CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptajaxsorting
nstehr
nstehr

Reputation: 8148

Sorting in Web Applications

With the increasing popularity of powerful client side javascript widgets, I am curious on when is the best time to handle the sorting of data strictly on the client side, making use of widgets such as those found in YUI, and when to make a request to the backend and have it handle the sorting via a DB query or other means.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 277

Answers (5)

dkretz
dkretz

Reputation: 37655

Except for exceptional cases, sort in the browser. Exceptional cases would be irrationally long lists, strange sorting rules requiring a host resource, insufficient javascript coding skills, etc. But there's not much to be gained from unnecessary round-tripping.

Very seldom does it make sense to download to the user more data than can comfortably be scrolled; and lists of this size should sort quite comfortably in the browser.

Upvotes: 0

Ólafur Waage
Ólafur Waage

Reputation: 70001

Another thing to think about is if you want to do a grouped sort or sort by a value and then translate that value into something human readable (ie unixtime), then it might be quicker and simpler to sort on the server.

Upvotes: 0

Andrew Grant
Andrew Grant

Reputation: 58804

It really depends what you're sorting, whether the client will require all of the data or only a sorted subset at any one time, and how expensive the sort actually is.

Upvotes: 1

John MacIntyre
John MacIntyre

Reputation: 13031

Personally, I would probably sort it on a postback. But if all your data is displayed on the page, then sorting via JS might provide a more responsive UI.

Upvotes: 0

Andrew Hare
Andrew Hare

Reputation: 351586

It depends on the amount of data - the best thing to do is to test and see which is faster.

Upvotes: 2

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