Reverse Vector Layer Feature order

Question

I have a vector layer where some features are found entirely within other features and therefore I can't select that feature because the other feature is on top of it. Is there a way to reverse the order of the features of a vector layer after they have already been loaded? This will likely solve about 99% of issues that may occur with my mouseover popup.

Edit to add code:

I'm trying to do this on demand after the layer is already loaded.

var refreshStrategy = new OpenLayers.Strategy.Refresh( {
    interval : 60 * 1000
  });   
var vLayer = new OpenLayers.Layer.Vector("Hazards with Population",
      {
        projection : "EPSG:4326",
        strategies : [new OpenLayers.Strategy.Fixed(), refreshStrategy],
        protocol : new OpenLayers.Protocol.HTTP(
        {          
          url : "./getFeatures.php",              
          format : new OpenLayers.Format.GeoJSON(),
          rendererOptions : {
            zIndexing : true
          }
        })
      });

Answer 1

Supposing you have access and can modify your getFeatures.php, simply reverse the array where the data is being formatted as GeoJSON.

If it's coming from a database, reverse your order by clauses. Or if it's coming from some other source, reverse the array just before formatting it as GeoJSON:

$data = array(item1, item2, item3, ...); // Your array of data the way it's loaded currently
$reversed = array_reverse($data); // Reverse the array
makeGeoJSON($reversed); // Transfor it into GeoJSON the way you're doing currently

If you don't have access to the php code, you probably can achieve the same effect by adding an event listener to the beforefeaturesadded event on the layer:

vectorLayer.events.register('beforefeaturesadded', vectorLayer, function (data) {
    data.features.reverse();
});