CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptarraysgoogle-apps-script
David Metcalfe
David Metcalfe

Reputation: 2421

Evenly distribute contents of array to a number of rows

I'm currently working with Google Apps Script and wish to distribute an array (eg. ['MP', 'JE', 'MC', 'GP', 'CZ', 'DM', 'MD']) as evenly as possible against a number of spreadsheet rows.

Say there are 21 rows, and I'm using the above array of length 7. I would want to iterate through each entry of the array and output each entry 3 times.

Seemingly simple enough to do:

var exampleArr = ['MP', 'JE', 'MC', 'GP', 'CZ', 'DM', 'MD'];

function distributeArr(arr, rowLen){
  for (i = 0; n = arr.length, i < n; i++){
    for (r = 0; r < rowLen / n; r++) {
      console.log(arr[i]);
    }
  }
}

distributeArr(exampleArr, 21);

But when the two numbers aren't evenly divisible, it'll round up to the nearest match. What's a good way to deal with this while keeping the distribution of array items to rows as even as possible?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1207

Answers (1)

EJAg
EJAg

Reputation: 3298

One way is to get the remainder and distribute it to the staff.

function distributeArr(staffArr, numOfTasks) {
  var numOfStaff = staffArr.length;
  var extra = numOfTasks % numOfStaff;
  var taskPerPerson = parseInt(numOfTasks / numOfStaff);
  var assignment = staffArr.map(function(e) {
    if (staffArr.indexOf(e) < extra) {
        return [e, taskPerPerson + 1];
      }
      else {
        return [e, taskPerPerson];
      }
  });

  assignment.forEach(function(arr) {
    // create arr[1] rows for staff arr[0]
  });
}

var staffArr = ['MP', 'JE', 'MC'];
distributeArr(staffArr, 7); //assignment: [["MP", 3], ["JE", 2], ["MC", 2]]
distributeArr(staffArr, 6); //assignment: [["MP", 2], ["JE", 2], ["MC", 2]]
distributeArr(staffArr, 0); //assignment: [["MP", 0], ["JE", 0], ["MC", 0]]
distributeArr(staffArr, 1); //assignment: [["MP", 1], ["JE", 0], ["MC", 0]]

Upvotes: 3

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