Is there any data structure I have access to with efficient sorting and filtering of objects?
For sorting, the System.Collections.ArrayList
is perfect, as I simply add a load of classes which Implement IComparable
and .Sort()
. However I can't find a .Filter()
method, as some articles hint may be present (section 9.3).
Is there a good collection type for filtering and sorting custom objects? Preferably something written in a pre-compiled language.
A simple object would look like this:
Implements IComparable 'requires mscorlib.dll, allows sorting
Public itemIndex As Long 'simplest, sorting by an integer value
Private Function IComparable_CompareTo(ByVal obj As Variant) As Long
'for sorting, itemindex is based on current grid sorting mode
If TypeOf obj Is clsGridItem Then
Dim other As clsGridItem: Set other = obj
Dim otherIndex As Long: otherIndex = other.itemIndex
Dim thisIndex As Long: thisIndex = Me.itemIndex
If thisIndex > otherIndex Then
IComparable_CompareTo = 1
ElseIf thisIndex < otherIndex Then
IComparable_CompareTo = -1
Else
IComparable_CompareTo = 0
End If
Else
Err.Raise 5 'obj is wrong type
End If
End Function
And I have an arrayList of them populated with random indices. Of course anything could go in the compare routine (I actually use Select Case
for different comparison routines, based on different properties of the classes). A simple filter loop could just check when IComparable_CompareTo = 0
Sort functionality is built-in to the ArrayList Objects, and Filtering is nothing more than "only using the items you need".
For example, this populates an object with random numbers and then filters results to display only those divisible by 42
:
Option Explicit
Sub testSort()
Const filter = 42
Dim arr As Object, x As Long, y As Long
Set arr = CreateObject("System.Collections.ArrayList")
' populate array with 100 random numbers
For x = 1 To 420
arr.Add Int(Rnd() * 10000)
Next
' "sort" array
arr.Sort
' dump array to immediate window; "filter" to show only even numbers
For x = 0 To arr.Count - 1
If arr(x) / filter = arr(x) \ filter Then
'item mnatches filter
Debug.Print "arr(" & x & ") = " & arr(x)
y = y + 1
End If
Next x
Debug.Print "Returned " & y & " sorted results (Filter=" & filter & ")"
End Sub
You haven't shared much detail on what you need to filter and how, but I was thinking about it further, and you might want to check these out to see if they can be applied to your task:
MSDN: Filter Function (VBA)
Returns a zero-based array containing subset of a string array based on a specified filter criteria
excelfunctions.net: FILTER Function (VBA)
MSDN: Filtering Items in a Collection (VBA)
msdocs: CreateObject("System.Collections.ArrayList")
(VB)
Filters the elements of an IEnumerable based on a specified type
msdocs: ArrayList
Class Constructors (VB)
Stack Overflow: How to implement class constructor in Visual Basic? (VB)
Stack Overflow: VBA array sort function (VB/VBA)
Wikipedia : Comparison of popular sorting algorithms
Arbitrary filtering of anything enumerable is something Enumerable.Where
does, and it does it with the help of delegates, something VBA has no knowledge of, or ability to implement.
WARNING what follows is experimental code that is not intended for production use. It is provided as-is for educational purposes. Use at your own risk.
You can simulate it though. see Wait, is this... LINQ? and Generating and calling code on the fly on Code Review - below is a class I've called Delegate
- note that it has its PredeclaredId
attribute set to True
, so that its Create
factory method can be invoked from the default instance. It uses the Regular Expressions library for parsing the definition of the function, and the VBE Extensibility API library to literally generate an "anonymous function" given a string, for example:
Set x = Delegate.Create("(x) => MsgBox(""Hello, "" & x & ""!"")")
x.Execute "Mug"
The above code generates and invokes this function:
Public Function AnonymousFunction(ByVal x As Variant) As Variant
AnonymousFunction = MsgBox("Hello, " & x & "!")
End Function
Which produces what you would expect:
Delegate class
Option Explicit
Private Type TDelegate
Body As String
Parameters As New Collection
End Type
Private Const methodName As String = "AnonymousFunction"
Private this As TDelegate
Friend Property Get Body() As String
Body = this.Body
End Property
Friend Property Let Body(ByVal value As String)
this.Body = value
End Property
Public Function Create(ByVal expression As String) As Delegate
Dim result As New Delegate
Dim regex As New RegExp
regex.Pattern = "\((.*)\)\s\=\>\s(.*)"
Dim regexMatches As MatchCollection
Set regexMatches = regex.Execute(expression)
If regexMatches.Count = 0 Then
Err.Raise 5, "Delegate", "Invalid anonymous function expression."
