Can I check - do you mean a rectangular array ([,])or a jagged array ([][])?
It is quite easy to sort a jagged array; I have a discussion on that here. Obviously in this case the Comparison<T> would involve a column instead of sorting by ordinal - but very similar.
Sorting a rectangular array is trickier... I'd probably be tempted to copy the data out into either a rectangular array or a List<T[]>, and sort there, then copy back.
Here's an example using a jagged array:
static void Main()
{ // could just as easily be string...
int[][] data = new int[][] {
new int[] {1,2,3},
new int[] {2,3,4},
new int[] {2,4,1}
};
Sort<int>(data, 2);
}
private static void Sort<T>(T[][] data, int col)
{
Comparer<T> comparer = Comparer<T>.Default;
Array.Sort<T[]>(data, (x,y) => comparer.Compare(x[col],y[col]));
}
For working with a rectangular array... well, here is some code to swap between the two on the fly...
static T[][] ToJagged<T>(this T[,] array) {
int height = array.GetLength(0), width = array.GetLength(1);
T[][] jagged = new T[height][];
for (int i = 0; i < height; i++)
{
T[] row = new T[width];
for (int j = 0; j < width; j++)
{
row[j] = array[i, j];
}
jagged[i] = row;
}
return jagged;
}
static T[,] ToRectangular<T>(this T[][] array)
{
int height = array.Length, width = array[0].Length;
T[,] rect = new T[height, width];
for (int i = 0; i < height; i++)
{
T[] row = array[i];
for (int j = 0; j < width; j++)
{
rect[i, j] = row[j];
}
}
return rect;
}
// fill an existing rectangular array from a jagged array
static void WriteRows<T>(this T[,] array, params T[][] rows)
{
for (int i = 0; i < rows.Length; i++)
{
T[] row = rows[i];
for (int j = 0; j < row.Length; j++)
{
array[i, j] = row[j];
}
}
}
Can allso look at Array.Sort Method http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa311213(v=vs.71).aspx
e.g. Array.Sort(array, delegate(object[] x, object[] y){ return (x[ i ] as IComparable).CompareTo(y[ i ]);});
from http://channel9.msdn.com/forums/Coffeehouse/189171-Sorting-Two-Dimensional-Arrays-in-C/
Try this out. The basic strategy is to sort the particular column independently and remember the original row of the entry. The rest of the code will cycle through the sorted column data and swap out the rows in the array. The tricky part is remembing to update the original column as the swap portion will effectively alter the original column.
public class Pair<T> {
public int Index;
public T Value;
public Pair(int i, T v) {
Index = i;
Value = v;
}
}
static IEnumerable<Pair<T>> Iterate<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source) {
int index = 0;
foreach ( var cur in source) {
yield return new Pair<T>(index,cur);
index++;
}
}
static void Sort2d(string[][] source, IComparer comp, int col) {
var colValues = source.Iterate()
.Select(x => new Pair<string>(x.Index,source[x.Index][col])).ToList();
colValues.Sort((l,r) => comp.Compare(l.Value, r.Value));
var temp = new string[source[0].Length];
var rest = colValues.Iterate();
while ( rest.Any() ) {
var pair = rest.First();
var cur = pair.Value;
var i = pair.Index;
if (i == cur.Index ) {
rest = rest.Skip(1);
continue;
}
Array.Copy(source[i], temp, temp.Length);
Array.Copy(source[cur.Index], source[i], temp.Length);
Array.Copy(temp, source[cur.Index], temp.Length);
rest = rest.Skip(1);
rest.Where(x => x.Value.Index == i).First().Value.Index = cur.Index;
}
}
public static void Test1() {
var source = new string[][]
{
new string[]{ "foo", "bar", "4" },
new string[] { "jack", "dog", "1" },
new string[]{ "boy", "ball", "2" },
new string[]{ "yellow", "green", "3" }
};
Sort2d(source, StringComparer.Ordinal, 2);
}
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
int[,] arr = { { 20, 9, 11 }, { 30, 5, 6 } };
Console.WriteLine("before");
for (int i = 0; i < arr.GetLength(0); i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < arr.GetLength(1); j++)
