Question

I’m trying to sort lines in a file using VBScript (MS Internet Explorer). Basically I read the file and converted all the lines to an array. Basically I need to sort on whatever is written between character 23 and 27 of each line. So basically I can get those characters using MID. These characters are not unique per line (so I can’t use System.Collections.Sortedlist directly, or something similar unfortunately).

I may be able to use System.Collections.Sortedlist and use the characters between 23 and 27 as a key and use an other System.Collections.Sortedlist object as a value, filled with every unique value (so a 2-dimensional array), but will this be the right way? e.g.:

(System.Collections.Sortedlist) {
    "0001" => (System.Collections.Sortedlist) {
        0 => "0001 some unique value1"
        1 => "0001 some unique value2"
        2 => "0001 some unique value3"
    },
    "0002" => (System.Collections.Sortedlist) {
        0 => "0002 some unique value1"
        1 => "0002 some unique value2"
        2 => "0002 some unique value3"
    }
}

Is there a better way to handle this?
Also note the output format should be an array again.

Answer 1

As teaser (see also ArrayList, Disconnected Recordset and ArrayList ):

  Dim aTest : aTest = Array( _
      ". Z 0" _
    , ", B 2" _
    , "? A 1" _
  )
  WScript.Echo "----- ArrayList"
  WScript.Echo "original data:     ", "[""" & Join(aTest                          , """  """) & """]"
  WScript.Echo "AL:  (full)        ", "[""" & Join(sortAL(aTest)                  , """  """) & """]"
  WScript.Echo "AL:  (numerical)   ", "[""" & Join(sortAL(Array(12, 9, -1))       , """  """) & """]"
  WScript.Echo "AL:  (dates)       ", "[""" & Join(sortAL(Array(Now + 5, Now - 5)), """  """) & """]"
  WScript.Echo "AL:  (Mid(elm,3,1))", "[""" & Join(sortAL_31(aTest)               , """  """) & """]"
  WScript.Echo "----- Disconnected Recordset"
  WScript.Echo "DRS: (Mid(elm,3,1))", "[""" & Join(sortDRS_Substring(aTest, 3, 1) , """  """) & """]"
  WScript.Echo "DRS: (Mid(elm,5,1))", "[""" & Join(sortDRS_Substring(aTest, 5, 1) , """  """) & """]"

' ArrayList.Sort handles homogenous arrays of simple types just fine,
' but looks at the element in full. For other cases, you need extra work
' or ADO
Function sortAL(aX)
  Dim al : Set al = CreateObject("System.Collections.ArrayList")
  Dim elm
  For Each elm In aX
      al.Add elm
  Next
  al.Sort
  sortAL = al.ToArray()
End Function

' Extra work: feeding pre-processed data to the ArrayList; hardcoded
Function sortAL_31(aX)
  Const csSep = ":"
  Dim al : Set al = CreateObject("System.Collections.ArrayList")
  ReDim a(UBound(aX))
  Dim elm
  For Each elm In aX
      al.Add Mid(elm, 3, 1) & csSep & elm
  Next
  al.Sort
  For elm = 0 To UBound(a)
      a(elm) = Split(al(elm), csSep)(1)
  Next
  sortAL_31 = a
End Function

' more flexible: ADO DRS + a start at parametrization; handling different
' types is left as an exercise
Function sortDRS_Substring(aX, nFrom, nLen)
  Const adVarChar    = 200 ' 000000C8
  Const adClipString =   2 ' 00000002
  Const csSep        = ":"
  ReDim a(Ubound(aX))
  Dim oRS : Set oRS = CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
  oRS.Fields.Append "FORG", adVarChar, 250
  oRS.Fields.Append "FSUB", adVarChar, 250
  oRS.Open
  Dim elm
  For Each elm In aX
      oRS.AddNew
      oRS.Fields("FORG").value = elm
      oRS.Fields("FSUB").value = Mid(elm, nFrom, nLen)
      oRS.UpDate
  Next
  oRS.Sort = "FSUB"
  oRS.MoveFirst
  For elm = 0 To UBound(a)
      a(elm) = oRS.Fields("FORG").value
      oRS.MoveNext
  Next
  sortDRS_Substring = a
End Function

output:

----- ArrayList
original data:      [". Z 0"  ", B 2"  "? A 1"]
AL:  (full)         [", B 2"  ". Z 0"  "? A 1"]
AL:  (numerical)    ["-1"  "9"  "12"]
AL:  (dates)        ["1/23/2013 5:00:22 PM"  "2/2/2013 5:00:22 PM"]
AL:  (Mid(elm,3,1)) ["? A 1"  ", B 2"  ". Z 0"]
----- Disconnected Recordset
DRS: (Mid(elm,3,1)) ["? A 1"  ", B 2"  ". Z 0"]
DRS: (Mid(elm,5,1)) [". Z 0"  "? A 1"  ", B 2"]