How to use Comparator in Java to sort

Question

I learned how to use the comparable but I'm having difficulty with the Comparator. I am having a error in my code:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ClassCastException: New.People cannot be cast to java.lang.Comparable
 at java.util.Arrays.mergeSort(Unknown Source)
 at java.util.Arrays.sort(Unknown Source)
 at java.util.Collections.sort(Unknown Source)
 at New.TestPeople.main(TestPeople.java:18)

Here is my code:

import java.util.Comparator;

public class People implements Comparator {
   private int id;
   private String info;
   private double price;

   public People(int newid, String newinfo, double newprice) {
       setid(newid);
       setinfo(newinfo);
       setprice(newprice);
   }

   public int getid() {
       return id;
   }

   public void setid(int id) {
       this.id = id;
   }

   public String getinfo() {
       return info;
   }

   public void setinfo(String info) {
       this.info = info;
   }

   public double getprice() {
       return price;
   }

   public void setprice(double price) {
       this.price = price;
   }

   public int compare(Object obj1, Object obj2) {
       Integer p1 = ((People) obj1).getid();
       Integer p2 = ((People) obj2).getid();

       if (p1 > p2) {
           return 1;
       } else if (p1 < p2){
           return -1;
       } else {
           return 0;
       }
    }
}

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;

public class TestPeople {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ArrayList peps = new ArrayList();

        peps.add(new People(123, "M", 14.25));
        peps.add(new People(234, "M", 6.21));
        peps.add(new People(362, "F", 9.23));
        peps.add(new People(111, "M", 65.99));
        peps.add(new People(535, "F", 9.23));

        Collections.sort(peps);

        for (int i = 0; i < peps.size(); i++){
            System.out.println(peps.get(i));
        }
    }
}

I believe it has to do something with the casting in the compare method but I was playing around with it and still could not find the solution

Answer 1

Here's a super short template to do the sorting right away :

Collections.sort(people,new Comparator<Person>(){
   @Override
   public int compare(final Person lhs,Person rhs) {
     //TODO return 1 if rhs should be before lhs 
     //     return -1 if lhs should be before rhs
     //     return 0 otherwise
     }
 });

if it's hard to remember, try to just remember that it's similar (in terms of the sign of the number) to:

 lhs-rhs 

That's in case you want to sort in ascending order : from smallest number to largest number.

Answer 2

Here's an example of a Comparator that will work for any zero arg method that returns a Comparable. Does something like this exist in a jdk or library?

import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.util.Comparator;

public class NamedMethodComparator implements Comparator<Object> {

    //
    // instance variables
    //

    private String methodName;

    private boolean isAsc;

    //
    // constructor
    //

    public NamedMethodComparator(String methodName, boolean isAsc) {
        this.methodName = methodName;
        this.isAsc = isAsc;
    }

    /**
     * Method to compare two objects using the method named in the constructor.
     */
    @Override
    public int compare(Object obj1, Object obj2) {
        Comparable comp1 = getValue(obj1, methodName);
        Comparable comp2 = getValue(obj2, methodName);
        if (isAsc) {
            return comp1.compareTo(comp2);
        } else {
            return comp2.compareTo(comp1);
        }
    }

    //
    // implementation
    //

    private Comparable getValue(Object obj, String methodName) {
        Method method = getMethod(obj, methodName);
        Comparable comp = getValue(obj, method);
        return comp;
    }

    private Method getMethod(Object obj, String methodName) {
        try {
            Class[] signature = {};
            Method method = obj.getClass().getMethod(methodName, signature);
            return method;
        } catch (Exception exp) {
            throw new RuntimeException(exp);
        }
    }

    private Comparable getValue(Object obj, Method method) {
        Object[] args = {};
        try {
            Object rtn = method.invoke(obj, args);
            Comparable comp = (Comparable) rtn;
            return comp;
        } catch (Exception exp) {
            throw new RuntimeException(exp);
        }
    }

}

Answer 3

You want to implement Comparable, not Comparator. You need to implement the compareTo method. You're close though. Comparator is a "3rd party" comparison routine. Comparable is that this object can be compared with another.

public int compareTo(Object obj1) {
  People that = (People)obj1;
  Integer p1 = this.getId();
  Integer p2 = that.getid();

  if (p1 > p2 ){
   return 1;
  }
  else if (p1 < p2){
   return -1;
  }
  else
   return 0;
 }

Note, you may want to check for nulls in here for getId..just in case.

Answer 4

For the sake of completeness, here's a simple one-liner compare method:

Collections.sort(people,new Comparator<Person>()
{
    @Override
    public int compare(Person lhs,Person rhs) 
    {  
      return Integer.signum(lhs.getId()-rhs.getId());  
    }
}

Answer 5

Use People implements Comparable<People> instead; this defines the natural ordering for People.

A Comparator<People> can also be defined in addition, but People implements Comparator<People> is not the right way of doing things.

The two overloads for Collections.sort are different:

• <T extends Comparable<? super T>> void sort(List<T> list)
  • Sorts Comparable objects using their natural ordering
• <T> void sort(List<T> list, Comparator<? super T> c)
  • Sorts whatever using a compatible Comparator

You're confusing the two by trying to sort a Comparator (which is again why it doesn't make sense that Person implements Comparator<Person>). Again, to use Collections.sort, you need one of these to be true:

• The type must be Comparable (use the 1-arg sort)
• A Comparator for the type must be provided (use the 2-args sort)

Related questions

• When to use Comparable vs Comparator
• Sorting an ArrayList of Contacts

---

Also, do not use raw types in new code. Raw types are unsafe, and it's provided only for compatibility.

That is, instead of this:

ArrayList peps = new ArrayList(); // BAD!!! No generic safety!

you should've used the typesafe generic declaration like this:

List<People> peps = new ArrayList<People>(); // GOOD!!!

You will then find that your code doesn't even compile!! That would be a good thing, because there IS something wrong with the code (Person does not implements Comparable<Person>), but because you used raw type, the compiler didn't check for this, and instead you get a ClassCastException at run-time!!!

This should convince you to always use typesafe generic types in new code. Always.

See also

• What is a raw type and why shouldn't we use it?

Answer 6

You should use the overloaded sort(peps, new People()) method

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.List;

public class Test 
{
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    {
        List<People> peps = new ArrayList<>();

        peps.add(new People(123, "M", 14.25));
        peps.add(new People(234, "M", 6.21));
        peps.add(new People(362, "F", 9.23));
        peps.add(new People(111, "M", 65.99));
        peps.add(new People(535, "F", 9.23));

        Collections.sort(peps, new People().new ComparatorId());

        for (int i = 0; i < peps.size(); i++)
        {
            System.out.println(peps.get(i));
        }
    }
}

class People
{
       private int id;
       private String info;
       private double price;

       public People()
       {

       }

       public People(int newid, String newinfo, double newprice) {
           setid(newid);
           setinfo(newinfo);
           setprice(newprice);
       }

       public int getid() {
           return id;
       }

       public void setid(int id) {
           this.id = id;
       }

       public String getinfo() {
           return info;
       }

       public void setinfo(String info) {
           this.info = info;
       }

       public double getprice() {
           return price;
       }

       public void setprice(double price) {
           this.price = price;
       }

       class ComparatorId implements Comparator<People>
       {

        @Override
        public int compare(People obj1, People obj2) {
               Integer p1 = obj1.getid();
               Integer p2 = obj2.getid();

               if (p1 > p2) {
                   return 1;
               } else if (p1 < p2){
                   return -1;
               } else {
                   return 0;
               }
            }
       }
    }