{
Console.Write("{0,3}", arr[i, j]);
}
Console.WriteLine();
}
Console.WriteLine("After");
for (int i = 0; i < arr.GetLength(0); i++) // Array Sorting
{
for (int j = arr.GetLength(1) - 1; j > 0; j--)
{
for (int k = 0; k < j; k++)
{
if (arr[i, k] > arr[i, k + 1])
{
int temp = arr[i, k];
arr[i, k] = arr[i, k + 1];
arr[i, k + 1] = temp;
}
}
}
Console.WriteLine();
}
for (int i = 0; i < arr.GetLength(0); i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < arr.GetLength(1); j++)
{
Console.Write("{0,3}", arr[i, j]);
}
Console.WriteLine();
}
}
}
}
If you could get the data as a generic tuple when you read it in or retrieved it, it would be a lot easier; then you would just have to write a Sort function that compares the desired column of the tuple, and you have a single dimension array of tuples.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
int[,] arr = { { 20, 9, 11 }, { 30, 5, 6 } };
Console.WriteLine("before");
for (int i = 0; i < arr.GetLength(0); i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < arr.GetLength(1); j++)
{
Console.Write("{0,3}", arr[i, j]);
}
Console.WriteLine();
}
Console.WriteLine("After");
for (int i = 0; i < arr.GetLength(0); i++) // Array Sorting
{
for (int j = arr.GetLength(1) - 1; j > 0; j--)
{
for (int k = 0; k < j; k++)
{
if (arr[i, k] > arr[i, k + 1])
{
int temp = arr[i, k];
arr[i, k] = arr[i, k + 1];
arr[i, k + 1] = temp;
}
}
}
Console.WriteLine();
}
for (int i = 0; i < arr.GetLength(0); i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < arr.GetLength(1); j++)
{
Console.Write("{0,3}", arr[i, j]);
}
Console.WriteLine();
}
}
}
}
Try this out. The basic strategy is to sort the particular column independently and remember the original row of the entry. The rest of the code will cycle through the sorted column data and swap out the rows in the array. The tricky part is remembing to update the original column as the swap portion will effectively alter the original column.
public class Pair<T> {
public int Index;
public T Value;
public Pair(int i, T v) {
Index = i;
Value = v;
}
}
static IEnumerable<Pair<T>> Iterate<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source) {
int index = 0;
foreach ( var cur in source) {
yield return new Pair<T>(index,cur);
index++;
}
}
static void Sort2d(string[][] source, IComparer comp, int col) {
var colValues = source.Iterate()
.Select(x => new Pair<string>(x.Index,source[x.Index][col])).ToList();
colValues.Sort((l,r) => comp.Compare(l.Value, r.Value));
var temp = new string[source[0].Length];
var rest = colValues.Iterate();
while ( rest.Any() ) {
var pair = rest.First();
var cur = pair.Value;
var i = pair.Index;
if (i == cur.Index ) {
rest = rest.Skip(1);
continue;
}
Array.Copy(source[i], temp, temp.Length);
Array.Copy(source[cur.Index], source[i], temp.Length);
Array.Copy(temp, source[cur.Index], temp.Length);
rest = rest.Skip(1);
rest.Where(x => x.Value.Index == i).First().Value.Index = cur.Index;
}
}
public static void Test1() {
var source = new string[][]
{
new string[]{ "foo", "bar", "4" },
new string[] { "jack", "dog", "1" },
new string[]{ "boy", "ball", "2" },
new string[]{ "yellow", "green", "3" }
};
Sort2d(source, StringComparer.Ordinal, 2);
}
Here is an archived article from Jim Mischel at InformIt that handles sorting for both rectangular and jagged multi-dimensional arrays.
Can allso look at Array.Sort Method http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa311213(v=vs.71).aspx
e.g. Array.Sort(array, delegate(object[] x, object[] y){ return (x[ i ] as IComparable).CompareTo(y[ i ]);});
from http://channel9.msdn.com/forums/Coffeehouse/189171-Sorting-Two-Dimensional-Arrays-in-C/
Here is an archived article from Jim Mischel at InformIt that handles sorting for both rectangular and jagged multi-dimensional arrays.
