		dispatchEvent(event:Event):Boolean Dispatches an event into the event flow.	EventDispatcher
		getClassStyleDeclarations():Array Returns an Array of CSSStyleDeclaration objects for the type selector that applies to this component, or null if none exist.	AdvancedStyleClient
		getStyle(styleProp:String):* Gets a style property that has been set anywhere in this component's style lookup chain.	AdvancedStyleClient
		hasCSSState():Boolean Returns true if currentCSSState is not null.	AdvancedStyleClient
		hasEventListener(type:String):Boolean Checks whether the EventDispatcher object has any listeners registered for a specific type of event.	EventDispatcher
		hasOwnProperty(name:String):Boolean Indicates whether an object has a specified property defined.	Object
		initialized(document:Object, id:String):void The initialized method is called when this class or a class that extends this class is used in an MXML declaration.	AdvancedStyleClient
		initializeDefaultCompareFunction(obj:Object):void A helper function called by the Sort class to set the default comparison function to perform a comparison based on one of three things: whether or not a custom compare function has been set, the data type for the specified field or the the value of the numeric property.	SortField
		isPrototypeOf(theClass:Object):Boolean Indicates whether an instance of the Object class is in the prototype chain of the object specified as the parameter.	Object
		matchesCSSState(cssState:String):Boolean Returns true if cssState matches currentCSSState.	AdvancedStyleClient
		matchesCSSType(cssType:String):Boolean Determines whether this instance is the same as, or is a subclass of, the given type.	AdvancedStyleClient
		notifyStyleChangeInChildren(styleProp:String, recursive:Boolean):void Propagates style changes to the children of this style client instance.	AdvancedStyleClient
		propertyIsEnumerable(name:String):Boolean Indicates whether the specified property exists and is enumerable.	Object
		regenerateStyleCache(recursive:Boolean):void Sets up the internal style cache values so that the getStyle() method functions.	AdvancedStyleClient
		registerEffects(effects:Array):void Registers the EffectManager as one of the event listeners for each effect event.	AdvancedStyleClient
		removeEventListener(type:String, listener:Function, useCapture:Boolean = false):void Removes a listener from the EventDispatcher object.	EventDispatcher
		reverse():void Reverse the criteria for this sort field.	SortField
		setPropertyIsEnumerable(name:String, isEnum:Boolean = true):void Sets the availability of a dynamic property for loop operations.	Object
		setStyle(styleProp:String, newValue:*):void Sets a style property on this component instance.	AdvancedStyleClient
		styleChanged(styleProp:String):void Detects changes to style properties.	AdvancedStyleClient
		stylesInitialized():void Flex calls the stylesInitialized() method when the styles for a component are first initialized.	AdvancedStyleClient
		toLocaleString():String Returns the string representation of this object, formatted according to locale-specific conventions.	Object
		toString():String Returns the string representation of the specified object.	Object
		valueOf():Object Returns the primitive value of the specified object.	Object
		willTrigger(type:String):Boolean Checks whether an event listener is registered with this EventDispatcher object or any of its ancestors for the specified event type.	EventDispatcher

Events

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	Event		Summary	Defined By
		activate	[broadcast event] Dispatched when the Flash Player or AIR application gains operating system focus and becomes active.	EventDispatcher
		deactivate	[broadcast event] Dispatched when the Flash Player or AIR application operating loses system focus and is becoming inactive.	EventDispatcher

Styles

Styles are either common or associated with a specific theme. If the style is common, it can be used with any theme. If a style is associated with a specific theme, it can only be used if your application uses that theme.

Common Styles

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	Style	Description	Defined By
		locale	Type: String CSS Inheritance: Yes Language Version: ActionScript 3.0 Product Version: Flex 4.5 Runtime Versions: Flash10.1, AIR 2.5 The locale identifier that specifies the language, region, script and optionally other related tags and keys. The syntax of this identifier must follow the syntax defined by the Unicode Technical Standard #35 (for example, en-US, de-DE, zh-Hans-CN). For browser based apps, the default locale is based on the language settings from the browser. (Note that this is not the browser UI language that is available from Javascript, but rather is the list of preferred locales for web pages that the user has set in the browser preferences.) For AIR applications, the default UI locale is based on the user's system preferences. Learn more http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr35/	SortField

Style

Description

Defined By

locale

Type: String CSS Inheritance: Yes
Language Version: ActionScript 3.0 Product Version: Flex 4.5 Runtime Versions: Flash10.1, AIR 2.5

The locale identifier that specifies the language, region, script and optionally other related tags and keys. The syntax of this identifier must follow the syntax defined by the Unicode Technical Standard #35 (for example, en-US, de-DE, zh-Hans-CN).

For browser based apps, the default locale is based on the language settings from the browser. (Note that this is not the browser UI language that is available from Javascript, but rather is the list of preferred locales for web pages that the user has set in the browser preferences.) For AIR applications, the default UI locale is based on the user's system preferences.

