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Sorting an Array of Product Objects by Price and Availability in React - Issues with State Updates

๐Ÿ‘€ Views: 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ Answers: 1 ๐Ÿ“… Created: 2025-09-09
react sorting state-management javascript

Hey everyone, I'm running into an issue that's driving me crazy. I need some guidance on I'm trying to debug I'm maintaining legacy code that I'm relatively new to this, so bear with me... While developing a product listing feature in my React application, I need to sort an array of product objects based on both price and availability. My current approach is a bit clunky and seems to struggle with state updates. I initially set up my state like this: ```javascript const [products, setProducts] = useState([]); ``` After fetching the products, I try to sort them based on the price in ascending order and then by availability, where available products should come first. My sorting function looks like this: ```javascript const sortProducts = (a, b) => { if (a.available && !b.available) return -1; if (!a.available && b.available) return 1; return a.price - b.price; }; ``` When I call this function, I use: ```javascript setProducts(prevProducts => [...prevProducts].sort(sortProducts)); ``` However, I've noticed that the state doesn't appear to update correctly when I try to sort again after a filter operation. The sorted state sometimes reflects stale data. I read that using `setState` in React can lead to issues if not managed properly. Iโ€™ve also attempted using `useEffect` to re-sort products whenever the list changes, but that seems to cause an infinite loop. Hereโ€™s what Iโ€™ve tried: 1. **Using `useEffect` to trigger sorting**: ```javascript useEffect(() => { setProducts(prevProducts => [...prevProducts].sort(sortProducts)); }, [products]); ``` 2. **Using a memoization hook** to optimize the sorting logic: ```javascript const sortedProducts = useMemo(() => [...products].sort(sortProducts), [products]); ``` The first approach led to a stack overflow, while the second seems to work better but doesn't address the sorting of products after filtering. Iโ€™d appreciate insights on how to ensure that my state updates correctly and that the sorting logic is efficient. Are there best practices for sorting arrays in a React state without causing unnecessary re-renders? My development environment is Windows. Any help would be greatly appreciated! My development environment is Linux. I'd really appreciate any guidance on this. This issue appeared after updating to Javascript 3.9. I'm on Ubuntu 22.04 using the latest version of Javascript. The stack includes Javascript and several other technologies. Has anyone else encountered this? Am I approaching this the right way?