From 04683677d17f2ee318f3b62f648bb0d6b38670e7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: LabelFree <ivan.ivanov@czbiohub.org>
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2024 17:56:55 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] sort metadata keys

---
 iohub/convert.py | 11 ++++++++---
 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/iohub/convert.py b/iohub/convert.py
index e3380909..e26c0117 100644
--- a/iohub/convert.py
+++ b/iohub/convert.py
@@ -307,6 +307,7 @@ def _create_zeros_array(
 
     def _convert_image_plane_metadata(self, fov, zarr_name: str):
         position_image_plane_metadata = {}
+        sorted_keys = []
         for t_idx, c_idx in product(
             range(self.t),
             range(self.c),
@@ -331,9 +332,13 @@ def _convert_image_plane_metadata(self, fov, zarr_name: str):
                         "incomplete."
                     )
                     continue
-                # T/C/Z
-                frame_key = "/".join([str(i) for i in (t_idx, c_idx, z_idx)])
-                position_image_plane_metadata[frame_key] = metadata
+                if not sorted_keys:
+                    # Sort keys, ordering keys without dashes first
+                    sorted_keys = sorted(metadata.keys(), key=lambda x: ('-' in x, x))
+                
+                sorted_metadata = {key: metadata[key] for key in sorted_keys}
+                frame_key = "/".join([str(i) for i in (t_idx, c_idx, z_idx)]) # T/C/Z
+                position_image_plane_metadata[frame_key] = sorted_metadata
         with open(
             self.output_dir / zarr_name / "image_plane_metadata.json",
             mode="x",