Sort array of objects by date in objects

[piznac]

Hello all!

 

I have this array of objects:

Array
(
    [0] => stdClass Object
        (
            [first_name] => test
            [last_name] => test
            [title] => test
            [id] => 34
            [type] => 4
            [manager] => 4
            [email] => p@yahoo.com
            [date] => 2014-09-21 07:23:12
            [status] => 2
            [approval_date] => 2014-09-21 07:31:10
            [assessment_id] => 1
            [supervisor_approval] => 1
            [manager_approval_date] => 2014-09-21 07:31:27
            [mainmanger] => 3
        )

    [1] => stdClass Object
        (
            [first_name] => test
            [last_name] => test
            [title] => test
            [id] => 34
            [type] => 4
            [manager] => 4
            [email] => p@yahoo.com
            [date] => 2014-09-20 07:39:55
            [status] => 2
            [approval_date] => 2014-09-20 07:40:41
            [assessment_id] => 3
            [supervisor_approval] => 1
            [manager_approval_date] => 2014-09-20 07:41:07
            [mainmanger] => 3
        )

    [2] => stdClass Object
        (
            [first_name] => jimmy john john
            [last_name] => john
            [title] => Lorad and Master
            [id] => 32
            [type] => 4
            [manager] => 3
            [email] => j@j.com
            [date] => 2014-09-21 07:38:50
            [status] => 2
            [approval_date] => 2014-09-19 07:39:25
            [assessment_id] => 2
            [supervisor_approval] => 1
            [manager_approval_date] => 2014-09-19 07:39:25
            [mainmanger] => 0
        )

)

Where "id" = the user ID. 

 

If there are two or more entries for a user, I want to remove all but the most recent by the "approval_date",... So for the above example it would return:

Array
(
    [0] => stdClass Object
        (
            [first_name] => test
            [last_name] => test
            [title] => test
            [id] => 34
            [type] => 4
            [manager] => 4
            [email] => piznac@yahoo.com
            [date] => 2014-09-21 07:23:12
            [status] => 2
            [approval_date] => 2014-09-21 07:31:10
            [assessment_id] => 1
            [supervisor_approval] => 1
            [manager_approval_date] => 2014-09-21 07:31:27
            [mainmanger] => 3
        )

    [1] => stdClass Object
        (
            [first_name] => jimmy john john
            [last_name] => john
            [title] => Lorad and Master
            [id] => 32
            [type] => 4
            [manager] => 3
            [email] => j@j.com
            [date] => 2014-09-21 07:38:50
            [status] => 2
            [approval_date] => 2014-09-19 07:39:25
            [assessment_id] => 2
            [supervisor_approval] => 1
            [manager_approval_date] => 2014-09-19 07:39:25
            [mainmanger] => 0
        )

)

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this concept, so I don't have any example code. And I don't really need or expect someone to code this for me,. just a push in the right direction would be awesome.

[Barand]

If that data is coming from a database why don't you just query for the most recent record for each user.

 

If not, use usort() with a custom function to sort by id ASC, approval_date DESC then loop through the array ignoring all but the first element for each user.

[piznac]

 

 

If that data is coming from a database why don't you just query for the most recent record for each user.

Yeah I assumed that would be the first question I would get. I am doing a lot more to this query after the fact when building this array. This particular part is an add on after the fact,.. so Im trying to avoid re-writing everything.

 

 

 

If not, use usort() with a custom function to sort by id ASC, approval_date DESC then loop through the array ignoring all but the first element for each user.

Ok sounds solid,. thank you!

Edited September 21, 2014 by piznac