[java] Android-java- How to sort a list of objects by a certain value within the object

Im trying to sort through an arraylist of objects by a particular value within the object. What would be the best approach to do such a thing. Should I use Collections.sort() with some kind of comparator?

Im trying to sort a list of objects by a float value they hold in one of the variables.

EDIT: This is what I have so far:

public class CustomComparator implements Comparator<Marker> {
    @Override
    public int compare(Mark o1, Mark o2) {
        return o1.getDistance().compareTo(o2.getDistance());
    }
}

the error states: Cannot invoke compareTo(double) on the primitive type double.

Is it because a comparator cant return anything other than a certain type?

"Android-java" is here by no means different than "normal java", so yes Collections.sort() would be a good approach.

I think this will help you better

Person p = new Person("Bruce", "Willis");
Person p1  = new Person("Tom", "Hanks");
Person p2 = new Person("Nicolas", "Cage");
Person p3 = new Person("John", "Travolta");

ArrayList<Person> list = new ArrayList<Person>();
list.add(p);
list.add(p1);
list.add(p2);
list.add(p3);

Collections.sort(list, new Comparator() {
    @Override
    public int compare(Object o1, Object o2) {
        Person p1 = (Person) o1;
        Person p2 = (Person) o2;
        return p1.getFirstName().compareToIgnoreCase(p2.getFirstName());
    }
});

public class DateComparator implements Comparator<Marker> {
    @Override
    public int compare(Mark lhs, Mark rhs) {
        Double distance = Double.valueOf(lhs.getDistance());
        Double distance1 = Double.valueOf(rhs.getDistance());
        if (distance.compareTo(distance1) < 0) {
            return -1;
        } else if (distance.compareTo(distance1) > 0) {
            return 1;
        } else {
            return 0;
        }
    }
}

ArrayList(Marker) arraylist;

How To use:

Collections.sort(arraylist, new DateComparator());

I have a listview which shows the Information about the all clients I am sorting the clients name using this custom comparator class. They are having some extra lerret apart from english letters which i am managing with this setStrength(Collator.SECONDARY)

 public class CustomNameComparator implements Comparator<ClientInfo> {
        @Override

    public int compare(ClientInfo o1, ClientInfo o2) { 

        Locale locale=Locale.getDefault();
        Collator collator = Collator.getInstance(locale);
        collator.setStrength(Collator.SECONDARY);
        return collator.compare(o1.title, o2.title);

    }
}


PRIMARY strength: Typically, this is used to denote differences between base characters (for example, "a" < "b"). It is the strongest difference. For example, dictionaries are divided into different sections by base character. 
SECONDARY strength: Accents in the characters are considered secondary differences (for example, "as" < "às" < "at"). Other differences between letters can also be considered secondary differences, depending on the language. A secondary difference is ignored when there is a primary difference anywhere in the strings. 
TERTIARY strength: Upper and lower case differences in characters are distinguished at tertiary strength (for example, "ao" < "Ao" < "aò"). In addition, a variant of a letter differs from the base form on the tertiary strength (such as "A" and "?"). Another example is the difference between large and small Kana. A tertiary difference is ignored when there is a primary or secondary difference anywhere in the strings. 
IDENTICAL strength: When all other strengths are equal, the IDENTICAL strength is used as a tiebreaker. The Unicode code point values of the NFD form of each string are compared, just in case there is no difference. For example, Hebrew cantellation marks are only distinguished at this strength. This strength should be used sparingly, as only code point value differences between two strings are an extremely rare occurrence. Using this strength substantially decreases the performance for both comparison and collation key generation APIs. This strength also increases the size of the collation key. 

