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I have a data representing several elements (that could be rendered at some point as div), composed of y position (property top) and its height (property height).

These elements are always positioned vertically one next/on-top of each others based on their order.

At the moment I am using the following script to calculate their top position accordingly to their height, script works fine but I kindly ask you your revision in order to improve if possible:

  • Adjustment for speed as I would need interaction over thousand of objects.

  • Possibility of an alternative approach to solve this problem if you know any.

Example here, please look at the console for final result http://jsbin.com/xamagidebe/1/

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>

    <title></title>
    <style>
    </style>
    <script>
        window.app = {
            data: [
                    { id: 'h', order: 0, top: null, height: 10 },
                    { id: 'c', order: 1, top: null, height: 20 },
                    { id: 'f', order: 2, top: null, height: 30 }
            ],
            start: function () {
                this.data.sort(function (a, b) {
                    if (b.order > a.order) {
                        return 1;
                    }
                });
                var len = this.data.length;
                var i = 0;
                var x = 0;
                var sum = 0;
                while (i < len) {
                    var item = this.data[i];
                    while (x < len) {
                        var itemX = this.data[x];
                        if (itemX.order < item.order) {
                            sum += itemX.height;
                        }
                        x++;
                    }
                    item.top = sum;
                    i++;
                    sum = 0;
                    x = 0;
                }
                this.data.sort(function (a, b) {
                    if (a.order > b.order) {
                        return 1;
                    }
                });
                console.log('after', this.data);
            }
        };

    </script>
</head>
<body onload="window.app.start();">


</body>
</html>
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1 Answer 1

3
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If you sort your elements ascending by order, you can get rid of the nested loop and just keep a running sum as you loop through:

start: function () {
    // sort ascending by order
    this.data.sort(function (a, b) {
        if (b.order < a.order) {
            return 1;
        }
    });
    var len = this.data.length;
    var i = 0;
    var sum = 0;
    while (i < len) {
        var item = this.data[i];

        // the top of this element is the sum of all previous element's heights
        item.top = sum;

        // don't reset sum here, just keep adding to it
        sum += item.height;
        i++;
    }
    console.log('after', this.data);
}

I have also removed the re-sorting at the end of the function as it is no longer needed due to the initial sort being ascending.

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