Stuck trying to sort a multidimensional array

programming flash
1

Hello,

I’m banging my head against the wall trying to figure out how to sort the 2nd array column “topicName_str” in the following code:


//get CATEGORY info
  for (var i:Number=0; i<contentTotal_num; i++) {
   //get category vars from XML
   var getCategoryName_str:String = temp_array*.attributes.name.toString();
   getCategoryName_str = getCategoryName_str.toUpperCase();
   var getIconName_str:String = temp_array*.attributes.icon.toString();
   var sectionsTotal_num:Number = temp_array*.childNodes.length.toString();
 
   //save content to array
   category_array.push({text_str: getText_str,
           categoryName_str: getCategoryName_str,
         iconName_str: getIconName_str,
           items_num: sectionsTotal_num});   
 
   //get TOPIC info
   for (var j:Number=0; j<sectionsTotal_num; j++) {
    //get topic vars from XML
    var getTopicName_str:String = temp_array*.childNodes[j].attributes.name.toString();
    var subsectionsTotal_num:Number = temp_array*.childNodes[j].childNodes.length.toString();
 
    //save content to array
    category_array*[j] = {[COLOR=red]topicName_str[/COLOR]: getTopicName_str,
          items_num: subsectionsTotal_num};
 
    //get ITEM info
    for (var k:Number=0; k<subsectionsTotal_num; k++) {
     //get item vars from XML
     var getItemName_str:String = temp_array*.childNodes[j].childNodes[k].attributes.name.toString();
     var getItemDesc_str:String = temp_array*.childNodes[j].childNodes[k].attributes.desc.toString();
     var subsubsectionsTotal_num:Number = temp_array*.childNodes[j].childNodes[k].childNodes.length.toString();
 
     //replace html placeholders with html tags
     getItemDesc_str = getItemDesc_str.split("</P>,<P>").join(newline + newline);
     getItemDesc_str = getItemDesc_str.split("<P>").join("");
     getItemDesc_str = getItemDesc_str.split("</P>").join("");
     getItemDesc_str = getItemDesc_str.split("[br]").join(newline);
     getItemDesc_str = getItemDesc_str.split("[").join("<");
     getItemDesc_str = getItemDesc_str.split("]").join(">");
     getItemDesc_str = getItemDesc_str.split("&apos;").join("'");
     getItemDesc_str = getItemDesc_str.split("&quot;").join("\"");
 
     //save content to array
     category_array*[j][k] = {itemName_str: getItemName_str,
              itemDesc_str: getItemDesc_str,
              items_num: subsubsectionsTotal_num};
 
     //get LINK info
     for (var l:Number=0; l<subsubsectionsTotal_num; l++) {
      //get link vars from XML
      var getLinkIconName_str:String = temp_array*.childNodes[j].childNodes[k].childNodes[l].attributes.icon.toString();
      var getLinkIconURL_str:String = temp_array*.childNodes[j].childNodes[k].childNodes[l].attributes.url.toString();
 
      //save content to array
      category_array*[j][k][l] = {linkIconName_str: getLinkIconName_str,
                  linkIconURL_str: getLinkIconURL_str};
     }
    }    
   }
  }

Basically, I’m trying to sort category_array*[j].topicName_str alphabetically. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!
Scott