Sort ArrayList on multiple values

Question

Hi all!
i'm trying to sort an ArrayList that contains a list of beans with a bunch of properties.
i think that the comparator should be written like this:
    protected class CategoryComparator implements Comparator {
        public int compare(Object o1, Object o2) {
            Category cat1 = (Category)o1;
            Category cat2 = (Category)o2;
            return cat1.getCategoryName().compareTo(cat2.getCategoryName()) & cat1.getCategoryId().compareTo(cat2.getCategoryId());
    }where Category is the bean, getCategoryName and getCategoryId return two strings. Is that right to get the list sorted on both the two fields?
Thanks!

Answer 1

No, it's not. Assuming categoryName is of higher priority, you want int comp = cat1.getCategoryName().compareTo(cat2.getCategoryName());
if (comp != 0) return comp;
return cat1.getCategoryId().compareTo(cat2.getCategoryId());