Can't get javascript/jquery to sort elements correctly more than one time

I have child divs that I'm trying to sort based on a jquery .data() value that I give them that is just a single number. This code works perfectly, but only once, after that I can't figure out how the heck it's sorting them. Here is a simplified version:

var myArray = $('#container div').get(); 
myArray.sort(function(x,y) {
return $(x).data('order') - $(y).data('order');
});
$('#container').empty().append(myArray);

I've tried so many other different methods of sorting, other plugins, etc., and I can't get anything to work right. This is as close as I can get. I just have this running on a jquery change event.

Here is the whole thing in case I'm doing something stupid elsewhere:

$('#attorneyFilter').change(function() {
//get array of links for sorting
var myArray = $('#attorneyBlocks div').get(); 
var selectedArea = $(this).val();
//sort alphabetically when "all" is selected
if (selectedArea == 'all') {
    $('#attorneyBlocks div').show();
    myArray.sort(function(a,b) {
        return $(a).text() > $(b).text() ? 1 : -1;
    });
//filter attorneys based on practice area and then assign its order# to the div with data, getting all values from the div's class
} else {
    $('#attorneyBlocks div').hide().each(function() {
        var attorneyArea = $(this).attr('class').split(', ');
        for (var i=0;i<attorneyArea.length;i++) {
            var practiceArea = attorneyArea[i].split('-');
            if (selectedArea == practiceArea[0]) {
                $(this).show().data('order',practiceArea[1]);
            }
        }
    });
    //sort based on order, the lowe开发者_开发问答r the number the higher it shows up
    myArray.sort(function(x,y) {
        return $(x).data('order') - $(y).data('order');
    });
}
//append order back in
$('#attorneyBlocks').empty().append(myArray);
});

And a link to the page in question

Here's a jsFiddle with this working using .detach() instead of .empty() to keep the data.

http://jsfiddle.net/shaneblake/Tn9u8/

Thanks for the link to the site, that made it clear.

It seems to me you never clear out the data from the prior time. You hide everything but maybe something like this will solve your problem (here I set everything hidden to the bottom, you can clear it or use a different value -- as long as it is not the same as any sort key):

 $('#attorneyBlocks div').hide().data('order',999999).each(function() {
        var attorneyArea = $(this).attr('class').split(', ');
        for (var i=0;i<attorneyArea.length;i++) {
            var practiceArea = attorneyArea[i].split('-');
            if (selectedArea == practiceArea[0]) {
                $(this).show().data('order',practiceArea[1]);
            }
        }
    });

Also, the code on the server is missing the 2nd line you have above:

var myArray = $('#attorneyBlocks div').get(); 

The problem is the change event is tied to the original items. After the sort you make all new items. They don't have any event tied to them. You will need to use .live()

Eventually figured it out, the data values from hidden divs were screwing with my sorting, so I changed my sorting code to only pay attention to :visible divs and that did the trick. Doh! Thanks for your help everyone.