Sorting a dict

Need efficient soert functions

[aspdaddy]

Does anyone have code to do a sort on a vbScript dictionary, or know where I can find it.

I want to be able to sort by either column, ascending and descending, with decent performance - would rather not re-invent the wheel.

Thanks.

[ziggystardust]

Hello aspdaddy,

There are no real "easy" (as in a sort() method ;-)) ways to do that, you've got to extract the keys, sort them in a normal array and use that as an index.
4GuysFromRolla have an article about this [4guysfromrolla.com...]

M$ take it even a step further in their article where they extract both the keys and the values to an array, they sort it and then recreate the dictionary totally from scratch. [support.microsoft.com...]

I hope this helps
//ZS

[TheDave]

Quick way I've found to sort things is to create a recordset, fill it will the values then apply a sort to it. But then you could just about work with a recordset from scratch, and forget the dictionary.

dim rs

set rs = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")

rs.Fields.Append "I", 202 'or whatever the format is I just made 202 up
rs.Fields.Append "N", 202 'or whatever the format is I just made 202 up

rs.Open

.
.
.
.

rs.Sort = "N [ASC]"

I have a feeling I'm telling you stuff you already know :P

[RossWal]

If you go with the MS code as posted by ziggystardust, I enhanced it to automatically do date or numeric sorts based on the data it finds in the sort keys. I can post here or sticky if you need it.

Ross

[aspdaddy]

I used the recordset in the end, more features.

It would be good to see the code here though, just in case, would be good to have all the options here in one place :)

[RossWal]

Here it is... offered as is, might work, no waranties, yadayadayada

Const dictKey = 0 
Const dictItem = 1
Const dictAsc = 1
Const dictDesc = -1
 
Function SortDictionary(objDict,intSortKey, intSortOrder)
 Dim strDict() 
 Dim objKey
 Dim strKey,strItem 
 Dim X,Y,Z 
 Dim dblA, dblB 
 Dim AllDt, AllNum, AllStr
 AllDt = True
 AllNum = True 
 AllStr = True 
 
 Z = objDict.Count
 'place data into strDict array 
 If Z > 1 Then
 ReDim strDict(Z,1) 
 X = 0 
 For Each objKey In objDict
  strDict(X,dictKey) = CStr(objKey)
  strDict(X,dictItem) = CStr(objDict(objKey))  
  X = X + 1
 Next 
 For X = 0 To (Z - 1)
  If Not IsDate(strDict(X,intSortKey)) then
 AllDt = False
 End If
 If Not IsNumeric(strDict(X,intSortKey)) then
 AllNum = False 
 End If 
 Next 
 If (AllDt) Then
AllStr = False
 Else If (AllNum) Then
 AllStr = False
 End If 
 End If 
 
 'Sort
 For X = 0 to (Z - 2) 
 For Y = X to (Z - 1)   
 If (AllDT) Then 
  If DateDiff("d",cDate(strDict(X,intSortKey)),cDate(strDict(Y,intSortKey))) * intSortOrder < 0 Then
   strKey = strDict(X,dictKey)
   strItem = strDict(X,dictItem)
   strDict(X,dictKey) = strDict(Y,dictKey)
   strDict(X,dictItem) = strDict(Y,dictItem)
   strDict(Y,dictKey) = strKey
   strDict(Y,dictItem) = strItem  
  End If
  Else If (AllStr) Then 
   If StrComp(strDict(X,intSortKey),strDict(Y,intSortKey),vbTextCompare) * intSortOrder > 0 Then
   strKey = strDict(X,dictKey)
   strItem = strDict(X,dictItem)
   strDict(X,dictKey) = strDict(Y,dictKey)
   strDict(X,dictItem) = strDict(Y,dictItem)
   strDict(Y,dictKey) = strKey
   strDict(Y,dictItem) = strItem  
   End If
 Else 
  dblA = CDbl(strDict(X,intSortKey))
  dblB = CDbl(strDict(Y,intSortKey)) 
  If (dblA - dblB) < 0 Then 
 strKey = strDict(X,dictKey)
   strItem = strDict(X,dictItem)
   strDict(X,dictKey) = strDict(Y,dictKey)
   strDict(X,dictItem) = strDict(Y,dictItem)
   strDict(Y,dictKey) = strKey
   strDict(Y,dictItem) = strItem  
   End If  
  End If
 End IF 
 Next
 Next
 
 
 'Place contents of sorted array strDict into Dictionary object  
  
 objDict.RemoveAll 
 For X = 0 to (Z - 1)
 objDict.Add strDict(X,dictKey), strDict(X,dictItem) 
 Next 
 End If
End Function