Learn more

http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr35/

SortField

Property Detail

Constructor Detail

Method Detail

Examples How to use this example

SortExample1.mxml

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Application xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" 
               xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark" 
               xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx" 
               minWidth="955" minHeight="600">
    <!-- Sample program for spark.collections.Sort and SortField --> 
    <fx:Declarations>
        <s:Sort id="sortbyLastName_FirstName">
            <s:fields>
                <s:SortField name="last"/>
                <s:SortField name="first"/>
            </s:fields>
        </s:Sort>
        <mx:ArrayCollection id="collection" sort="{sortbyLastName_FirstName}">
            <mx:source>
                <fx:Object first="Anders" last="Dickerson"/>
                <fx:Object first="Eileen" last="Maccormick"/>
                <fx:Object first="Aiden" last="MacCormick"/>
                <fx:Object first="Steve" last="MacGregor"/>
            </mx:source>
        </mx:ArrayCollection>
    </fx:Declarations>
    
    <s:VGroup>
        <s:VGroup>
            <s:HGroup>
                <s:Label text="Input Locale ID Name: "/>
                <s:TextInput id="inputLocaleIDName"/>
                <!-- 
                Sets the locale style on the document UI component.
                The SortField and Sort objects defined in the 
                fx:Declarations section will inherit this style.
                -->
                <s:Button click="{setStyle('locale', inputLocaleIDName.text); 
                          collection.refresh()}" label="Apply"/>
            </s:HGroup>
            <s:Label text="Example: 'en-US', 'fr-FR', 'zh-CN', 'ar-SA'"/>
        </s:VGroup>
        <s:DataGrid dataProvider="{collection}" width="100%"
                     creationComplete="{collection.refresh()}">
            <s:columns>
                <s:ArrayList>
                    <s:GridColumn dataField="last"/>
                    <s:GridColumn dataField="first"/>
                </s:ArrayList>
            </s:columns>
        </s:DataGrid>
    </s:VGroup>
</s:Application>

SortExample2.mxml

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Application xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" 
               xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark" 
               xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx" 
               minWidth="955" minHeight="600"
               creationComplete="initApp()">
    <!-- Sample program for spark.collections.Sort and SortField -->    
    <fx:Script>
        <![CDATA[
            import mx.collections.ArrayCollection;
            import spark.collections.*;
            [Bindable]
            private var collection:ArrayCollection = new ArrayCollection();
            
            private function localeChange():void
            {
                // Sets the locale style on this application.
                // The SortField objects will inherit this style.
                setStyle('locale', inputLocaleIDName.text);
                collection.refresh();
            }

            private function initApp() : void
            {
                // Add data to the collection.
                collection.addItem({first:"Anders", last:"Dickerson"});
                collection.addItem({first:"Steve", last:"Maccormick"});
                collection.addItem({first:"Aiden", last:"MacCormick"});
                collection.addItem({first:"Eileen", last:"MacGregor"});
                
                // Create the Sort instance.
                var sort:Sort = new Sort();
                
                // Set the sort field; sort on the last name first, first name 
                // second.
                var sortfieldLastName:SortField = new SortField("last",true);
                var sortfieldFirstName:SortField = new SortField("first",true);
                sort.fields = [sortfieldLastName, sortfieldFirstName];
                
                // Add the sort field objects to this application's list of
                // style clients.  This will cause the sort field objects to 
                // inherit the locale style from this Application. 
                addStyleClient(sortfieldLastName);
                addStyleClient(sortfieldFirstName);
                
                // Assign the Sort object to the view.
                collection.sort = sort;
                
                // Apply the sort to the collection.
                collection.refresh();
            }
        ]]>
    </fx:Script>
    
    <s:VGroup>
        <s:VGroup>
            <s:HGroup>
                <s:Label text="Input Locale ID Name: "/>
                <s:TextInput id="inputLocaleIDName"/>
                <s:Button click="localeChange()" label="Apply"/>
            </s:HGroup>
            <s:Label text="Example: 'en-US', 'fr-FR', 'zh-CN', 'ar-SA'"/>
        </s:VGroup>
        
        <s:DataGrid dataProvider="{collection}" width="100%"
                     creationComplete="{collection.refresh()}">
            <s:columns>
                <s:ArrayList>
                    <s:GridColumn dataField="last"/>
                    <s:GridColumn dataField="first"/>
                </s:ArrayList>
            </s:columns>
        </s:DataGrid>
    </s:VGroup>
</s:Application>

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SortField - AS3 Flex

Packagesx

Language Elements

Appendixes

Package spark.collections

arraySortOnOptions

compareFunction

descending

name

numeric

usingCustomCompareFunction

initializeDefaultCompareFunction

reverse

	`name:String` (default = `null`) — The name of the property that this field uses for comparison. If the object is a simple type, pass `null`.

	`descending:Boolean` (default = `false`) — Tells the comparator whether to arrange items in descending order.

	`numeric:Object` (default = `null`) — Tells the comparator whether to compare sort items as numbers, instead of alphabetically.