This code should do what you are after, I haven't generalised it for n by n, but that is straight forward. That said - I agree with MusiGenesis, using another object that is a little better suited to this (especially if you intend to do any sort of binding)
(I found the code here)
string[][] array = new string[3][];
array[0] = new string[3] { "apple", "apple", "apple" };
array[1] = new string[3] { "banana", "banana", "dog" };
array[2] = new string[3] { "cat", "hippo", "cat" };
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0} {1} {2}", array[i][0], array[i][1], array[i][2]));
}
int j = 2;
Array.Sort(array, delegate(object[] x, object[] y)
{
return (x[j] as IComparable).CompareTo(y[ j ]);
}
);
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0} {1} {2}", array[i][0], array[i][1], array[i][2]));
}
Try this out. The basic strategy is to sort the particular column independently and remember the original row of the entry. The rest of the code will cycle through the sorted column data and swap out the rows in the array. The tricky part is remembing to update the original column as the swap portion will effectively alter the original column.
public class Pair<T> {
public int Index;
public T Value;
public Pair(int i, T v) {
Index = i;
Value = v;
}
}
static IEnumerable<Pair<T>> Iterate<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source) {
int index = 0;
foreach ( var cur in source) {
yield return new Pair<T>(index,cur);
index++;
}
}
static void Sort2d(string[][] source, IComparer comp, int col) {
var colValues = source.Iterate()
.Select(x => new Pair<string>(x.Index,source[x.Index][col])).ToList();
colValues.Sort((l,r) => comp.Compare(l.Value, r.Value));
var temp = new string[source[0].Length];
var rest = colValues.Iterate();
while ( rest.Any() ) {
var pair = rest.First();
var cur = pair.Value;
var i = pair.Index;
if (i == cur.Index ) {
rest = rest.Skip(1);
continue;
}
Array.Copy(source[i], temp, temp.Length);
Array.Copy(source[cur.Index], source[i], temp.Length);
Array.Copy(temp, source[cur.Index], temp.Length);
rest = rest.Skip(1);
rest.Where(x => x.Value.Index == i).First().Value.Index = cur.Index;
}
}
public static void Test1() {
var source = new string[][]
{
new string[]{ "foo", "bar", "4" },
new string[] { "jack", "dog", "1" },
new string[]{ "boy", "ball", "2" },
new string[]{ "yellow", "green", "3" }
};
Sort2d(source, StringComparer.Ordinal, 2);
}
This is an old question, but here's a class I just built based on the article from Jim Mischel at InformIt linked by Doug L.
class Array2DSort : IComparer<int>
{
// maintain a reference to the 2-dimensional array being sorted
string[,] _sortArray;
int[] _tagArray;
int _sortIndex;
protected string[,] SortArray { get { return _sortArray; } }
// constructor initializes the sortArray reference
public Array2DSort(string[,] theArray, int sortIndex)
{
_sortArray = theArray;
_tagArray = new int[_sortArray.GetLength(0)];
for (int i = 0; i < _sortArray.GetLength(0); ++i) _tagArray[i] = i;
_sortIndex = sortIndex;
}
public string[,] ToSortedArray()
{
Array.Sort(_tagArray, this);
string[,] result = new string[
_sortArray.GetLength(0), _sortArray.GetLength(1)];
for (int i = 0; i < _sortArray.GetLength(0); i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < _sortArray.GetLength(1); j++)
{
result[i, j] = _sortArray[_tagArray[i], j];
}
}
return result;
}
// x and y are integer row numbers into the sortArray
public virtual int Compare(int x, int y)
{
if (_sortIndex < 0) return 0;
return CompareStrings(x, y, _sortIndex);
}
protected int CompareStrings(int x, int y, int col)
{
return _sortArray[x, col].CompareTo(_sortArray[y, col]);
}
}
Given an unsorted 2D array data of arbitrary size that you want to sort on column 5 you just do this:
Array2DSort comparer = new Array2DSort(data, 5);
string[,] sortedData = comparer.ToSortedArray();
Note the virtual Compare method and protected SortArray so you can create specialized subclasses that always sort on a particular column or do specialized sorting on multiple columns or whatever you want to do. That's also why CompareStrings is broken out and protected - any subclasses can use it for simple comparisons instead of typing out the full SortArray[x, col].CompareTo(SortArray[y, col]) syntax.
Can I check - do you mean a rectangular array ([,])or a jagged array ([][])?
It is quite easy to sort a jagged array; I have a discussion on that here. Obviously in this case the Comparison<T> would involve a column instead of sorting by ordinal - but very similar.
Sorting a rectangular array is trickier... I'd probably be tempted to copy the data out into either a rectangular array or a List<T[]>, and sort there, then copy back.
