comparator

[peter cooke]

I am trying to sort records based on multiple attributes. First one, then next, then next in presidence.

the simplest sql would be
select * from table order by 3,2,1;

public class persion(){
   private String fName;
   private String lName;
   private int age;
   private double weight;
   private double height;
..... getters/setters/constructors
    

If I wanted to sort on height first, then weight, then name.
how do I do that? I can do a simple ordering of height, or weight, or name.

I know somewhere in the back of my brain I know this but it is not comming forward into my active brain.
Thanks for any help
Peter

[Garrett Rowe]

In pseudo code:

public int compare(Person p1, Person, p2)
{
   double EPSILON = a tiny number > 0   
 
   if |p1.height - p2.height| > EPSILON
      compare based on height
 
   else if |p1.weight - p2.weight| > EPSILON
      compare based on weight
 
   else
      compare based on names
}

[ February 09, 2008: Message edited by: Garrett Rowe ]

[Jim Yingst]

This recent thread gives several other possible solutions. You can combine several different aspects of these, depending on the circumstances.