CIS 119 Array and sorting demo II

Example

Note: This sort will sort numerically if all of the data is numeric. If the data is not all numbers, then the sort will sort alphabetically.

Field 0:
Field 1:
Field 2:
Field 3:
Field 4:
Field 5:
Field 6:
Field 7:
Field 8:
Field 9:

The JavaScript code

function numericCompare(a, b) { return a - b; }

// sorts numerically if all elements are numbers
// otherwise it sorts alphabetically
function sortme() {
   var numsort = true;
   var fields = document.getElementsByTagName("input");
   var nums = new Array();
   for (var i=0; i<fields.length; i++) {
      var x = parseFloat(fields[i].value);
      if (isNaN(x)) numsort = false;
      nums.push(fields[i].value);
   }
   if (numsort) nums.sort(numericCompare);
   else nums.sort();
   
   for (var i=0; i<nums.length; i++) fields[i].value = nums[i];
   return false;
}

window.onload = function() {
    document.getElementById('btnSort').onclick = sortme;
};