Question

In this environment, I only have access to intrinsic Javascript functions, so cannot load external libraries.

When trying to sort by 3 keys, inner, middle, and outer, only my last sort seems to be preserved.

function Claim(claimNumber, lastName, claimStatus, record)
{
    this.claimNumber = claimNumber;
    this.lastName = lastName;
    this.claimStatus = claimStatus;
    this.record = record;
}
function sortLastName(a, b) { 
    var o1 = a["lastName"].toUpperCase(); 
    var o2 = b["lastName"].toUpperCase(); 
    if (o1 < o2) return -1; 
    if (o1 > o2) return 1; 
    return 0; 
} 
function sortClaimNumber(a, b) { 
    var o1 = a["claimNumber"].toUpperCase(); 
    var o2 = b["claimNumber"].toUpperCase(); 
    if (o1 < o2) return -1; 
    if (o1 > o2) return 1; 
    return 0; 
} 
function sortClaimStatus(a, b) { 
    var o1 = ("00" + a["claimStatus"].toUpperCase()).substr(-2); 
    var o2 = ("00" + b["claimStatus"].toUpperCase()).substr(-2); 
    if (o1 < o2) return 1; 
    if (o1 > o2) return -1; 
    return 0; 
} 
var claimListArray = buildClaimList(record);
claimListArray.sort(sortClaimStatus);
claimListArray.sort(sortClaimNumber);
claimListArray.sort(sortLastName);

The output should look like (lastname asc, claimnumber asc, claimstatus desc):

AARDVARK   111222A    15
AARDVARK   111222A    6
AARDVARK   111222A    1
AARDVARK   222555C    8
AARDVARK   222555C    4
BANKS      123132Z    78

but instead looks like:

AARDVARK   111222A    15
AARDVARK   222555C    4
AARDVARK   111222A    1
AARDVARK   222555C    8
AARDVARK   111222A    6
BANKS      123132Z    78

That is to say, only the lastName sort is preserved, as if the first two sorts did not happen.
Is there something about arrays and sorting that I’m missing that ignores previous sorts?

Is there a better approach?

Answer 1

try like this

function comp(a, b){
    var ret = sortLastName(a, b);
    if(ret != 0){
        return ret;
    }           
    ret = sortClaimNumber(a, b);
    if(ret != 0){
        return ret;
    }

    return sortClaimStatus(a, b);
}
claimListArray.sort(comp);

EDIT (by Malvolio):

Sorry to be editing your post but this solution, although technically correct, is bad Javascript. Write it like this:

claimListArray.sort(function(a, b) {
    return sortLastName(a, b)
        || sortClaimNumber(a, b)
        || sortClaimStatus(a, b);
});