Here is my take on kevin's sort using Soapi.JS
- get a list of sites from stackauth /sites
- get the community user from each site to get creation date
- attach each meta to it's parent
- sort by date
- group by 'state' or type.
- render grouped or as a single list.
p.s. - i will be tightening this code up and merging it into Soapi.JS for those that use it.
alt text http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/451/pantheon.png
/*
This is the money shot
*/
// get a list of sites from stackauth
Soapi.RouteFactory("", apiKey).Sites()
.getResponse(function(sitesResponse) {
// count down so we know when we are done
var count = sitesResponse.items.length;
// determine the increment of the progress bar for each operation
progressStep = document.getElementById("progressOuter").clientWidth / count;
function checkCount() {
stepProgress();
if (--count == 0) {
// all sites reported in
// perform meta assocations
while (sitesResponse.items.length > 0) {
// take the site of the bottom
var item = sitesResponse.items.shift();
// if it is not a meta site, add it to the site list
// cannot depend on linked_meta right not
if (item.api_endpoint.toLowerCase().indexOf(".meta.") == -1) {
sites.push(item);
}
else {
// check the site list to see if the parent has been seen yet
var parent = sites.tryGetParentByEndpoint(item.api_endpoint);
if (parent) {
// attach the meta to the parent
parent.linked_meta = item;
}
else {
// parent not seen yet, stick it back on top
sitesResponse.items.push(item);
};
};
};
// do sorting and arrangement
// now we have a list of sites similar to this
// stackoverflow.com
// meta.stackoverflow.com
// stackapps.com
// gaming.stackexchange.com
// meta.gaming.stackexchange.com
// lets sort by date
sites = sites.sort(function(a, b) {
return a.creation_date - b.creation_date;
});
// and segregate the sites by state as we
sites.normal = [];
sites.open_beta = [];
sites.closed_beta = [];
sites.linked_meta = [];
// empty the array
var tmp = sites.splice(0, sites.length);
// and push them in order of appearance to maintain date sort
// into both the parent array and the group arrays
while (tmp.length > 0) {
var site = tmp.shift();
sites.push(site);
sites[site.state].push(site);
if (site.linked_meta) {
sites.linked_meta.push(site.linked_meta);
};
};
progressComplete();
// return results
callback(sites);
};
};
// get community user from each site to get creation date
for (var i = 0; i < sitesResponse.items.length; i++) {
var site = sitesResponse.items[i];
Soapi.RouteFactory(site.api_endpoint, apiKey)
.UsersById(-1).getResponse(function(usersResponse, context) {
// add the date to the site so we can sort
context.creation_date = usersResponse.items[0].creation_date;
checkCount();
}, function(error, context) {
// probably timed out. set now as creation date
// attach the error
context.creation_date = new Date();
context.error = error.message;
// still need to decrement count so we don't get stuck
checkCount();
}, 10000, site);
// we want to give a reasonable timeout value because
// we are doing a bunch of stuff here. it should not
// take this long, just being safe
};
});