How do I use the IComparable interface?

Question

I need a basic example of how to use the IComparable interface so that I can sort in ascending or descending order and by different fields of the object type I\'m s

Answer 1

Here's a simple example:

public class SortableItem : IComparable
{
    public int someNumber;

    #region IComparable Members

    public int CompareTo(SortableItem other)
    {
        int ret = -1;
        if (someNumber < other.someNumber)
            ret = -1;
        else if (someNumber > other.someNumber)
            ret = 1;
        else if (someNumber == other.someNumber)
            ret = 0;
        return ret;
    }

    #endregion
}

"That's great, but what if I want to be able to control the sort order, or sort by another field?"

Simple. All we need to do is add few more fields to the object. First we'll add a string for a different sort type and then we'll add a boolean to denote whether we're sorting in descending or ascending order and then add a field which determines which field we want to search by.

public class SortableItem : IComparable
{
    public enum SortFieldType { SortNumber, SortString }

    public int someNumber = -1;
    public string someString = "";
    public bool descending = true;    
    public SortFieldType sortField = SortableItem.SortFieldType.SortNumber;        

    #region IComparable Members

    public int CompareTo(SortableItem other)
    {
        int ret = -1;
        if(sortField == SortableItem.SortFieldType.SortString)
        {
            // A lot of other objects implement IComparable as well.
            // Take advantage of this.
            ret = someString.CompareTo(other.someString);
        }
        else
        {
            if (someNumber < other.someNumber)
                ret = -1;
            else if (someNumber > other.someNumber)
                ret = 1;
            else if (someNumber == other.someNumber)
                ret = 0;
        }
        // A quick way to switch sort order:
        // -1 becomes 1, 1 becomes -1, 0 stays the same.
        if(!descending) ret = ret * -1; 

        return ret;
    }

    #endregion

    public override string ToString()
    {
       if(sortField == SortableItem.SortFieldType.SortString)
          return someString;
       else
          return someNumber.ToString();
    }
}

"Show me how!"

Well since you asked so nicely.

static class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {

        List items = new List();
        SortableItem temp = new SortableItem();
        temp.someString = "Hello";
        temp.someNumber = 1;
        items.Add(temp);
        temp = new SortableItem();
        temp.someString = "World";
        temp.someNumber = 2;
        items.Add(temp);
        SortByString(items);
        Output(items);
        SortAscending(items);
        Output(items);
        SortByNumber(items);
        Output(items);
        SortDescending(items);
        Output(items);
        Console.ReadKey();
    }

    public static void SortDescending(List items)
    {
        foreach (SortableItem item in items)
            item.descending = true;
    }
    public static void SortAscending(List items)
    {
        foreach (SortableItem item in items)
            item.descending = false;
    }
    public static void SortByNumber(List items)
    {
        foreach (SortableItem item in items)
            item.sortField = SortableItem.SortFieldType.SortNumber;
    }
    public static void SortByString(List items)
    {
        foreach (SortableItem item in items)
            item.sortField = SortableItem.SortFieldType.SortString;
    }
    public static void Output(List items)
    {
        items.Sort();
        for (int i = 0; i < items.Count; i++)
            Console.WriteLine("Item " + i + ": " + items[i].ToString());
    }
}