How can I animate sorting a list with orderBy using ng-repeat with ng-animate?

Question

I'm rendering a list of objects using ng-repeat with an orderBy filter like this:

<li class="list-item" ng-repeat="item in items | orderBy:predicate:reverse">

My attempts to ng-animate a change in sorting of the list have proven frustrating and aren't worth sharing. I have seen the Yearofmoo example app here.

Unfortunately this demonstration is not quite what I'm trying to achieve. I need to animate the X position of a given list item when it is placed in a new order after the orderBy definition changes. I have tried to accomplish this with css transitions and absolute positioning, but ng-repeat seems to recreate the list items on orderBy making animation a real challenge.

1. Is this possible with ng-repeat | orderBy (with or without ng-animate)?
2. Can you suggest an approach or provide an example?

Crassus

I have come across this issue but haven't had to build a solution, or I would provide a proper answer with examples - however the solution I planned was to filter a copy of the list (i.e. in a controller), find the new index of the item, then animate moving the item to that index. You're right - the filter+ng-repeat just rebuilds the list. What you actually want is separate determining the position from processing the animation. – Decoction

I was afraid that might be the solution -- thanks! – Crassus

@AlexOsborn You should submit that as an answer. It helped me! – Lynn

Answer 1

So, even if @Alex Osborn has shown a way to do what you want in the comments, here is my attempt:

angular.module('StackApp', []).controller('MainCtrl', function($scope) {
  'use strict';

  $scope.reverse = 'false';

  $scope.myList = [{
    id: 0,
    text: 'HTML5 Boilerplate'
  }, {
    id: 1,
    text: 'AngularJS'
  }, {
    id: 2,
    text: 'Karma'
  }, {
    id: 3,
    text: 'Hello'
  }, {
    id: 4,
    text: 'World'
  }, {
    id: 5,
    text: 'How'
  }, {
    id: 6,
    text: 'Are'
  }, {
    id: 7,
    text: 'You'
  }, {
    id: 8,
    text: '?'
  }, {
    id: 9,
    text: 'I'
  }, {
    id: 10,
    text: 'write'
  }, {
    id: 11,
    text: 'more'
  }, {
    id: 12,
    text: 'to'
  }, {
    id: 13,
    text: 'make'
  }, {
    id: 14,
    text: 'the'
  }, {
    id: 15,
    text: 'list'
  }, {
    id: 16,
    text: 'longer'
  }];

  $scope.$watch('reverse', function() {
    $scope.setOrder();
  });

  $scope.setOrder = function() {

    if ($scope.reverse === 'random') {

      var t = [];

      for (var i = 0; i < $scope.myList.length; i++) {
        var r = Math.floor(Math.random() * $scope.myList.length);
        while (inArray(t, r)) {
          r = Math.floor(Math.random() * $scope.myList.length);
        }
        t.push(r);
        $scope.myList[i].order = r;
      }

    } else {

      for (var i = 0; i < $scope.myList.length; i++) {
        if ($scope.reverse === 'false') {
          $scope.myList[i].order = i;
        } else {
          $scope.myList[i].order = ($scope.myList.length - 1 - i);
        }
      }
    }
  };

  function inArray(a, value) {
    for (var i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
      if (a[i] === value) {
        return true;
      }
    }
    return false;
  }

});

#list {
  /* Needed, otherwise items would be at top of the page (see below) */
  position: absolute;
  /* full width, or it would look strange */
  width: 100%;
}
#list li {
  position: absolute;
  /* Top: 0; this will be changed for every single list item by AngularJS */
  top: 0;
  /* Item height; hold this in sync with template file */
  height: 40px;
  /*  Simple transition */
  -webkit-transition: top 0.5s ease-in-out;
  -moz-transition: top 0.5s ease-in-out;
  transition: top 0.5s ease-in-out;
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/1.5.8/angular.min.js"></script>
<div ng-app="StackApp">
  <div ng-controller="MainCtrl">
    <h1>Animate Order</h1>
    <form action="">
      <label for="reverse">reverse = true</label>
      <br>
      <input type="radio" value="true" name="reverse" ng-model="reverse">
      <br>
      <br>
      <label for="reverse">reverse = false</label>
      <br>
      <input type="radio" value="false" name="reverse" ng-model="reverse">
      <br>
      <br>
      <label for="reverse">reverse = random (click button below to shuffle again)</label>
      <br>
      <input type="radio" value="random" name="reverse" ng-model="reverse">
    </form>
    <br>
    <br>
    <input type="button" ng-click="reverse = 'random';setOrder()" value="setOrder()">
    <br>
    <br>
    <ul id="list" ng-style="{height: ((myList.length * 40) + 'px')}">
      <li ng-repeat="item in myList" ng-style="{top: ((item.order * 40) + 'px')}">{{$index}} - {{item.order}}. {{item.text}}</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

So, AngularJS doesn't order the items, but it changes the CSS attribute top (ng-style="{top: ...}"). AngularJS doesn't recreate the list and we get a nice animation. :)