Here's an example using a jagged array:
static void Main()
{ // could just as easily be string...
int[][] data = new int[][] {
new int[] {1,2,3},
new int[] {2,3,4},
new int[] {2,4,1}
};
Sort<int>(data, 2);
}
private static void Sort<T>(T[][] data, int col)
{
Comparer<T> comparer = Comparer<T>.Default;
Array.Sort<T[]>(data, (x,y) => comparer.Compare(x[col],y[col]));
}
For working with a rectangular array... well, here is some code to swap between the two on the fly...
static T[][] ToJagged<T>(this T[,] array) {
int height = array.GetLength(0), width = array.GetLength(1);
T[][] jagged = new T[height][];
for (int i = 0; i < height; i++)
{
T[] row = new T[width];
for (int j = 0; j < width; j++)
{
row[j] = array[i, j];
}
jagged[i] = row;
}
return jagged;
}
static T[,] ToRectangular<T>(this T[][] array)
{
int height = array.Length, width = array[0].Length;
T[,] rect = new T[height, width];
for (int i = 0; i < height; i++)
{
T[] row = array[i];
for (int j = 0; j < width; j++)
{
rect[i, j] = row[j];
}
}
return rect;
}
// fill an existing rectangular array from a jagged array
static void WriteRows<T>(this T[,] array, params T[][] rows)
{
for (int i = 0; i < rows.Length; i++)
{
T[] row = rows[i];
for (int j = 0; j < row.Length; j++)
{
array[i, j] = row[j];
}
}
}
If you could get the data as a generic tuple when you read it in or retrieved it, it would be a lot easier; then you would just have to write a Sort function that compares the desired column of the tuple, and you have a single dimension array of tuples.
So your array is structured like this (I'm gonna talk in pseudocode because my C#-fu is weak, but I hope you get the gist of what I'm saying)
string values[rows][columns]
So value[1][3] is the value at row 1, column 3.
You want to sort by column, so the problem is that your array is off by 90 degrees.
As a first cut, could you just rotate it?
std::string values_by_column[columns][rows];
for (int i = 0; i < rows; i++)
for (int j = 0; j < columns; j++)
values_by_column[column][row] = values[row][column]
sort_array(values_by_column[column])
for (int i = 0; i < rows; i++)
for (int j = 0; j < columns; j++)
values[row][column] = values_by_column[column][row]
If you know you only want to sort one column at a time, you could optimize this a lot by just extracting the data you want to sort:
string values_to_sort[rows]
for (int i = 0; i < rows; i++)
values_to_sort[i] = values[i][column_to_sort]
sort_array(values_to_sort)
for (int i = 0; i < rows; i++)
values[i][column_to_sort] = values_to_sort[i]
In C++ you could play tricks with how to calculate offsets into the array (since you could treat your two-dimensional array as a one-d array) but I'm not sure how to do that in c#.
This code should do what you are after, I haven't generalised it for n by n, but that is straight forward. That said - I agree with MusiGenesis, using another object that is a little better suited to this (especially if you intend to do any sort of binding)
(I found the code here)
string[][] array = new string[3][];
array[0] = new string[3] { "apple", "apple", "apple" };
array[1] = new string[3] { "banana", "banana", "dog" };
array[2] = new string[3] { "cat", "hippo", "cat" };
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0} {1} {2}", array[i][0], array[i][1], array[i][2]));
}
int j = 2;
Array.Sort(array, delegate(object[] x, object[] y)
{
return (x[j] as IComparable).CompareTo(y[ j ]);
}
);
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0} {1} {2}", array[i][0], array[i][1], array[i][2]));
}
I know its late but here is my thought you might wanna consider.
for example this is array
{
m,m,m
a,a,a
b,b,b
j,j,j
k,l,m
}
and you want to convert it by column number 2, then
string[] newArr = new string[arr.length]
for(int a=0;a<arr.length;a++)
newArr[a] = arr[a][1] + a;
// create new array that contains index number at the end and also the column values
Array.Sort(newArr);
for(int a=0;a<newArr.length;a++)
{
int index = Convert.ToInt32(newArr[a][newArr[a].Length -1]);
//swap whole row with tow at current index
if(index != a)
{
string[] arr2 = arr[a];
arr[a] = arr[index];
arr[index] = arr2;
}
}
Congratulations you have sorted the array by desired column. You can edit this to make it work with other data types
Array.Sort(array, (a, b) => { return a[0] - b[0]; });
If you could get the data as a generic tuple when you read it in or retrieved it, it would be a lot easier; then you would just have to write a Sort function that compares the desired column of the tuple, and you have a single dimension array of tuples.
