Protractor: Checking data is sorted by date

Issue

I need to check the data returned is sorted by date. This is how I'm writing it:

it('should be sorted by date', function() {
    element.all(by.repeater('users in group.users')).then(
        function(users) {
            var lastUser = users[0].element(by.id('birth-date')).getText();
            for (var i = 1; i < users.length; ++i) {
                var currentUser = users[i].element(by.id('birth-date')).getText();
                expect(moment(currentApplication).format('MMM d, YYYY HH:mm')).toBeGreaterThan(moment(lastApplication).format('MMM d, YYYY HH:mm'));
                lastUser = currentUser;
            }
        }
    )
})

This returns:

Expected 'Jan 1, 2015 00:00' to be greater than 'Jan 1, 2015 00:00'.

What am I doing wrong? currentUser and lastUser seem to be objects instead of text...but I'm not sure why.

Solution

Get the list of all birth dates using map(), convert the list of strings to the list of dates and compare with a sorted version of the same array:

element.all(by.id('birth-date')).map(function (elm) {
    return elm.getText().then(function (text) {
        return new Date(text);
    });
}).then(function (birthDates) {
    // get a copy of the array and sort it by date (reversed)
    var sortedBirthDates = birthDates.slice();
    sortedBirthDates = sortedBirthDates.sort(function(date1, date2) {
        return date2.getTime() - date1.getTime()
    });

    expect(birthDates).toEqual(sortedBirthDates);
});

Answered By - alecxe