Android-java- How to sort a list of objects by a certain value within the object

You should use Comparable instead of a Comparator if a default sort is what your looking for.

See here, this may be of some help - When should a class be Comparable and/or Comparator?

Try this -

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.List;

public class TestSort {

    public static void main(String args[]){

        ToSort toSort1 = new ToSort(new Float(3), "3");
        ToSort toSort2 = new ToSort(new Float(6), "6");
        ToSort toSort3 = new ToSort(new Float(9), "9");
        ToSort toSort4 = new ToSort(new Float(1), "1");
        ToSort toSort5 = new ToSort(new Float(5), "5");
        ToSort toSort6 = new ToSort(new Float(0), "0");
        ToSort toSort7 = new ToSort(new Float(3), "3");
        ToSort toSort8 = new ToSort(new Float(-3), "-3");

        List<ToSort> sortList = new ArrayList<ToSort>();
        sortList.add(toSort1);
        sortList.add(toSort2);
        sortList.add(toSort3);
        sortList.add(toSort4);
        sortList.add(toSort5);
        sortList.add(toSort6);
        sortList.add(toSort7);
        sortList.add(toSort8);

        Collections.sort(sortList);

        for(ToSort toSort : sortList){
            System.out.println(toSort.toString());
        }
    }

}

public class ToSort implements Comparable<ToSort> {

    private Float val;
    private String id;

    public ToSort(Float val, String id){
        this.val = val;
        this.id = id;
    }

    @Override
    public int compareTo(ToSort f) {

        if (val.floatValue() > f.val.floatValue()) {
            return 1;
        }
        else if (val.floatValue() <  f.val.floatValue()) {
            return -1;
        }
        else {
            return 0;
        }

    }

    @Override
    public String toString(){
        return this.id;
    }
}

Follow this code to sort any ArrayList

Collections.sort(myList, new Comparator<EmployeeClass>(){
    public int compare(EmployeeClass obj1, EmployeeClass obj2) {
        // ## Ascending order
        return obj1.firstName.compareToIgnoreCase(obj2.firstName); // To compare string values
        // return Integer.valueOf(obj1.empId).compareTo(Integer.valueOf(obj2.empId)); // To compare integer values

        // ## Descending order
        // return obj2.firstName.compareToIgnoreCase(obj1.firstName); // To compare string values
        // return Integer.valueOf(obj2.empId).compareTo(Integer.valueOf(obj1.empId)); // To compare integer values
        }
    });

I think this will help you better

Person p = new Person("Bruce", "Willis");
Person p1  = new Person("Tom", "Hanks");
Person p2 = new Person("Nicolas", "Cage");
Person p3 = new Person("John", "Travolta");

ArrayList<Person> list = new ArrayList<Person>();
list.add(p);
list.add(p1);
list.add(p2);
list.add(p3);

Collections.sort(list, new Comparator() {
    @Override
    public int compare(Object o1, Object o2) {
        Person p1 = (Person) o1;
        Person p2 = (Person) o2;
        return p1.getFirstName().compareToIgnoreCase(p2.getFirstName());
    }
});

Now no need to Boxing (i.e no need to Creating OBJECT using new Operator use valueOf insted with compareTo of Collections.Sort..)

1)For Ascending order

Collections.sort(temp, new Comparator<XYZBean>() 
{
     @Override
     public int compare(XYZBean lhs, XYZBean rhs) {

       return Integer.valueOf(lhs.getDistance()).compareTo(rhs.getDistance());
      }
 });

1)For Deascending order

Collections.sort(temp, new Comparator<XYZBean>() 
{
     @Override
     public int compare(XYZBean lhs, XYZBean rhs) {

       return Integer.valueOf(rhs.getDistance()).compareTo(lhs.getDistance());
      }
 });