This code should do what you are after, I haven't generalised it for n by n, but that is straight forward. That said - I agree with MusiGenesis, using another object that is a little better suited to this (especially if you intend to do any sort of binding)
(I found the code here)
string[][] array = new string[3][];
array[0] = new string[3] { "apple", "apple", "apple" };
array[1] = new string[3] { "banana", "banana", "dog" };
array[2] = new string[3] { "cat", "hippo", "cat" };
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0} {1} {2}", array[i][0], array[i][1], array[i][2]));
}
int j = 2;
Array.Sort(array, delegate(object[] x, object[] y)
{
return (x[j] as IComparable).CompareTo(y[ j ]);
}
);
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0} {1} {2}", array[i][0], array[i][1], array[i][2]));
}
This is an old question, but here's a class I just built based on the article from Jim Mischel at InformIt linked by Doug L.
class Array2DSort : IComparer<int>
{
// maintain a reference to the 2-dimensional array being sorted
string[,] _sortArray;
int[] _tagArray;
int _sortIndex;
protected string[,] SortArray { get { return _sortArray; } }
// constructor initializes the sortArray reference
public Array2DSort(string[,] theArray, int sortIndex)
{
_sortArray = theArray;
_tagArray = new int[_sortArray.GetLength(0)];
for (int i = 0; i < _sortArray.GetLength(0); ++i) _tagArray[i] = i;
_sortIndex = sortIndex;
}
public string[,] ToSortedArray()
{
Array.Sort(_tagArray, this);
string[,] result = new string[
_sortArray.GetLength(0), _sortArray.GetLength(1)];
for (int i = 0; i < _sortArray.GetLength(0); i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < _sortArray.GetLength(1); j++)
{
result[i, j] = _sortArray[_tagArray[i], j];
}
}
return result;
}
// x and y are integer row numbers into the sortArray
public virtual int Compare(int x, int y)
{
if (_sortIndex < 0) return 0;
return CompareStrings(x, y, _sortIndex);
}
protected int CompareStrings(int x, int y, int col)
{
return _sortArray[x, col].CompareTo(_sortArray[y, col]);
}
}
Given an unsorted 2D array data of arbitrary size that you want to sort on column 5 you just do this:
Array2DSort comparer = new Array2DSort(data, 5);
string[,] sortedData = comparer.ToSortedArray();
Note the virtual Compare method and protected SortArray so you can create specialized subclasses that always sort on a particular column or do specialized sorting on multiple columns or whatever you want to do. That's also why CompareStrings is broken out and protected - any subclasses can use it for simple comparisons instead of typing out the full SortArray[x, col].CompareTo(SortArray[y, col]) syntax.
Try this out. The basic strategy is to sort the particular column independently and remember the original row of the entry. The rest of the code will cycle through the sorted column data and swap out the rows in the array. The tricky part is remembing to update the original column as the swap portion will effectively alter the original column.
public class Pair<T> {
public int Index;
public T Value;
public Pair(int i, T v) {
Index = i;
Value = v;
}
}
static IEnumerable<Pair<T>> Iterate<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source) {
int index = 0;
foreach ( var cur in source) {
yield return new Pair<T>(index,cur);
index++;
}
}
static void Sort2d(string[][] source, IComparer comp, int col) {
var colValues = source.Iterate()
.Select(x => new Pair<string>(x.Index,source[x.Index][col])).ToList();
colValues.Sort((l,r) => comp.Compare(l.Value, r.Value));
var temp = new string[source[0].Length];
var rest = colValues.Iterate();
while ( rest.Any() ) {
var pair = rest.First();
var cur = pair.Value;
var i = pair.Index;
if (i == cur.Index ) {
rest = rest.Skip(1);
continue;
}
Array.Copy(source[i], temp, temp.Length);
Array.Copy(source[cur.Index], source[i], temp.Length);
Array.Copy(temp, source[cur.Index], temp.Length);
rest = rest.Skip(1);
rest.Where(x => x.Value.Index == i).First().Value.Index = cur.Index;
}
}
public static void Test1() {
var source = new string[][]
{
new string[]{ "foo", "bar", "4" },
new string[] { "jack", "dog", "1" },
new string[]{ "boy", "ball", "2" },
new string[]{ "yellow", "green", "3" }
};
Sort2d(source, StringComparer.Ordinal, 2);
}
Here is an archived article from Jim Mischel at InformIt that handles sorting for both rectangular and jagged multi-dimensional arrays.
