Message list sorting

[nexces]

I've got currently 30 messages stored in mongodb and it seems that they are sorted mostly* by mongo internal _id field and not by date.

* take a look at _id of first message

Here is sample:

> db.messages.find({},{created:1})
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54b8e23dae8939e356b486f4"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-16T10:04:45.464Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54aceb9001f053f503b6d55f"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-07T08:17:20.012Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54aceb9101f053f503b6d560"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-07T08:17:21.867Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54b8c4f0ae8939e356b486ed"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-16T07:59:44.244Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54b8c4f1ae8939e356b486ee"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-16T07:59:45.373Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54b8d3c7ae8939e356b486ef"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-16T09:03:03.230Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54b8d3c8ae8939e356b486f0"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-16T09:03:04.200Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54b8deb7ae8939e356b486f1"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-16T09:49:43.142Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54b8deb8ae8939e356b486f2"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-16T09:49:44.160Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54b8e23dae8939e356b486f3"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-16T10:04:45.385Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54bcc3834a22d404b713168c"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-19T08:42:43.207Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54bcc3844a22d404b713168d"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-19T08:42:44.352Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54bcd8904a22d404b713168e"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-19T10:12:32.014Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54bcd8904a22d404b713168f"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-19T10:12:32.940Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54bd10684a22d404b7131690"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-19T14:10:47.995Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54bd10684a22d404b7131691"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-19T14:10:48.887Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54bd10f64a22d404b7131692"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-19T14:13:10.700Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54bd10f74a22d404b7131693"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-19T14:13:11.621Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54cb66fab2c2f2eb6bfaa07a"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-30T11:11:54.303Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54cb6821b2c2f2eb6bfaa07b"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-30T11:16:49.296Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54dc743b78319c46012e3c10"), "created" : ISODate("2015-02-12T09:36:59.434Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54dc743b78319c46012e3c11"), "created" : ISODate("2015-02-12T09:36:59.582Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54c0c7a1bb2180ce176bec27"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-22T09:49:21.261Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54c0c7a2bb2180ce176bec28"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-22T09:49:22.768Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54c0c87bbb2180ce176bec29"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-22T09:52:59.805Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54c0c87cbb2180ce176bec2a"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-22T09:53:00.741Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54c0fe5dbb2180ce176bec2b"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-22T13:42:53.476Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54c0fe5ebb2180ce176bec2c"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-22T13:42:54.466Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54d1e5e3ebd97577889ba0c6"), "created" : ISODate("2015-02-04T09:26:59.673Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54d1e5e4ebd97577889ba0c7"), "created" : ISODate("2015-02-04T09:27:00.894Z") }
> db.messages.find({},{created:1}).count()
30

However applying simple sort on created field is not that simple as mongo is crying about exceeding buffered data limit.

> db.messages.find({},{created:1}).sort({created:1})
error: {
        "$err" : "Runner error: Overflow sort stage buffered data usage of 34342473 bytes exceeds internal limit of 33554432 bytes",
        "code" : 17144
}

Creating additional index fixes that:

> db.messages.ensureIndex({created:1})
{
        "createdCollectionAutomatically" : false,
        "numIndexesBefore" : 1,
        "numIndexesAfter" : 2,
        "ok" : 1
}

> db.messages.find({},{created:1}).sort({created:1})
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54aceb9001f053f503b6d55f"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-07T08:17:20.012Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54aceb9101f053f503b6d560"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-07T08:17:21.867Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54b8c4f0ae8939e356b486ed"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-16T07:59:44.244Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54b8c4f1ae8939e356b486ee"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-16T07:59:45.373Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54b8d3c7ae8939e356b486ef"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-16T09:03:03.230Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54b8d3c8ae8939e356b486f0"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-16T09:03:04.200Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54b8deb7ae8939e356b486f1"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-16T09:49:43.142Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54b8deb8ae8939e356b486f2"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-16T09:49:44.160Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54b8e23dae8939e356b486f3"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-16T10:04:45.385Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54b8e23dae8939e356b486f4"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-16T10:04:45.464Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54bcc3834a22d404b713168c"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-19T08:42:43.207Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54bcc3844a22d404b713168d"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-19T08:42:44.352Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54bcd8904a22d404b713168e"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-19T10:12:32.014Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54bcd8904a22d404b713168f"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-19T10:12:32.940Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54bd10684a22d404b7131690"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-19T14:10:47.995Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54bd10684a22d404b7131691"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-19T14:10:48.887Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54bd10f64a22d404b7131692"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-19T14:13:10.700Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54bd10f74a22d404b7131693"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-19T14:13:11.621Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54c0c7a1bb2180ce176bec27"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-22T09:49:21.261Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54c0c7a2bb2180ce176bec28"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-22T09:49:22.768Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54c0c87bbb2180ce176bec29"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-22T09:52:59.805Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54c0c87cbb2180ce176bec2a"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-22T09:53:00.741Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54c0fe5dbb2180ce176bec2b"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-22T13:42:53.476Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54c0fe5ebb2180ce176bec2c"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-22T13:42:54.466Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54cb66fab2c2f2eb6bfaa07a"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-30T11:11:54.303Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54cb6821b2c2f2eb6bfaa07b"), "created" : ISODate("2015-01-30T11:16:49.296Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54d1e5e3ebd97577889ba0c6"), "created" : ISODate("2015-02-04T09:26:59.673Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54d1e5e4ebd97577889ba0c7"), "created" : ISODate("2015-02-04T09:27:00.894Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54dc743b78319c46012e3c10"), "created" : ISODate("2015-02-12T09:36:59.434Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54dc743b78319c46012e3c11"), "created" : ISODate("2015-02-12T09:36:59.582Z") }

Due to bug #34 preferred way of sorting would be newest first, but some sorting buttons over message list would also do the trick.

[nexces]

About mongo sorting when no sorting is defined:
http://stackoverflow.com/a/11599283

[ian-kent]

Hopefully thats ok as a temporary fix - it ensures an index exists on created, and sorts them newest first to match the behaviour of in memory storage

but some sorting buttons over message list would also do the trick

I'll open another issue to improve it a bit 😄