[RESOLVED] Sort the elements of a collection

[krtxmrtz]

I have a collection of integer values. What would be the best way to sort them in ascending order?

The problem is I can't just assign a collection element the value of another element, i.e. this isn't allowed:

col.item(i) = col.item(j)

I'm sure it has a straightforward way to deal with but I don't seem to be tuned in to the right wavelength.

[HanneSThEGreaT]

This might possibly ( hopefully ) help :

http://www.source-code.biz/snippets/vbasic/6.htm

[Arnoutdv]

If you only store numeric values, why don't you use an array?

[Bonnie West]

Probably not the best way, but at least, the following is quite straightforward:

Public Sub SortAscIntCol(ByRef Col As Collection)
    Dim i As Long, j As Long, k As Integer

    For i = 2& To Col.Count
        k = Col(i)

        For j = i - 1& To 1& Step -1&
            If k >= Col(j) Then
                Col.Remove i
                Col.Add k, After:=j
                GoTo 1              '<-- For efficiency reasons
            End If
        Next j

        Col.Remove i
        Col.Add k, Before:=1&
1   Next i
End Sub

[stum]

If you only store numeric values, why don't you use an array?

this

[krtxmrtz]

This might possibly ( hopefully ) help :

http://www.source-code.biz/snippets/vbasic/6.htm

Thank you.

I understand heapsort becomes ever more efficient as the amount of items to be sorted grows larger.

I really don't have that many items in the collection so maybe Bonnie West's solution is easier to understand and fast enough. But I add the heapsort code to my code bank.

[HanneSThEGreaT]

No problem at all I hope you come right. Good luck!

[krtxmrtz]

If you only store numeric values, why don't you use an array?

The reasons to use a collection outweigh the reasons not to use it.

[krtxmrtz]

Probably not the best way, but at least, the following is quite straightforward:
...etc...

Thank you!

[Niya]

Olaf posted an intriguing way to sort using something called vbRichClient. You can check it out here. I've never used that before but I like its relative simplicity. Beats having to implement your own sort.

[krtxmrtz]

Olaf posted an intriguing way to sort using something called vbRichClient. You can check it out here. I've never used that before but I like its relative simplicity. Beats having to implement your own sort.

Interesting but I didn't know about this vbRichClient5 thing nor about the cArrayList object. I couldn't spot them among the References and Components.

[Niya]

Well I've never used it but I've seen countless posts about it here on VBForums. From what I've seen, it seems to be some kind of library that can aid in improving developer productivity by providing all kinds of interesting and modern components so you don't have to re-invent the wheel for a lot of things. As intriguing as it is, it wasn't enough for me to go and research it or try it out since I don't use VB6 anymore so I'm not much qualified to talk about it. Dilettante knows about at it. I think Bonnie knows about it too, maybe they can chime in on this.

[jpbro]

You can get vbRichClient5 from http://vbrichclient.com/#/en/Downloads.htm.

Download and unpack the ZIP file, then register the vbRichClient5.dll using regsvr32. It will then appear in your references list in VB6.

When distributing your application, make sure to include all of the DLL files that shipped with the ZIP that you download, and register vbRichClient5.dll on the computer that you are installing to as part of your installation package.

[Schmidt]

Interesting but I didn't know about this vbRichClient5 thing nor about the cArrayList object. I couldn't spot them among the References and Components.

jpbro already posted, where the download is located.

As for "Sorting with vbRichClient5-Classes"...

The cArrayList has an internal (QuickSort-based) sorting and is the most lightweight of the bunch.
It encapsulates only a true SafeArray, and thus a vbByte-typed cArrayList only allocates as much memory as an appropriate "normal VB-ByteArray" -
though other than VBs normal Arrays, it offers methods to insert/remove Values somewhere in-between - and it also offers Stack-like Push/Pop, Queue/DeQueue-methods.


Then there's the cSortedDicitionary, which implements a "Sorting-whilst-adding" approach - and is thus always already sorted
(in fact the Keyed-access into this Container-Class doesn't work Hash-based, but *depends* on "being always already sorted").
It allows (aside from the usual "String-Keys") also Integer-based Key-Values (Byte/Integer/Long/Currency) - but also Date/Double/Single-Typed Keys are allowed.
Sort-performance is comparable to a good QuickSort-algo - and it outperforms the MS-Scripting-Dicitionary as well as the VB-Collection in
all disciplines (Item-Retrieval per Key, Adding/Removing per Key, etc.) - it has a KeyExists-Method and also allows a fast enumeration of the Keys.


Last one in the bunch is the cCollection which is basically a "cSortedDictionary with an additional Index, which holds the Add-Order too".
So, also here - the Items are always "kept ordered by Key" - but their "original Add-Order" is also kept.
Later on you can enumerate (Keys or Items, or both) either in Key-Sort-Order, or in Add-Order.
In case of String-Typed-Keys, then in the same way as with the cArrayList, the cCollection supports different locale-ID and language-settings
for its internal String-Key-Sorting.


Well - and since we are at the different Container-Classes of the RC5 - there's also always the cRecordset-Class, which can be used
in conjunction with an InMemory-DB, then allowing all kinds of SQL-Operations (advanced Filtering/Sorting/Grouping) for "Multi-Column-Data" -
"Uploads" into the InMemory-DB are pretty fast (depending on the Column-Count, but about 300000-500000 Records per Second are normal).

So the latter Container-class allows (in conjunction with cMemDB) a kind of "LINQ-like querying" for complex InApp (InMemory) data.

Olaf