So your array is structured like this (I'm gonna talk in pseudocode because my C#-fu is weak, but I hope you get the gist of what I'm saying)
string values[rows][columns]
So value[1][3] is the value at row 1, column 3.
You want to sort by column, so the problem is that your array is off by 90 degrees.
As a first cut, could you just rotate it?
std::string values_by_column[columns][rows];
for (int i = 0; i < rows; i++)
for (int j = 0; j < columns; j++)
values_by_column[column][row] = values[row][column]
sort_array(values_by_column[column])
for (int i = 0; i < rows; i++)
for (int j = 0; j < columns; j++)
values[row][column] = values_by_column[column][row]
If you know you only want to sort one column at a time, you could optimize this a lot by just extracting the data you want to sort:
string values_to_sort[rows]
for (int i = 0; i < rows; i++)
values_to_sort[i] = values[i][column_to_sort]
sort_array(values_to_sort)
for (int i = 0; i < rows; i++)
values[i][column_to_sort] = values_to_sort[i]
In C++ you could play tricks with how to calculate offsets into the array (since you could treat your two-dimensional array as a one-d array) but I'm not sure how to do that in c#.
I like the DataTable approach proposed by MusiGenesis above. The nice thing about it is that you can sort by any valid SQL 'order by' string that uses column names, e.g. "x, y desc, z" for 'order by x, y desc, z'. (FWIW, I could not get it to work using column ordinals, e.g. "3,2,1 " for 'order by 3,2,1') I used only integers, but clearly you could add mixed type data into the DataTable and sort it any which way.
In the example below, I first loaded some unsorted integer data into a tblToBeSorted in Sandbox (not shown). With the table and its data already existing, I load it (unsorted) into a 2D integer array, then to a DataTable. The array of DataRows is the sorted version of DataTable. The example is a little odd in that I load my array from the DB and could have sorted it then, but I just wanted to get an unsorted array into C# to use with the DataTable object.
static void Main(string[] args)
{
SqlConnection cnnX = new SqlConnection("Data Source=r90jroughgarden\\;Initial Catalog=Sandbox;Integrated Security=True");
SqlCommand cmdX = new SqlCommand("select * from tblToBeSorted", cnnX);
cmdX.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
SqlDataReader rdrX = null;
if (cnnX.State == ConnectionState.Closed) cnnX.Open();
int[,] aintSortingArray = new int[100, 4]; //i, elementid, planid, timeid
try
{
//Load unsorted table data from DB to array
rdrX = cmdX.ExecuteReader();
if (!rdrX.HasRows) return;
int i = -1;
while (rdrX.Read() && i < 100)
{
i++;
aintSortingArray[i, 0] = rdrX.GetInt32(0);
aintSortingArray[i, 1] = rdrX.GetInt32(1);
aintSortingArray[i, 2] = rdrX.GetInt32(2);
aintSortingArray[i, 3] = rdrX.GetInt32(3);
}
rdrX.Close();
DataTable dtblX = new DataTable();
dtblX.Columns.Add("ChangeID");
dtblX.Columns.Add("ElementID");
dtblX.Columns.Add("PlanID");
dtblX.Columns.Add("TimeID");
for (int j = 0; j < i; j++)
{
DataRow drowX = dtblX.NewRow();
for (int k = 0; k < 4; k++)
{
drowX[k] = aintSortingArray[j, k];
}
dtblX.Rows.Add(drowX);
}
DataRow[] adrowX = dtblX.Select("", "ElementID, PlanID, TimeID");
adrowX = dtblX.Select("", "ElementID desc, PlanID asc, TimeID desc");
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
string strErrMsg = ex.Message;
}
finally
{
if (cnnX.State == ConnectionState.Open) cnnX.Close();
}
}
Array.Sort(array, (a, b) => { return a[0] - b[0]; });
I like the DataTable approach proposed by MusiGenesis above. The nice thing about it is that you can sort by any valid SQL 'order by' string that uses column names, e.g. "x, y desc, z" for 'order by x, y desc, z'. (FWIW, I could not get it to work using column ordinals, e.g. "3,2,1 " for 'order by 3,2,1') I used only integers, but clearly you could add mixed type data into the DataTable and sort it any which way.
