Sort series per category - highcharts

Question

I have a chart that looks like this:
http://jsfiddle.net/rtGFm/37/
I would like to have a "sort" button that sorts high to low each category, putting the columns in a different order for each category. Is this possible with HighCharts?
var chart;
$(document).ready(function() {
chart = new Highcharts.Chart({
chart: {
renderTo: 'container',
type: 'column'
},
title: {
text: ''
},
subtitle: {
text: ''
},
xAxis: {
categories: [
'foreclosures',
'nuisances',
'distance from city center'
]
},
yAxis: {
min: 0,
title: {
text: ''
}
},
tooltip: {
formatter: function() {
return ''+
this.x +': '+ this.y +' mm';
}
},
plotOptions: {
column: {
pointPadding: 0.2,
borderWidth: 0
}
},
series: [{
name: 'Alger Heights',
data: [49.9, 71.5, 50]
}, {
name: 'Shawmut Hills',
data: [83.6, 78.8, 67]
}, {
name: 'Baxter',
data: [48.9, 38.8, 100]
}, {
name: 'Midtown',
data: [42.4, 33.2, 80]
}, {
type: 'scatter',
data: [55,60,70],
marker: {
symbol: 'square',
lineColor: '#FFFFFF',
lineWidth: 1,
radius: 8
},
name: 'Average'
}]
});
});

Answer 1

I had the same problem :) highcharts still does not provide any solution for this problem, but it is flexibel enough so that you can sort anyway - just by javascript.
Put your data in a separate value:
var dataMain = [{name:"test1",data:5}, {name:"test1",data:1},{name:"test1",data:2}]
In series you can just add a function which sorts your data:
series: (function(){
for(var i = 0;i<dataMain.length;i++){
dataMain[i].data = dataMain[i].data.sort(function(a,b){
return a[0] - b[0] ;
})
return dataMain;
}
Hope I got everything wright.

Answer 2

Got it to work, I believe. Trick is to add each column in correct order as a new serie with same type (column), reuse colors and hide legend...
Very hackish, the JS code to sort like 8 categories independently will be ugly but the result looks fine.
Edit: Updated fiddle, I see the spacing between the categories grows with series, doesn't look supernice.
My jsfiddle is here
$(function () {
$('#container').highcharts({
chart: {
inverted: true
},
title: {
text: 'Series sorted in within categories'
},
xAxis: {
categories: ['January']
},
series: [{
type: 'column',
name: 'Stockholm',
data: [{x:0, y:95, color: Highcharts.getOptions().colors[0]}]
}, {
type: 'column',
name: 'Göteborg',
data: [{x:0, y:80, color: Highcharts.getOptions().colors[1]}]
}, {
type: 'column',
name: 'Göteborg',
data: [{x: 1, name: 'February', y: 98, color: Highcharts.getOptions().colors[1] // VGR's color
}],
showInLegend: false,
dataLabels: {
enabled: false
}
}, {
type: 'column',
name: 'Stockholm',
data: [{x: 1, name: 'February', y: 80, color: Highcharts.getOptions().colors[0] // VGR's color
}],
showInLegend: false,
dataLabels: {
enabled: false
}
}]
});
});
br,
Jens

Answer 3

I think this can be done,
this may look like a little work around.
since we have a limited number of columns i mean 4 in the given example.
if we have arrays with sorting done with respect to each series then we can handle them.
on button click we can update the chart with new set of data as well as category array.
May be there is no solution from the APi.
According to me this is a possible approach.
Thanks,