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Katsiaryna (Kate) Lupachova
Katsiaryna (Kate) Lupachova

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React: how to dynamically sort an array of objects using the dropdown (with React Hooks)

Assume we have the following problem:

  • sort an array of objects
  • do it dynamically based on different properties values
  • render this in browser using react.js

OK, let’s get down to business!

The sample array of objects:



const bands = [
  {
    name: 'Nightwish',
    albums: 9,
    members: 6,
    formed_in: 1996,
  },
  {
    name: 'Metallica',
    albums: 10,
    members: 4,
    formed_in: 1981,
  },
  {
    name: 'Nirvana',
    albums: 3,
    members: 3,
    formed_in: 1987,
  },
];


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For the sake of this tutorial I’m not going to do any fancy components, so let’s render this array in plain div’s.



function App() {
  return (
    <div className="App">
      {bands.map(band => (
        <div key={band.id} style={{ margin: '30px' }}>
          <div>{`Band: ${band.name}`}</div>
          <div>{`Albums: ${band.albums}`}</div>
          <div>{`Members: ${band.members}`}</div>
          <div>{`Year of founding: ${band.formed_in}`}</div>
        </div>
      ))}
    </div>
  );
}


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Check the view in browser:

bands

Looks good!

Now let’s add the select element with options of sortable properties.



<select>
        <option value="albums">Albums</option>
        <option value="members">Members</option>
        <option value="formed">Formed in</option>
</select>


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That’s fantastic, but absolutely nothing happens when we change the dropdown options.

dropdown

To fix this problem we need to somehow connect the select element and the array which we want to sort and re-render sorted array values each time the different select option is chosen.

According to React’s docs:

By default, when your component’s state or props change, your component will re-render.

That means that we have to add state to our component. And I’m going to do it with the help of React Hooks.

Let’s define the state variable data and the method for its update setData using useState hook.



const [data, setData] = useState([]);


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Hypothetically, when the state will be updated with the new data (sorted array), the component should re-render. To test it we need to define a function that will sort the bands array based on the selected option in the dropdown and call it every time the selected option changes.



...
const sortArray = type => {
    const types = {
      albums: 'albums',
      members: 'members',
      formed: 'formed_in',
    };
    const sortProperty = types[type];
    const sorted = bands.sort((a, b) => b[sortProperty] - a[sortProperty]);
    console.log(sorted);
    setData(sorted);
  };

...
<select onChange={(e) => sortArray(e.target.value)}>
...


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But when we run the code, it's not working properly.

members-sort

albums-sort

Array is being sorted just fine, as it’s printed in the console, but the array data doesn’t re-render. It only renders when we change the sorted value for the first time.

The problem is in the following, as it’s stated in the React docs:

Do Not Modify State Directly

So, this line of code is wrong, as it modifies state (sorts the array, which is in the state) in place. And React “thinks” that setData is being called with the same array that it already had, therefore no re-render. (Big “thank you” goes to T.J. Crowder who helped me to clarify this problem)



const sorted = bands.sort((a, b) => b[sortProperty] - a[sortProperty]);


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The right way is first to do the copy of the bands array, sort it and then call setData with this array. So, just adding the spread operator to copy array should solve the problem.



const sorted = [...bands].sort((a, b) => b[sortProperty] - a[sortProperty]);


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Let’s try to run the code. Well, it kinda works, but the bands data doesn’t render on the start, just after the select option is changed.

The problem could be easily solved with the help of useEffect Hook.

1.Define another state variable for storing value of the sort property. By default, the bands array will be sorted by a number of albums.



const [sortType, setSortType] = useState('albums');


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2.Update the value of the sortType on select option change.



<select onChange={(e) => setSortType(e.target.value)}>


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3.Add useEffect Hook, which will call sortArray function after the component renders and then every time on update of the sortType value. We achieve this by passing the second argument (sortType) to useEffect that is the array of values that the effect depends on.



useEffect(() => {
    const sortArray = type => {
      const types = {
        albums: 'albums',
        members: 'members',
        formed: 'formed_in',
      };
      const sortProperty = types[type];
      const sorted = [...bands].sort((a, b) => b[sortProperty] - a[sortProperty]);
      setData(sorted);
    };

    sortArray(sortType);
  }, [sortType]);


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Now the code works as expected!

The complete source code is available in this GitHub repository

Originally posted on my own blog

Top comments (18)

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muyembeii profile image
MuyembeII

Hello, thank you for this great tutorial. Could you help with sorting nested object. E.g location has nested fields city and town and lets say I wanted to filter by town

const bands = [
{
name: 'Nightwish',
albums: 9,
members: 6,
formed_in: 1996,
location: {
city: "Berlin",
town: "Cologne"
}
},
..............................................
];

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ramonak profile image
Katsiaryna (Kate) Lupachova

Hi, Muyembell! Thank you for your feedback!
As for your question, you can sort array of objects by nested property this way (if you need to compare strings):

array.sort((a,b) => a.location.city.localeCompare(b.location.city));

Please, check the full updated code of the tutorial example with nested property sorting here - branch nested-sorting.

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muyembeii profile image
MuyembeII

Thank you 🙌. Worked like a charm

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encryptblockr profile image
encryptblockr

is it possible to have this sort as a component? so one can use on multiple pages? thanks

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ramonak profile image
Katsiaryna (Kate) Lupachova

yes, of course, it's totally possible. Just pass initial data and and sort type as a props to this component. The exact implementation depends on your use case.

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avi_developer profile image
Avi Nash

It was frustrating because list was not rendered but your post resolved my issue. [...bands] works perfect. Thanks so much

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udittarini profile image
Udit Tarini

Hey thank you it worked really well

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codeindevelopment profile image
Code in dev

thanks a lot men , this code very very helped me for sort options in my project <3

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luisregardiz profile image
Luis Garcia Regardiz

Thank u, it was very helpful 👍

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fidelp27 profile image
Fide

Very very very thank you! I can't sleep in 3 days for that problem! Awesome ! Thank you again

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ramonak profile image
Katsiaryna (Kate) Lupachova

I know the feeling when you can't sleep due to some coding problem bothering you:) And you are very welcome!!!

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encryptblockr profile image
encryptblockr
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ramonak profile image
Katsiaryna (Kate) Lupachova

Please check the answer - github.com/KaterinaLupacheva/react...

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encryptblockr profile image
encryptblockr

codesandbox link?

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ramonak profile image
Katsiaryna (Kate) Lupachova
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rishudc119 profile image
Deepak Chauhan

You are awesome man

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temi_ profile image
Temi-tayo

Why not map through the state "data" instead of "bands"?

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ramonak profile image
Katsiaryna (Kate) Lupachova

Actually it mapped through the state data, please check the full code in the repo. Map through "bands" happens only on the "early stage" of the tutorial.