In the example below, I first loaded some unsorted integer data into a tblToBeSorted in Sandbox (not shown). With the table and its data already existing, I load it (unsorted) into a 2D integer array, then to a DataTable. The array of DataRows is the sorted version of DataTable. The example is a little odd in that I load my array from the DB and could have sorted it then, but I just wanted to get an unsorted array into C# to use with the DataTable object.
static void Main(string[] args)
{
SqlConnection cnnX = new SqlConnection("Data Source=r90jroughgarden\\;Initial Catalog=Sandbox;Integrated Security=True");
SqlCommand cmdX = new SqlCommand("select * from tblToBeSorted", cnnX);
cmdX.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
SqlDataReader rdrX = null;
if (cnnX.State == ConnectionState.Closed) cnnX.Open();
int[,] aintSortingArray = new int[100, 4]; //i, elementid, planid, timeid
try
{
//Load unsorted table data from DB to array
rdrX = cmdX.ExecuteReader();
if (!rdrX.HasRows) return;
int i = -1;
while (rdrX.Read() && i < 100)
{
i++;
aintSortingArray[i, 0] = rdrX.GetInt32(0);
aintSortingArray[i, 1] = rdrX.GetInt32(1);
aintSortingArray[i, 2] = rdrX.GetInt32(2);
aintSortingArray[i, 3] = rdrX.GetInt32(3);
}
rdrX.Close();
DataTable dtblX = new DataTable();
dtblX.Columns.Add("ChangeID");
dtblX.Columns.Add("ElementID");
dtblX.Columns.Add("PlanID");
dtblX.Columns.Add("TimeID");
for (int j = 0; j < i; j++)
{
DataRow drowX = dtblX.NewRow();
for (int k = 0; k < 4; k++)
{
drowX[k] = aintSortingArray[j, k];
}
dtblX.Rows.Add(drowX);
}
DataRow[] adrowX = dtblX.Select("", "ElementID, PlanID, TimeID");
adrowX = dtblX.Select("", "ElementID desc, PlanID asc, TimeID desc");
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
string strErrMsg = ex.Message;
}
finally
{
if (cnnX.State == ConnectionState.Open) cnnX.Close();
}
}
Can I check - do you mean a rectangular array ([,])or a jagged array ([][])?
It is quite easy to sort a jagged array; I have a discussion on that here. Obviously in this case the Comparison<T> would involve a column instead of sorting by ordinal - but very similar.
Sorting a rectangular array is trickier... I'd probably be tempted to copy the data out into either a rectangular array or a List<T[]>, and sort there, then copy back.
Here's an example using a jagged array:
static void Main()
{ // could just as easily be string...
int[][] data = new int[][] {
new int[] {1,2,3},
new int[] {2,3,4},
new int[] {2,4,1}
};
Sort<int>(data, 2);
}
private static void Sort<T>(T[][] data, int col)
{
Comparer<T> comparer = Comparer<T>.Default;
Array.Sort<T[]>(data, (x,y) => comparer.Compare(x[col],y[col]));
}
For working with a rectangular array... well, here is some code to swap between the two on the fly...
static T[][] ToJagged<T>(this T[,] array) {
int height = array.GetLength(0), width = array.GetLength(1);
T[][] jagged = new T[height][];
for (int i = 0; i < height; i++)
{
T[] row = new T[width];
for (int j = 0; j < width; j++)
{
row[j] = array[i, j];
}
jagged[i] = row;
}
return jagged;
}
static T[,] ToRectangular<T>(this T[][] array)
{
int height = array.Length, width = array[0].Length;
T[,] rect = new T[height, width];
for (int i = 0; i < height; i++)
{
T[] row = array[i];
for (int j = 0; j < width; j++)
{
rect[i, j] = row[j];
}
}
return rect;
}
// fill an existing rectangular array from a jagged array
static void WriteRows<T>(this T[,] array, params T[][] rows)
{
for (int i = 0; i < rows.Length; i++)
{
T[] row = rows[i];
for (int j = 0; j < row.Length; j++)
{
array[i, j] = row[j];
}
}
}
Source: Stackoverflow.com