sorting a List of Map<String, String>

I have a list variable created like this:

List<Map<String, String>> list = new ArrayList<Map<String, String>>();

In my Android application, this list gets populated.

just an example:

Map<String, String> map1 = new HashMap<String, String>();
map.put("name", "Josh");
...

Map<String, String> map2 = new HashMap<String, String>();
map.put("name", "Anna");
...

Map<String, String> map3 = new HashMap<String, String>();
map.put("name", "Bernie");
...

list.add(map1);
list.add(map2);
list.add(map3);

I am using list to show results in a ListView by extending BaseAdapter and implementing the various methods.

My problem: I need to sort list in alphabetical order based on the map's key name

Question: What is a simple way to sort list in alphabetical order based on the map's key name?

I can't seem to wrap my head around this. I have extracted each name from each Map into a String array, and sorted it(Arrays.sort(strArray);). But that doesn't preserve the other data in each Map, so i'm not too sure how i can preserve the other mapped values

Solution 1:

The following code works perfectly

public Comparator<Map<String, String>> mapComparator = new Comparator<Map<String, String>>() {
    public int compare(Map<String, String> m1, Map<String, String> m2) {
        return m1.get("name").compareTo(m2.get("name"));
    }
}

Collections.sort(list, mapComparator);

But your maps should probably be instances of a specific class.

Solution 2:

You should implement a Comparator<Map<String, String>> which basically extracts the "name" value from the two maps it's passed, and compares them.

Then use Collections.sort(list, comparator).

Are you sure a Map<String, String> is really the best element type for your list though? Perhaps you should have another class which contains a Map<String, String> but also has a getName() method?

Solution 3:

@Test
public void testSortedMaps() {
    Map<String, String> map1 = new HashMap<String, String>();
    map1.put("name", "Josh");

    Map<String, String> map2 = new HashMap<String, String>();
    map2.put("name", "Anna");

    Map<String, String> map3 = new HashMap<String, String>();
    map3.put("name", "Bernie");

    List<Map<String, String>> mapList = new ArrayList<Map<String, String>>();
    mapList.add(map1);
    mapList.add(map2);
    mapList.add(map3);

    Collections.sort(mapList, new Comparator<Map<String, String>>() {
        public int compare(final Map<String, String> o1, final Map<String, String> o2) {
            return o1.get("name").compareTo(o2.get("name"));
        }
    });

    Assert.assertEquals("Anna", mapList.get(0).get("name"));
    Assert.assertEquals("Bernie", mapList.get(1).get("name"));
    Assert.assertEquals("Josh", mapList.get(2).get("name"));

}

Solution 4:

You need to create a comparator. I am not sure why each value needs its own map but here is what the comparator would look like:

class ListMapComparator implements Comparator {
    public int compare(Object obj1, Object obj2) {
         Map<String, String> test1 = (Map<String, String>) obj1;
         Map<String, String> test2 = (Map<String, String>) obj2;
         return test1.get("name").compareTo(test2.get("name"));
    }
}

You can see it working with your above example with this:

public class MapSort {
    public List<Map<String, String>> testMap() {
         List<Map<String, String>> list = new ArrayList<Map<String, String>>();
         Map<String, String> myMap1 = new HashMap<String, String>();
         myMap1.put("name", "Josh");
         Map<String, String> myMap2 = new HashMap<String, String>();
         myMap2.put("name", "Anna");

         Map<String, String> myMap3 = new HashMap<String, String>();
         myMap3.put("name", "Bernie");


         list.add(myMap1);
         list.add(myMap2);
         list.add(myMap3);

         return list;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
         MapSort ms = new MapSort();
         List<Map<String, String>> testMap = ms.testMap();
         System.out.println("Before Sort: " + testMap);
         Collections.sort(testMap, new ListMapComparator());
         System.out.println("After Sort: " + testMap);
    }
}

You will have some type safe warnings because I did not worry about these. Hope that helps.