This function seems to work fairly well for sorting divs based on ID:
JS
var div = $("<div id='3.5'>AA</div>");
div_id_after = Math.floor(parseFloat(div.get(0).id));
$('#'+div_id_after).after(div);
HTML
<div id='1'>a</div>
<div id='2'>b</div>
<div id='3'>c</div>
<div id='4'>d</div>
<div id='5'>e</div>
Produces:
a
b
c
AA
d
e
But what if I would like to use a custom attribute titled "order"?
The ID should not be a number for compatibility issues, but does this same rule apply to custom attributes?
If you're trying to sort on a custom data attribute, here's what I've done in the past:
html:
<ul class="sortList">
<li data-sort="1">I am number one</li>
<li data-sort="7">I am number seven</li>
<li data-sort="22">I am number twenty two</li>
<li data-sort="2">I am number two</li>
</ul>
Because the list isn't in order and it's not sequential, the easiest way to do the sort is to use javascript's sort method on a jQuery selected array:
javascript:
var list = $('.sortList');
var listItems = list.find('li').sort(function(a,b){ return $(a).attr('data-sort') - $(b).attr('data-sort'); });
list.find('li').remove();
list.append(listItems);
Because jQuery returns an array of elements, the native sort method will give you a sorted array of selectors that you can just replace the contents of the list with.
After the sort, your list will look like this:
<ul class="sortList">
<li data-sort="1">I am number one</li>
<li data-sort="2">I am number two</li>
<li data-sort="7">I am number seven</li>
<li data-sort="22">I am number twenty two</li>
</ul>
One thing to note as well: I use data-sort as the attribute, because attributes that start with "data-" are treated differently by browsers, so this won't cause validation issues.
/////// EDIT:
Given your comment, here's another way to do it without replacing the entire array. This will almost certainly be slower and require refining, I would still recommend using the above solution, but if you wanted to append without modifying the list:
//// This would happen inside a function somewhere
var list = $('ul li');
var newItem = $('<li data-sort="7"></li>'); // I assume you will be getting this from somewhere
$.each(list,function(index,item){
var prev = parseFloat($(item).attr('data-sort'));
var next = parseFloat($(list[index+1]).attr('data-sort'));
var current = parseFloat(newItem.attr('data-sort'));
if(prev <= current && (next > current || isNaN(next)) ){
$(item).after(newItem);
} else if(current > prev){
$(item).before(newItem);
}
});
It looks like TinySort will do what you want.
$("ul").tsort({attr:"order"});
Also of interest after a quick google search is another SO Question.