[javascript] Angular - Can't make ng-repeat orderBy work

I've tried many examples of ng-repeat with orderBy, but I can't make my json work with it.

<div ng-app>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="http://code.angularjs.org/1.0.1/angular-1.0.1.js"></script>
    <div ng:controller="Main">
        <div ng-repeat="release in releases| orderBy:'environment_id'">      
            {{release.environment_id}}
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

And the JSON

function Main($scope) {
$scope.releases = {
    "tvl-c-wbap001 + tvl-webapp": {
        "timestamp": " 05:05:53 PM ",
        "environment_id": "CERT5",
        "release_header": "Projects/Dev",
        "date": "19 Oct",
        "release": "12.11.91-1"
    },
    "tvl-c-wbap401 + tvl-webapp": {
        "timestamp": " 10:07:25 AM ",
        "environment_id": "CERT4",
        "release_header": "Future Release",
        "date": "15 Oct",
        "release": "485-1"
    },
    "tvl-c-wbap301 + tvl-webapp": {
        "timestamp": " 07:59:48 AM ",
        "environment_id": "CERT3",
        "release_header": "Next Release",
        "date": "15 Oct",
        "release": "485-1"
    },
    "tvl-c-wbap201 + tvl-webapp": {
        "timestamp": " 03:34:07 AM ",
        "environment_id": "CERT2",
        "release_header": "Next Changes",
        "date": "15 Oct",
        "release": "13.12.3-1"
    },
    "tvl-c-wbap101 + tvl-webapp": {
        "timestamp": " 12:44:23 AM ",
        "environment_id": "CERT1",
        "release_header": "Production Mirror",
        "date": "15 Oct",
        "release": "13.11.309-1"
    },
    "tvl-s-wbap002 + tvl-webapp": {
        "timestamp": " 12:43:23 AM ",
        "environment_id": "Stage2",
        "date": "15 Oct",
        "release": "13.11.310-1"
    },
    "tvl-s-wbap001 + tvl-webapp": {
        "timestamp": " 11:07:38 AM ",
        "environment_id": "Stage1",
        "release_header": "Production Mirror",
        "date": "11 Oct",
        "release": "13.11.310-1"
    },
    "tvl-p-wbap001 + tvl-webapp": {
        "timestamp": " 11:39:25 PM ",
        "environment_id": "Production",
        "release_header": "Pilots",
        "date": "14 Oct",
        "release": "13.11.310-1"
    },
    "tvl-p-wbap100 + tvl-webapp": {
        "timestamp": " 03:27:53 AM ",
        "environment_id": "Production",
        "release_header": "Non Pilots",
        "date": "11 Oct",
        "release": "13.11.309-1"
    }
}

It doesn't matter what I write, I always get the same order, or I may say, no order at all.

Here's a version of @Julian Mosquera's code that also supports a "fallback" field to use in case the primary field happens to be null or undefined:

yourApp.filter('orderObjectBy', function() {
  return function(items, field, fallback, reverse) {
    var filtered = [];
    angular.forEach(items, function(item) {
      filtered.push(item);
    });
    filtered.sort(function (a, b) {
      var af = a[field];
      if(af === undefined || af === null) { af = a[fallback]; }

      var bf = b[field];
      if(bf === undefined || bf === null) { bf = b[fallback]; }

      return (af > bf ? 1 : -1);
    });
    if(reverse) filtered.reverse();
    return filtered;
  };
});

orderby works on arrays that contain objects with immidiate values which can be used as filters, ie

controller.images = [{favs:1,name:"something"},{favs:0,name:"something else"}];

When the above array is repeated, you may use | orderBy:'favs' to refer to that value immidiately, or use a minus in front to order descending

