Java sorting parallel arrays

Question

I have to sort a database of 1 string array and 2 int arrays. This is what I have so far:

public static void sortDatabase(int numRecords, String[] sDeptArr, 
              int[] iCourseNumArr, int[] iEnrollmentArr)
   {
       int length = sDeptArr.length;
       for(int i=0; i<length-1; i++)
       {
           int iPosMin = i;
           for(int j=i+1; j<length; j++)
           {
               if(sDeptArr[j].compareTo(sDeptArr[iPosMin]) == 0)
                   iPosMin = j;
               else if(sDeptArr[j].equals(sDeptArr[iPosMin]) && iCourseNumArr[j] < iCourseNumArr[iPosMin])
                   iPosMin = j;
           }
       }
   }

I have yet to test it because the entire program is not done but does this look like it is going in the right direction? I want to sort the database in alphabetical order by name first, then if the names are the same, use the course number to sort.

Answer 1

IMHO your direction is not optimal. The best way I know is to create new data structure

public class Data implements Comparable<Data> {
    private String sDeptArr;
    private int iCourseNumArr;
    private int iEnrollmentArr;

    public int compareTo(Data other) {
    // your implementation
    }
}

Now create an array or collection of Data:

List<Data>
Data[]

Now use Arrays.sort() or Collections.sort() .