sort an array by another array?

EvanReese

I have an array of faces that are in a seemingly random order in the array (by index), but they are arranged linearly enough that I could measure them from a certain point and get a sortable list of values. How do I use the array of distances to re-order the array of faces?

Maybe this question is too specific and there's actually a better approach altogether. If so I'd love to hear it.

MBartlett21

@Evan_Reese

Did you know that the FeatureScript maps allow the key to be anything? [1]

Because of this, you can have a map of distances, indexed by the face Query. This makes sorting very simple, just using Onshape's sort function:<pre>sort(arrayOfQueries, function(a, b) { return distances[a] - distances[b] }) </pre>
[1]: Values and Types

MBartlett21

@Evan_Reese

Here is an example:

// This map gets filled out with the keys being `Query`s and the values being `ValueWithUnits`s.
var queryToDistance is map = {};

var queryArray is array = ...;

for query in queryArray {
  queryToDistance[query] = evDistance(context, ...);
}

queryArray = sort(queryArray, function(a, b) { return queryToDistance[a] - queryToDistance[b] });

MBartlett21

@Evan_Reese

Did you know that the FeatureScript maps allow the key to be anything? [1]

Because of this, you can have a map of distances, indexed by the face Query. This makes sorting very simple, just using Onshape's sort function:<pre>sort(arrayOfQueries, function(a, b) { return distances[a] - distances[b] }) </pre>
[1]: Values and Types

EvanReese

Thanks @MBartlett21 I'm not sure whether you meant make the face query the key or the value. I got it working by making it the value, with the distance as key, but I have a feeling I took the long way. If you have time I'd appreciate a simple example showing what's in each variable above.

MBartlett21

@Evan_Reese

Here is an example:

// This map gets filled out with the keys being `Query`s and the values being `ValueWithUnits`s.
var queryToDistance is map = {};

var queryArray is array = ...;

for query in queryArray {
  queryToDistance[query] = evDistance(context, ...);
}

queryArray = sort(queryArray, function(a, b) { return queryToDistance[a] - queryToDistance[b] });