<div class="timeline-image" ng-repeat="image in controller.images | orderBy:'-favs'">
    <img ng-src="{{ images.name }}"/>
</div>

the built-in orderBy filter will no longer work when iterating an object. It’s ignored due to the way that object fields are stored. You need create a custom filter

yourApp.filter('orderObjectBy', function() {
  return function(items, field, reverse) {
    var filtered = [];
    angular.forEach(items, function(item) {
      filtered.push(item);
    });
    filtered.sort(function (a, b) {
      return (a[field] > b[field] ? 1 : -1);
    });
    if(reverse) filtered.reverse();
    return filtered;
  };
});

<ul>
<li ng-repeat="item in items | orderObjectBy:'color':true">{{ item.color }}</li>
</ul>

You're going to have to reformat your releases object to be an array of objects. Then you'll be able to sort them the way you're attempting.

in Eike Thies's response above, if we use underscore.js, filter could be simplified to :

var app = angular.module('myApp', []).filter('object2Array', function() {
  return function(input) {
    return _.toArray(input);
  }
});

Here's a version of @Julian Mosquera's code that also supports sorting by object key:

yourApp.filter('orderObjectBy', function () {
    return function (items, field, reverse) {
        // Build array
        var filtered = [];
        for (var key in items) {
            if (field === 'key')
                filtered.push(key);
            else
                filtered.push(items[key]);
        }
        // Sort array
        filtered.sort(function (a, b) {
            if (field === 'key')
                return (a > b ? 1 : -1);
            else
                return (a[field] > b[field] ? 1 : -1);
        });
        // Reverse array
        if (reverse)
            filtered.reverse();
        return filtered;
    };
});

As mentioned, only arrays are allowed. But to make it simple for you, you could dynamically convert the object into an array via a piping function as seen here https://gist.github.com/brev/3949705

Just declare the filter, and add it to ng-repeat :)

<div ng-app="myApp">
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/1.0.8/angular.min.js"></script>
<div ng-controller="Main">
  <div ng-repeat="release in releases | object2Array | orderBy:'environment_id'">{{release.environment_id}}</div>
</div>

<script>

var app = angular.module('myApp', []).filter('object2Array', function() {
    return function(input) {
      var out = []; 
      for(i in input){
        out.push(input[i]);
      }
      return out;
    }
  })
.controller('Main',function ($scope) {
        $scope.releases = {"tvl-c-wbap001 + tvl-webapp":{"timestamp":" 05:05:53 PM ","environment_id":"CERT5","release_header":"Projects/Dev","date":"19 Oct","release":"12.11.91-1"},"tvl-c-wbap401 + tvl-webapp":{"timestamp":" 10:07:25 AM ","environment_id":"CERT4","release_header":"Future Release","date":"15 Oct","release":"485-1"},"tvl-c-wbap301 + tvl-webapp":{"timestamp":" 07:59:48 AM ","environment_id":"CERT3","release_header":"Next Release","date":"15 Oct","release":"485-1"},"tvl-c-wbap201 + tvl-webapp":{"timestamp":" 03:34:07 AM ","environment_id":"CERT2","release_header":"Next Changes","date":"15 Oct","release":"13.12.3-1"},"tvl-c-wbap101 + tvl-webapp":{"timestamp":" 12:44:23 AM ","environment_id":"CERT1","release_header":"Production Mirror","date":"15 Oct","release":"13.11.309-1"},"tvl-s-wbap002 + tvl-webapp":{"timestamp":" 12:43:23 AM ","environment_id":"Stage2","date":"15 Oct","release":"13.11.310-1"},"tvl-s-wbap001 + tvl-webapp":{"timestamp":" 11:07:38 AM ","environment_id":"Stage1","release_header":"Production Mirror","date":"11 Oct","release":"13.11.310-1"},"tvl-p-wbap001 + tvl-webapp":{"timestamp":" 11:39:25 PM ","environment_id":"Production","release_header":"Pilots","date":"14 Oct","release":"13.11.310-1"},"tvl-p-wbap100 + tvl-webapp":{"timestamp":" 03:27:53 AM ","environment_id":"Production","release_header":"Non Pilots","date":"11 Oct","release":"13.11.309-1"}}
    });
</script>