**Here is a another way to make a rule base sorting if u need it just sharing**

/*      String rules="< å,Å< ä,Ä< a,A< b,B< c,C< d,D< é< e,E< f,F< g,G< h,H< ï< i,I"+"< j,J< k,K< l,L< m,M< n,N< ö,Ö< o,O< p,P< q,Q< r,R"+"< s,S< t,T< ü< u,U< v,V< w,W< x,X< y,Y< z,Z";
        RuleBasedCollator rbc = null;
        try {
            rbc = new RuleBasedCollator(rules);
        } catch (ParseException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        String myTitles[]={o1.title,o2.title};
        Collections.sort(Arrays.asList(myTitles), rbc);*/

It's very easy for Kotlin!

listToBeSorted.sortBy { it.distance }

For Kotlin, you can use this function

fun sortList(list: List<YourCustomPOJOClass?>) {

    //descending
    Collections.sort(
        list
    ) { o1, o2 -> Integer.valueOf(o1!!.intValueXYZ!!).compareTo(o2!!.intValueXYZ!!) }

//    //ascending
//    Collections.sort(
//        list
//    ) { o1, o2 -> Integer.valueOf(o2!!.intValueXYZ!!).compareTo(o1!!.intValueXYZ!!) }
}

and just call it in your activity or fragment by

sortList(list)

Follow this code to sort any ArrayList

Collections.sort(myList, new Comparator<EmployeeClass>(){
    public int compare(EmployeeClass obj1, EmployeeClass obj2) {
        // ## Ascending order
        return obj1.firstName.compareToIgnoreCase(obj2.firstName); // To compare string values
        // return Integer.valueOf(obj1.empId).compareTo(Integer.valueOf(obj2.empId)); // To compare integer values

        // ## Descending order
        // return obj2.firstName.compareToIgnoreCase(obj1.firstName); // To compare string values
        // return Integer.valueOf(obj2.empId).compareTo(Integer.valueOf(obj1.empId)); // To compare integer values
        }
    });

Either make a Comparator that can compare your objects, or if they are all instances of the same class, you can make that class implement Comparable. You can then use Collections.sort() to do the actual sorting.

Now no need to Boxing (i.e no need to Creating OBJECT using new Operator use valueOf insted with compareTo of Collections.Sort..)

1)For Ascending order

Collections.sort(temp, new Comparator<XYZBean>() 
{
     @Override
     public int compare(XYZBean lhs, XYZBean rhs) {

       return Integer.valueOf(lhs.getDistance()).compareTo(rhs.getDistance());
      }
 });

1)For Deascending order

Collections.sort(temp, new Comparator<XYZBean>() 
{
     @Override
     public int compare(XYZBean lhs, XYZBean rhs) {

       return Integer.valueOf(rhs.getDistance()).compareTo(lhs.getDistance());
      }
 });

Model Class:

public class ToDoModel implements Comparable<ToDoModel> {
    private String id;
    private Date taskDate;

    public String getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public void setId(String id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public Date getTaskDate() {
        return taskDate;
    }

    public void setTaskDate(Date taskDate) {
        this.taskDate = taskDate;
    }

    @Override
    public int compareTo(ToDoModel another) {
        return getTaskDate().compareTo(another.getTaskDate());  
    }
}

Now set data in ArrayList

for (int i = 0; i < your_array_length; i++) {
    ToDoModel tm = new ToDoModel();
    tm.setId(your_id);
    tm.setTaskDate(your_date);
    mArrayList.add(tm);
}

Now Sort ArrayList

Collections.sort(toDoList);

Summary: It will sort your data datewise

You can compare two String by using this.

Collections.sort(contactsList, new Comparator<ContactsData>() {

                    @Override
                    public int compare(ContactsData lhs, ContactsData rhs) {

                        char l = Character.toUpperCase(lhs.name.charAt(0));

                        if (l < 'A' || l > 'Z')

                            l += 'Z';

                        char r = Character.toUpperCase(rhs.name.charAt(0));

                        if (r < 'A' || r > 'Z')

                            r += 'Z';

                        String s1 = l + lhs.name.substring(1);

                        String s2 = r + rhs.name.substring(1);

                        return s1.compareTo(s2);

                    }

                });

And Now make a ContactData Class.

public class ContactsData {

public String name;
public String id;
public String email;
public String avatar; 
public String connection_type;
public String thumb;
public String small;
public String first_name;
public String last_name;
public String no_of_user;
public int grpIndex;

public ContactsData(String name, String id, String email, String avatar, String connection_type)
{
    this.name = name;
    this.id = id;
    this.email = email;
    this.avatar = avatar;
    this.connection_type = connection_type;

}
}

Here contactsList is :

public static ArrayList<ContactsData> contactsList = new ArrayList<ContactsData>();