Sorting array of collections - laravel

Question

I have an array storing 3 merged collections:
public function answer() {
$interview = Interview::find(1);
$videoQuestions = $interview->VideoQuestions()->get();
foreach ($videoQuestions as $vq) {
$vq->type = 'video';
}
$textQuestions = $interview->TextQuestions()->get();
foreach ($textQuestions as $tq) {
$tq->type = 'text';
}
$uploadQuestions = $interview->UploadQuestions()->get();
foreach ($uploadQuestions as $uq) {
$uq->type = 'upload';
}
$questions = collect($videoQuestions);
$questions = $questions->merge($textQuestions);
$questions = $questions->merge($uploadQuestions);
$questions->sortBy('order_position');
dd($questions);
}
The ->sortBy is not working as I assume it doesn't work on an array of collections.
This is what I have:
But I really just want it to be a merged collection not an array inside the collection.
Each VideoQuestion or TextQuestion has an order_position field that I would like to sort by.
Any help is appreciated!

Answer 1

First thing collection is a class containing an array of elements with special methods to filter sort, docs:
The Illuminate\Support\Collection class provides a fluent, convenient
wrapper for working with arrays of data.
The sortBy method returns a sorted collection (it does not apply to the item it has):
$collection = collect([
['name' => 'Desk', 'price' => 200],
['name' => 'Chair', 'price' => 100],
['name' => 'Bookcase', 'price' => 150],
]);
$sorted = $collection->sortBy('price');
$sorted->values()->all();
/*
[
['name' => 'Chair', 'price' => 100],
['name' => 'Bookcase', 'price' => 150],
['name' => 'Desk', 'price' => 200],
]
*/
So you should have something like:
$questions = $questions->sortBy('order_position');
dd($questions);

Answer 2

This could be an alternative:
$interview = Interview::find(1)->with(['VideoQuestions',
'TextQuestions',
'UploadQuestions',
'Questions' => function($query){
$query->orderBy('order_position', 'asc');
}])->get();
Define the relationships and make a table Questions that holds an order_position that you can sort on instead of each table.