C# - sorting a list inside of a struct

Question

I have an assignment for school that I'm having trouble with. The assignment is to create a console app that allows users to add, modify and view a list of movies. Each movie contains attributes like a title, a year, a director, etc. I have to use the following structs:

struct Movie{
    public string title;
    public string year;
    public string director;
    public float quality;
    public string mpaaRating;
    public string genre;
    public List<string> cast;
    public List<string> quotes;
    public List<string> keywords;
}
struct MovieList{
    public int length;
    public Movie[] movie;
}
...
MovieList List = new MovieList()

Here's the part I'm having trouble with. I need to sort List by the movie title. I'm having trouble figuring out what the correct way to go about this is. Anyone have any advice?

Firstly, neither of those types should be structs. Second; since you know about List-of-T, why use an array in MovieList - in fact, why have MovieList at all? — Marc Gravell
– Marc Gravell, Commented Dec 4, 2010 at 23:07
@fearofawhackplanet C doesn't have generics or access levels, so it's probably not C. and C# does have structs. — Itsik
– Itsik, Commented Dec 4, 2010 at 23:11
comment fail then :) weird i've been programming C# for two years and never seen struct used. guess i need to read more SO :) — fearofawhackplanet
– fearofawhackplanet, Commented Dec 4, 2010 at 23:18
@fearof - the good news is: that probably means you are using them correctly! it is very uncommon to write a struct in C# — Marc Gravell
– Marc Gravell, Commented Dec 4, 2010 at 23:20
seems a bit harsh that this question is being downvoted. it's not the OPs fault if his tutor gives him crap assignments. — fearofawhackplanet
– fearofawhackplanet, Commented Dec 4, 2010 at 23:20

Guffa · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-04 23:08:27Z

2

First of all, those should not be structs, they should be classes. A structure is intended for a type that represents a single value, and is much more complicated to implement properly than a class.

You can sort the movies like this:

List.movie = List.movie.OrderBy(m => m.title).ToArray();

answered Dec 4, 2010 at 23:08

Guffa

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1 Comment

Marc Gravell Over a year ago

It should be noted that this creates a second array that is the ordered items (leaving the old array unchanged) - and then swaps the arrays.

Marc Gravell · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-04 23:09:23Z

2

Since it is an array (addressed separately):

Array.Sort(List.movie,
   (a,b)=>string.Compare(a.title,b.title));

answered Dec 4, 2010 at 23:09

Marc Gravell

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Comments

Itsik · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-04 23:09:00Z

0

You need to sort the array movie. So just use any sorting method, such as Merge Sort. The decision if a movie is larger/smaller than another decide by comparing the titles.

movie[a].title.CompareTo(movie[b].title)

answered Dec 4, 2010 at 23:09

Itsik

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1 Comment

Marc Gravell Over a year ago

It is generally safer to use string.Compare(x,y), in case the first operand is null

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