AdvancedDataGrid dataField - how to use a subarray or object in flex?

Question

I have an advanced data grid in flex (flash builder 4). It's dataProvider is pointing to an ArrayCollection (this._encounters).

Inside that array collection is a property that is an object (a client object).

I tried setting the dataField to "clientObj.firstName" to refer to the first name property within the clientObj property of the this._encounters array collection. It did not show anything.

So, I added a labelFunction to that column (code below) to set the text in the cell. This works fine and now I have values showing in the grid.

The problem is now when I click the title of column to sort it. It throws an error that property clientObj.firstName is not found in my array collection!

So, is there a better way to set the dataField / source for a column and point at a property in a sub-object -- or a way to fix the sort?

Below the first column

<mx:AdvancedDataGrid x="0" y="25" id="adgEncounters" designViewDataType="flat" width="100%" height="100%" dataProvider="{this._encounters}">
<mx:columns>
<mx:AdvancedDataGridColumn headerText="first" dataField="clientObj.firstName" labelFunction="encounterGridLabelFunct"/>
<mx:AdvancedDataGridColumn headerText="first" dataField="thisWorksField"/>
</mx:columns>
</mx:AdvancedDataGrid>



protected function encounterGridLabelFunct(item:Object, column:AdvancedDataGridColumn):String //put just the HH:MM in to the grid, not the whole date string
{
 if(column.headerText=="first") result=item.clientObj.firstName;    
 return result;
}

update: Here is the final working code I used. 3 example sort functions, 1 for numeric sorting, 1 for String sorting and one for Date sorting (string date from a database).:

// sort adg column numerically
            private function numericSortByField(subObjectName:String, fieldName:String):Function
            {
                return function(obj1:Object, obj2:Object):int
                {
                    var value1:Number = (obj1[subObjectName][fieldName] == '' || obj1[subObjectName][fieldName] == null) ? null : new Number(obj1[subObjectName][fieldName]);

                    var value2:Number = (obj2[subObjectName][fieldName] == '' || obj2[subObjectName][fieldName] == null) ? null : new Number(obj2[subObjectName][fieldName]);
                    return ObjectUtil.numericCompare(value1, value2);
                }
            }

            //sort adg column string
            private function stringSortByField(subObjectName:String, fieldName:String):Function
            {
                return function(obj1:Object, obj2:Object):int
                {
                    var value1:String = (obj1[subObjectName][fieldName] == '' || obj1[subObjectName][fieldName] == null) ? null : new String(obj1[subObjectName][fieldName]);

                    var value2:String = (obj2[subObjectName][fieldName] == '' || obj2[subObjectName][fieldName] == null) ? null : new String(obj2[subObjectName][fieldName]);
                    return ObjectUtil.stringCompare(value1, value2);
                }
            }

            //sort adg date diff (takes date strings for example from a db)
            private function dateSortByField(subObjectName:String, fieldName:String):Function
            {
                return function(obj1:Object, obj2:Object):int
                {
                    var value1:String = (obj1[subObjectName][fieldName] == '' || obj1[subObjectName][fieldName] == null) ? null : new String(obj1[subObjectName][fieldName]);

                    var value2:String = (obj2[subObjectName][fieldName] == '' || obj2[subObjectName][fieldName] == null) ? null : new String(obj2[subObjectName][fieldName]);

                    var value1Date:Date = new Date();
                    var value1Time:int = value1Date.setTime(Date.parse(value1));

                    var value2Date:Date = new Date();
                    var value2Time:int = value2Date.setTime(Date.parse(value2));


                    return ObjectUtil.numericCompare(value1Time, value2Time);
                }
            }

In the mxml above, this is the changed line - notice the stringSortByField added:

        <mx:AdvancedDataGridColumn headerText="first" dataField="clientObj.firstName" sortCompareFunction="{stringSortByField('clientObj','firstName')}" labelFunction="encounterGridLabelFunct"/>

If it were a numeric field use the numericSortByField. If it were a date string from a database, use the dateSortByField function instead.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 05 '11 at 16:00

You could use a custom compare function, thats how I do it (obviously your itemA and itemB will be different objects, so cast them as such):

In your AdvancedDataGridColumn put in:

sortCompareFunction="string_sortCompareFunc"

and make the function:

private function string_sortCompareFunc(itemA:Object, itemB:Object):int 
        {
             var a:String = itemA as String;
             var b:String = itemB as String;              

             return ObjectUtil.stringCompare(a, b);
        }

So that at least prevents the error and it looks like it's trying to sort since the order of the records does change, but they are not in order. For example, aaa bbb ddd aaa bbb zzz — Scott Szretter, Aug 05 '11 at 19:17

AdvancedDataGrid dataField - how to use a subarray or object in flex?

1 Answers1