Some Sorting Related Query I am facing....

Question

I have a class
Period
DateAndTime DT; // DT is a member variable
There can be multiple instances of class Period...I am maintaing
a vector for storing multiple objects...After vector is populated, I have
to sort these Period objects (on DateTime-wise)...(I have to line them
up so that they are in ascending order time-wise)
I want to add the objects in vector in Sorted-way only, so that I don't have
to iterate the Whole vector again.....I don't need to do the comparison of DateAndTime of
Each object with other and then populate the collection again..
How can achieve it.
That when a new object comes, I put it into the right place
depending upon DateAndTime field.....
I am open to use any other Collection object (other than Vector)..
Please give me suggestions...
collection

Answer 1

hi,
I have done the following:-
class Period implements Comparable
Calender startTime;
public int compareTo(Object obj) throws ClassCastException
if (!(obj instanceof Period))
throw new ClassCastException("A Period object expected.");
Period prd = (Period)obj;
if (startTime.before(prd.startTime)
return -1;
else if (startTime.after(prd.startTime)
return 1;
else
return 0;     
ArrayList list = new ArrayList();
addObjectsInList(Period prd)
list.add(prd);
sortObjectsInList()
Collections.sort(list);
My Query is
1) Where should I do handling for ClassCastException..
In my case, no other type of object would come, but still
I have added the check for ClassCastException....
Is it mandatory to have this check or can I leave that
I have seen many examples of CompareTo on threads in forum/as well as net...where no check has been done for ClassCastException...
What should I do....Should the exception handling be done
while I am adding the objects in List or sorting them?
2) Is there anything else, I need to take care while
implementing Comparable interface...