Sorting with sort parameter in Rest API - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Sorting with sort parameter in REST API

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple REST API that returns a list of products. Users want to get the products sorted by price or name.

🎯 Goal: Create a REST API endpoint that returns a list of products sorted by a query parameter called sort. The sort parameter can be either price or name. If no sort parameter is given, return the products unsorted.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a list of products with exact entries

Add a variable to read the sort parameter

Sort the products list by the sort parameter if it is price or name

Return the sorted or unsorted list as JSON

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Sorting data by user preference is common in online stores and APIs to improve user experience.

💼 Career

Understanding how to handle query parameters and sort data is essential for backend developers working with REST APIs.

1

DATA SETUP: Create the products list

Create a list called products with these exact dictionaries: {'name': 'Apple', 'price': 5}, {'name': 'Banana', 'price': 2}, {'name': 'Cherry', 'price': 7}

Rest API

# Create the products list with exact entries
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use a list of dictionaries with the exact keys and values.

2

CONFIGURATION: Read the sort parameter

Create a variable called sort_param that reads the sort query parameter from request.args.get('sort')

Rest API

products = [
    {'name': 'Apple', 'price': 5},
    {'name': 'Banana', 'price': 2},
    {'name': 'Cherry', 'price': 7}
]

# Read the sort parameter from request.args
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use request.args.get('sort') to get the query parameter.

3

CORE LOGIC: Sort the products list by the sort parameter

If sort_param is 'price', sort products by the 'price' key. If sort_param is 'name', sort products by the 'name' key. Use the sort() method with a key argument.

Rest API

from flask import request

products = [
    {'name': 'Apple', 'price': 5},
    {'name': 'Banana', 'price': 2},
    {'name': 'Cherry', 'price': 7}
]

sort_param = request.args.get('sort')

# Sort products by price or name if sort_param matches
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use products.sort(key=lambda product: product['price']) to sort by price.

4

OUTPUT: Return the sorted or unsorted products as JSON

Use print(products) to display the final products list.

Rest API

from flask import request

products = [
    {'name': 'Apple', 'price': 5},
    {'name': 'Banana', 'price': 2},
    {'name': 'Cherry', 'price': 7}
]

sort_param = request.args.get('sort')

if sort_param == 'price':
    products.sort(key=lambda product: product['price'])
elif sort_param == 'name':
    products.sort(key=lambda product: product['name'])

# Print the products list
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use print(products) to show the list.