End If
Dim regexMatch As Match
For Each regexMatch In regexMatches
If regexMatch.SubMatches(0) = vbNullString Then
result.Body = methodName & " = " & Right(expression, Len(expression) - 6)
Else
Dim params() As String
params = Split(regexMatch.SubMatches(0), ",")
Dim i As Integer
For i = LBound(params) To UBound(params)
result.AddParameter Trim(params(i))
Next
result.Body = methodName & " = " & regexMatch.SubMatches(1)
End If
Next
Set Create = result
End Function
Public Function Execute(ParamArray params()) As Variant
On Error GoTo CleanFail
Dim paramCount As Integer
paramCount = UBound(params) + 1
GenerateAnonymousMethod
'cannot break beyond this point
Select Case paramCount
Case 0
Execute = Application.Run(methodName)
Case 1
Execute = Application.Run(methodName, params(0))
Case 2
Execute = Application.Run(methodName, params(0), params(1))
Case 3
Execute = Application.Run(methodName, params(0), params(1), params(2))
Case 4
Execute = Application.Run(methodName, params(0), params(1), params(2), _
params(3))
Case 5
Execute = Application.Run(methodName, params(0), params(1), params(2), _
params(3), params(4))
Case 6
Execute = Application.Run(methodName, params(0), params(1), params(2), _
params(3), params(4), params(5))
Case 7
Execute = Application.Run(methodName, params(0), params(1), params(2), _
params(3), params(4), params(5), _
params(6))
Case 8
Execute = Application.Run(methodName, params(0), params(1), params(2), _
params(3), params(4), params(5), _
params(6), params(7))
Case 9
Execute = Application.Run(methodName, params(0), params(1), params(2), _
params(3), params(4), params(5), _
params(6), params(7), params(8))
Case 10
Execute = Application.Run(methodName, params(0), params(1), params(2), _
params(3), params(4), params(5), _
params(6), params(7), params(8), _
params(9))
Case Else
Err.Raise 5, "Execute", "Too many parameters."
End Select
CleanExit:
DestroyAnonymousMethod
Exit Function
CleanFail:
Resume CleanExit
End Function
Friend Sub AddParameter(ByVal paramName As String)
this.Parameters.Add "ByVal " & paramName & " As Variant"
End Sub
Private Sub GenerateAnonymousMethod()
Dim component As VBComponent
Set component = Application.VBE.VBProjects("Reflection").VBComponents("AnonymousCode")
Dim params As String
If this.Parameters.Count > 0 Then
params = Join(Enumerable.FromCollection(this.Parameters).ToArray, ", ")
End If
Dim signature As String
signature = "Public Function " & methodName & "(" & params & ") As Variant" & vbNewLine
Dim content As String
content = vbNewLine & signature & this.Body & vbNewLine & "End Function" & vbNewLine
component.CodeModule.DeleteLines 1, component.CodeModule.CountOfLines
component.CodeModule.AddFromString content
End Sub
Private Sub DestroyAnonymousMethod()
Dim component As VBComponent
Set component = Application.VBE.VBProjects("Reflection").VBComponents("AnonymousCode")
component.CodeModule.DeleteLines 1, component.CodeModule.CountOfLines
End Sub
You'll want to change the VBProjects("Reflection").VBComponents("AnonymousCode")
to point to some empty standard module in your VBA project... or have a project named Reflection
with an empty standard module named AnonymousCode
for the Execute
method to generate the function into.
As an artifact of how VBA code is compiled, the generated code can be executed, but you can't place a breakpoint in it, and the VBE will refuse to break inside the generated code - so whatever string you supply the factory method with, you better be sure it's simple enough to be 100% bug-free.
What this gives you, is an object that encapsulates a specific action: this object can then be passed around as a parameter, like any other object - so if you have your own collection class implementation (here LinqEnumerable
), then you can use it to implement a Where
method that takes a Delegate
parameter, assuming the predicate
parameter encapsulates a function that returns a Boolean
:
Public Function Where(ByVal predicate As Delegate) As LinqEnumerable
Dim result As LinqEnumerable
Set result = New LinqEnumerable
Dim element As Variant
For Each element In encapsulated
If predicate.Execute(element) Then result.Add element
Next
Set Where = result
End Function
So given that custom collection class, you can create a Delegate
instance that defines your custom criteria, pass it to the Where
method, and get the filtered results back.
You can even push it further and implement an Aggregate
method:
Public Function Aggregate(ByVal accumulator As Delegate) As Variant
Dim result As Variant
Dim isFirst As Boolean
Dim value As Variant
For Each value In encapsulated
If isFirst Then
result = value
isFirst = False
Else
result = accumulator.Execute(result, value)
End If
Next
Aggregate = result
End Function
And run it pretty much as you would with C# LINQ, minus compile-time type safety and deferred execution:
Dim accumulator As Delegate
Set accumulator = Delegate.Create("(work,value) => value & "" "" & work")
Debug.Print LinqEnumerable.FromList(List.Create("the", "quick", "brown", "fox")) _
.Aggregate(accumulator)
Output:
fox brown quick the
This work was the basis of the Lambda
stuff in the VBEX repository on GitHub (originally by Chris McClellan, co-founder of the Rubberduck project; most of the work can be credited to Philip Wales though) - a 100%-VBA project that gives you several other classes to play with. I'd encourage you to explore these and see if any of it is more appropriate for production use.
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