Sample program to sort an array of object by custom predefined sort order using JavaScript

Assume we have an object and we want to sort it based on custom predefined sort order value. We can utilize the JavaScript sort method to achieve this.

var items = [
    { firstname: 'Lazslo', lastname: 'Jamf',  accountType: 'Gold'},
    { firstname: 'Barack', lastname: 'Obamo',  accountType: 'Platinum' },
    { firstname: 'Pig',    lastname: 'Bodine',  accountType: 'Silver'},
    { firstname: 'Pirate', lastname: 'Prentice',  accountType: 'Platinum' }
];

Here, items is an object we need to sort by it's property 'accountType' and the sortOrder array is the predefined order it should follow. The order will be, first Platinum then Gold and then Silver.

Solution:

items.sort(function(a, b) {
    return sortOrder.indexOf(a.accountType) - sortOrder.indexOf(b.accountType);
});

So the final result will be,

var items = [
    { firstname: 'Barack', lastname: 'Obamo',  accountType: 'Platinum' },
    { firstname: 'Pirate', lastname: 'Prentice',  accountType: 'Platinum' }
    { firstname: 'Lazslo', lastname: 'Jamf',  accountType: 'Gold'},
    { firstname: 'Pig',    lastname: 'Bodine',  accountType: 'Silver'}
];