how to use comparator

I'm trying to give the user the option to display a list of prices in two different formats, by name and by price.

It will sort it by name fine but it isn't sorting it by price. how do I get this darn thing to work? I can't seem to pinpoint what it is that isn't working. I haven't worked with comparators

Code:

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import java.util.Comparator;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.text.*;
import java.util.Arrays;

public class CoffeeDriver
{
        public static void main(String[] args)
  {
          char choice;
      Item inventory[] = new Item[5];
     
                inventory[0] = new Item("Coffee", 1.00);
                inventory[1] = new Item("Water", 2.00);
                inventory[2] = new Item("Milk", 1.50);
                inventory[3] = new Item("Bagel", 1.25);
                inventory[4] = new Item("Donut", 0.75);
               

                choice = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(null,
                        "Welcome to Wings Coffee Shop." +
                        "\nWould you like to see these items sorted by" +
                        "\nname or by price? (n/p)", "n or p",
      JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE).charAt(0);
      choice = Character.toLowerCase(choice);                         
                     
                switch(choice)
      {
              case 'n': 
            Arrays.sort(inventory);
                                System.out.println();
                            System.out.println("By name:");

                            for (int i=0; i<4; i++)
                                {
                              Item item = inventory[i];
                                    String name = item.getName();
                              double price = item.getPrice();
                              System.out.println(name + "    " + price);
                            }       
                                break;
       
                        case 'p':
                                Arrays.sort(inventory);
                                System.out.println();
                            System.out.println("By price:");

                            for (int i=0; i<4; i++)
                                {
                              Item item = inventory[i];
                              String name = item.getName();
                              double price = item.getPrice();
                              System.out.println(name + "    " + price);
                            }
            break;
       
                        default:
            JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,
                                "Invalid entry, Please try again");
            break;
      }       
          }
}

---

Code:

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import java.util.Comparator;

public class Item implements Comparable<Item>
{
        String name;
  double price = 0.00;
 
        // Constructor
        public Item(String itemName, double itemPrice)
        {
                this.name = itemName;
      this.price = itemPrice;
  }
        // Set name method
        public void setName(String name)
        {
          this.name = name;
        }
        // Get name  method
        public String getName()
        {
          return name;
        }
        // Get price method
  public void setPrice(double price)
  {
          this.price = price;
  }         
        // Set price method         
        public double getPrice()
  {
          return price;
  }
        //compare items by name:
          public int compareTo(Item otherName)
        {
               
    return name.compareTo(otherName.getName());
  }
}

---

Code:

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package comparable.ex03;
import java.util.Comparator;

public class NameComparator<Item> implements Comparator<Item>
{
        public int compare(Item o1, Item o2)
        {
                String itemName1 = o1.getName();
                String itemName2 = o2.getName();
                return itemName1.compareTo(itemName2);
        }
}

---

Code:

---

package comparable.ex03;
import java.util.Comparator;

public class PriceComparator<Item> implements Comparator<Item>
{
        public int compare(Item o1, Item o2)
        {
                return o1.getPrice().compareTo(o2.getPrice());
    }
       
        //        int itemPrice1 =  o1.getPrice();
  //  int itemPrice2 =  o2.getPrice();
               
    // if(itemPrice1 > itemPrice2)
        //{
  //          return 1;
    //}
      //  else if(itemPrice1 < itemPrice2)
        //{
  //    return -1;
    // }
    //  else return 0;
        //}
}

---

The sort is based on the compareTo method. If you want to sort based on price then use the prices of the current object vs the other object determine what is returned by compareTo. If the price of the current object is greater than the other, than return 1, if current is less, return -1, if the same, return 0.

Two fragments of code; this one:

Code:

---

Arrays.sort(inventory);
System.out.println();
System.out.println("By name:");

---

and this one:

Code:

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Arrays.sort(inventory);
System.out.println();
System.out.println("By price:");

---

The Arrays.sort( ... ) method isn't psychic, it either sorts an array of Comparables (i.e. objects that implement the Comparable interface) or it uses an implementation of the Comparator interface. You have (partially?) implemented such an interface so you should use it in the second sort call because your Comparable implementation compares by name, the Comparator interface compares by price.

kind regards,

Jos