Compares two objects and returns a value indicating whether one is less than, equal to, or greater than the other.
(in mscorlib.dll)
'Usage
Dim instance As IComparer
Dim x As Object
Dim y As Object
Dim returnValue As Integer
returnValue = instance.Compare(x, y)
'Declaration
Function Compare ( _
x As Object, _
y As Object _
) As Integer
Return Value
Type:
System..::.Int32Value | Condition |
|---|
Less than zero |
x is less than y. |
Zero |
x equals y. |
Greater than zero |
x is greater than y. |
| Exception | Condition |
|---|
| ArgumentException | Neither x nor y implements the IComparable interface. -or-
x and y are of different types and neither one can handle comparisons with the other. |
The preferred implementation is to use the CompareTo method of one of the parameters.
Comparing nullNothingnullptra null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic) with any type is allowed and does not generate an exception when using IComparable. When sorting, nullNothingnullptra null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic) is considered to be less than any other object.
The following code example demonstrates the use of the IComparer interface to sort an ArrayList object. In this example, the IComparer interface is implemented using the CaseInsensitiveComparer class to reverse the order of the contents of the ArrayList.
Imports System
Imports System.Collections
Imports Microsoft.VisualBasic
Public Class SamplesArrayList
Public Class myReverserClass
Implements IComparer
' Calls CaseInsensitiveComparer.Compare with the parameters reversed.
Public Function Compare( ByVal x As Object, ByVal y As Object) As Integer _
Implements IComparer.Compare
Return New CaseInsensitiveComparer().Compare(y, x)
End Function 'IComparer.Compare
End Class 'myReverserClass
Public Shared Sub Main()
' Creates and initializes a new ArrayList.
Dim myAL As New ArrayList()
myAL.Add("The")
myAL.Add("quick")
myAL.Add("brown")
myAL.Add("fox")
myAL.Add("jumps")
myAL.Add("over")
myAL.Add("the")
myAL.Add("lazy")
myAL.Add("dog")
' Displays the values of the ArrayList.
Console.WriteLine("The ArrayList initially contains the following values:")
PrintIndexAndValues(myAL)
' Sorts the values of the ArrayList using the default comparer.
myAL.Sort()
Console.WriteLine("After sorting with the default comparer:")
PrintIndexAndValues(myAL)
' Sorts the values of the ArrayList using the reverse case-insensitive comparer.
Dim myComparer = New myReverserClass()
myAL.Sort(myComparer)
Console.WriteLine("After sorting with the reverse case-insensitive comparer:")
PrintIndexAndValues(myAL)
End Sub 'Main
Public Shared Sub PrintIndexAndValues(myList As IEnumerable)
Dim i As Integer = 0
Dim obj As [Object]
For Each obj In myList
Console.WriteLine(vbTab + "[{0}]:" + vbTab + "{1}", i, obj)
i = i + 1
Next obj
Console.WriteLine()
End Sub 'PrintIndexAndValues
End Class 'SamplesArrayList
'This code produces the following output.
'The ArrayList initially contains the following values:
' [0]: The
' [1]: quick
' [2]: brown
' [3]: fox
' [4]: jumps
' [5]: over
' [6]: the
' [7]: lazy
' [8]: dog
'
'After sorting with the default comparer:
' [0]: brown
' [1]: dog
' [2]: fox
' [3]: jumps
' [4]: lazy
' [5]: over
' [6]: quick
' [7]: the
' [8]: The
'
'After sorting with the reverse case-insensitive comparer:
' [0]: the
' [1]: The
' [2]: quick
' [3]: over
' [4]: lazy
' [5]: jumps
' [6]: fox
' [7]: dog
' [8]: brown
Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360, Zune
The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.
.NET Framework
Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0
.NET Compact Framework
Supported in: 3.5, 2.0, 1.0
XNA Framework
Supported in: 3.0, 2.0, 1.0
Reference