Using Comparable for multiple dynamic fields of VO in java

Question

I have a class

public class StudentVO {
   int age;
   String name;  
}

I used the same class in two different areas. At one place i need t

Answer 1

There is new approach for this in java-8 see Comparator#comparing and Comparator#thenComparing. All you need is to provide a lamda expression/method reference either to Stream#sorted() or List#sort() method.

For example sorting by one field:

List students = Arrays.asList(
        new StudentVO(20,"Bob"),
        new StudentVO(19, "Jane")
);
// sort by age
students.stream()
        .sorted(Comparator.comparing(StudentVO::getAge))
        .forEach(System.out::println);
// [StudentVO{age=19, name='Jane'},StudentVO{age=20, name='Bob'}]
// sort by name
students.stream()
        .sorted(Comparator.comparing(StudentVO::getName))
        .forEach(System.out::println);
// [StudentVO{age=20, name='Bob'}, StudentVO{age=19, name='Jane'}]

Sorting by a few fields:

List students = Arrays.asList(
        new StudentVO(20,"Bob"),
        new StudentVO(19, "Jane"),
        new StudentVO(21,"Bob")
);
// by age and then by name
students.stream()
        .sorted(Comparator
                .comparing(StudentVO::getAge)
                .thenComparing(StudentVO::getName)
        ).forEach(System.out::println);
// [StudentVO{age=19, name='Jane'}, StudentVO{age=20, name='Bob'}, StudentVO{age=21, name='Bob'}]
// by name an then by age
students.stream()
        .sorted(Comparator
                .comparing(StudentVO::getName)
                .thenComparing(StudentVO::getAge)
        ).forEach(System.out::println);
// [StudentVO{age=20, name='Bob'}, StudentVO{age=21, name='Bob'}, StudentVO{age=19, name='Jane'}]