Part 79 - Sort a list of complex types using Comparison delegate

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Part 76 - Working with generic list class and ranges in c#
Part 77 - Sort a list of simple types in c#
Part 78 - Sort a list of complex types in c#



This is continuation to Part 78. Please watch Part 78, before proceeding.

One of the overloads of the Sort() method in List class expects Comparison delegate to be passed as an argument. Let us understand using this overloaded version.
public void Sort(Comparison<T> comparison)



Approach 1:
Step 1: Create a function whose signature matches the signature of System.Comparison delegate. This is the method where we need to write the logic to compare 2 customer objects.
private static int CompareCustomers(Customer c1, Customer c2)
{
    return c1.ID.CompareTo(c2.ID);
}

Step 2: Create an instance of System.Comparison delegate, and then pass the name of the function created in Step1 as the argument. So, at this point "Comparison" delegate is pointing to our function that contains the logic to compare 2 customer objects.
Comparison<Customer> customerComparer = new Comparison<Customer>(CompareCustomers);

Step 3: Pass the delegate instance as an argument, to Sort() function.
listCutomers.Sort(customerComparer);

At this point, listCutomers should be sorted using the logic defined in CompareCustomers() function. 

Approach 2:
In Approcah1 this is what we have done
1. Created a private function that contains the logic to compare customers
2. Created an instance of Comparison delegate, and then passed the name of the private function to the delegate.
3. Finally passed the delegate instance to the Sort() method.

Do we really have to follow all these steps. Isn't there any other way?
The above code can be simplified using delegate keyword as shown below.
listCutomers.Sort(delegate(Customer c1, Customer c2) 
                    { 
                        return (c1.ID.CompareTo(c2.ID)); 
                    });

Approach 3: The code in Approach 2, can be further simplified using lambda expression as shown below.
listCutomers.Sort((x, y) => x.ID.CompareTo(y.ID));

Example:
public class Program
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        Customer customer1 = new Customer()
        {
            ID = 101,
            Name = "Mark",
            Salary = 4000
        };

        Customer customer2 = new Customer()
        {
            ID = 103,
            Name = "John",
            Salary = 7000
        };

        Customer customer3 = new Customer()
        {
            ID = 102,
            Name = "Ken",
            Salary = 5500
        };

        List<Customer> listCutomers = new List<Customer>();
        listCutomers.Add(customer1);
        listCutomers.Add(customer2);
        listCutomers.Add(customer3);

        Console.WriteLine("Customers before sorting");
        foreach (Customer customer in listCutomers)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(customer.ID);
        }

        // Approach 1
        // Step 2: Create an instance of Comparison delegate
        //Comparison<Customer> customerComparer = 
        //    new Comparison<Customer>(CompareCustomers);

        // Step 3: Pass the delegate instance to the Sort method
        //listCutomers.Sort(customerComparer);

        // Approach 2: Using delegate keyword
        //listCutomers.Sort(delegate(Customer c1, Customer c2)
        //{
        //    return (c1.ID.CompareTo(c2.ID));
        //});
            
        // Aaproach 3: Using lambda expression
        listCutomers.Sort((x, y) => x.ID.CompareTo(y.ID));

        Console.WriteLine("Customers after sorting by ID");
        foreach (Customer customer in listCutomers)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(customer.ID);
        }

        listCutomers.Reverse();
        Console.WriteLine("Customers in descending order of ID");
        foreach (Customer customer in listCutomers)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(customer.ID);
        }
    }

    // Approach 1 - Step 1
    // Method that contains the logic to compare customers
    private static int CompareCustomers(Customer c1, Customer c2)
    {
        return c1.ID.CompareTo(c2.ID);
    }
}

public class Customer
{
    public int ID { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int Salary { get; set; }
}