Wernerwernerite

Thanks for putting this together! – Crassus

Note that this solution does only change the elements' top style attributes, not their order in the DOM (which is probably why it works - the elements are not removed and readded by Angular). While this doesn't matter visually, it is bad for accessibility: blind users with screen readers will always get the original order of the first rendering. See the WCAG guideline on this topic: w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/C27.html – Urethrectomy

Rather Then writing So Much of Code you can directly use reverse() function of javascript. var list = CompanyList[]; reverselist = list.reverse(); ng-repeat="item in reverselist" – Trainor

Answer 2

I've expanded upon AndreM96's answer to allow displaying the list as a grid.

angular.module('StackApp', []).config(function($routeProvider) {

  'use strict';

  $routeProvider
    .when('/', {
      template: '<h1>Animate Order</h1>' +
        '<form action="">' +
        '<input type="radio" value="true" name="order" ng-model="order">' +
        '<label for="order">reverse</label><br><br>' +

        '<input type="radio" value="false" name="order" ng-model="order">' +
        '<label for="order">normal</label><br><br>' +

        '<input type="radio" value="random" name="order" ng-model="order">' +
        '<label for="order">random (click button below to shuffle again)</label><br>' +

        '</form>' +
        '<input type="button" ng-click="order = \'random\';setOrder()" value="randomize">' +
        '<br><br>' +
        '<ul id="list" ng-style="{height: ((myList.length * 90) + \'px\')}">' +
        '<li ng-repeat="item in myList" ng-style="{top: ((item.row * 90) + \'px\'), left: ((item.column * 90) + \'px\')}">{{$index}} - {{item.order}}. {{item.text}}</li>' +
        '</ul>',
      controller: 'MainCtrl'
    })
    .otherwise({
      redirectTo: '/'
    });

});

angular.module('StackApp').controller('MainCtrl', function($scope) {
  'use strict';

  $scope.order = 'false';

  $scope.myList = [{
      id: 0,
      text: 'HTML5 Boilerplate'
    },
    {
      id: 1,
      text: 'AngularJS'
    },
    {
      id: 2,
      text: 'Karma'
    },
    {
      id: 3,
      text: 'Hello'
    },
    {
      id: 4,
      text: 'World'
    },
    {
      id: 5,
      text: 'How'
    },
    {
      id: 6,
      text: 'Are'
    },
    {
      id: 7,
      text: 'You'
    },
    {
      id: 8,
      text: '?'
    },
    {
      id: 9,
      text: 'I'
    },
    {
      id: 10,
      text: 'write'
    },
    {
      id: 11,
      text: 'more'
    },
    {
      id: 12,
      text: 'to'
    },
    {
      id: 13,
      text: 'make'
    },
    {
      id: 14,
      text: 'the'
    },
    {
      id: 15,
      text: 'list'
    },
    {
      id: 16,
      text: 'longer'
    }
  ];

  $scope.$watch('order', function() {
    $scope.setOrder();
  });

  $scope.setOrder = function() {

    var i;

    if ($scope.order === 'random') {
      var t = [];
      for (i = 0; i < $scope.myList.length; i++) {
        var r = Math.floor(Math.random() * $scope.myList.length);
        while (inArray(t, r)) {
          r = Math.floor(Math.random() * $scope.myList.length);
        }
        t.push(r);
        $scope.myList[i].order = r;
      }
    } else if ($scope.order === 'false') {
      for (i = 0; i < $scope.myList.length; i++) {
        $scope.myList[i].order = i;
      }
    } else {
      for (i = 0; i < $scope.myList.length; i++) {
        $scope.myList[i].order = ($scope.myList.length - 1 - i);
      }
    }

    calcGridPosition();
  };

  function inArray(a, value) {
    for (var i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
      if (a[i] === value) {
        return true;
      }
    }
    return false;
  }

  function calcGridPosition() {
    for (var i = 0; i < $scope.myList.length; i++) {
      var item = $scope.myList[i];

      // columns, left-to-right, top-to-bottom
      var columns = 5;
      item.column = item.order % columns;
      item.row = Math.floor(item.order / columns);

      // rows, top-to-bottom, left-to-right
      // var rows = 3;
      // item.column = Math.floor(item.order/rows);
      // item.row = item.order%rows;
    }
  }

});

#list {
  position: absolute;
  width: 100%;
  list-style-type: none;
  padding-left: 0;
}

#list li {
  position: absolute;
  height: 70px;
  width: 70px;
  background: #ddd;
  -webkit-transition: all 2.5s ease-in-out;
  -moz-transition: all 2.5s ease-in-out;
  transition: all 2.5s ease-in-out;
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/1.0.5/angular.min.js"></script>
<main ng-app="StackApp">
  <div class="container" ng-view></div>
</main>

JSBin Demo

Autarky

Click the 'view demo' link above and you'll find an 'edit in js bin' button in the upper right corner of your browser. PS: Your question sounds kinda rude. I'd appreciate if you'd ask more nicely next time. Thanks. – Autarky

hey thanks for the reply and feedback to my comment. I'll take more care next time. – Disaccord