Java PriorityQueue with custom Comparator

Question

I am using a PriorityQueue and my own Comparator but somehow the end results are not always good. I should sort by grade average, than name, than id.no. At the end it should return the names left in the queue ordered. The remaining names are fine but their order is not. Input (name, grade avg, id.no):

add John 3,75 50
add Mark 3,8 24
add Shafaet 3,7 35
poll
poll
add Samiha 3,85 36
poll
add Ashley 3,9 42
add Maria 3,6 46
add Anik 3,95 49
add Dan 3,95 50
poll

Expected output:

Dan
Ashley
Shafaet
Maria

My result:

Dan
Ashley
Maria
Shafaet

Could you please help me to find the problem? Thank you in advance!

class StComp implements Comparator<Students> {
        @Override
        public int compare(Students st1, Students st2) {
            if (st1.getCgpa() == st2.getCgpa()) {
                if (st1.getName().equals(st2.getName()))
                    return st1.getId() - st2.getId();
                else
                    return st1.getName().compareTo(st2.getName());
            }
            else
                return (st1.getCgpa() < st2.getCgpa()) ? 1 : -1;
        }
    }

    StComp stComp = new StComp();
    PriorityQueue<Students> pq = new PriorityQueue<Students>(2, stComp);

Answer 1

Your Comparator is correct. The issue is that you're most likely traversing the list using its Iterator. The PriorityQueue documentation states:

The Iterator provided in method iterator() is not guaranteed to traverse the elements of the priority queue in any particular order.

If you were to iterate over your PriorityQueue like this, you should see the correct results:

while (!pq.isEmpty())
    System.out.println(pq.poll().getName());
}

I've included an example at the end of this answer to fully demonstrate.

---

There are a couple of things you could do if you didn't want to clear your PriorityQueue. Personally I wouldn't recommend either approach as the initial choice of a PriorityQueue was not correct for the use-case, as they are not intended to be iterated over.

You could copy your PriorityQueue into an array, sort them using your Comparator implementation, iterate over the sorted array, e.g.:

Student[] students = pq.toArray(new Student[pq.size()]);
Arrays.sort(students, new StComp());
for (Student s : students) {
    System.out.println(s.getName() + " " + s.getCgpa() + " " + s.getId());
}

or add them to some sort of Collection whilst polling, then add them back to the PriorityQueue, e.g.:

Collection<Student> temp = new LinkedList<>();
while (!pq.isEmpty()) {
    Student s = pq.poll();
    System.out.println(s.getName() + " " + s.getCgpa() + " " + s.getId());
    temp.add(s);
}
pq.addAll(temp);

---

The example using your data to demonstrate:

Main

public class Main {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        PriorityQueue<Student> pq = new PriorityQueue<>(new StComp());
        pq.add(new Student("John", 75, 50)); // Student name, grade average, id
        pq.add(new Student("Mark", 8, 24));
        pq.add(new Student("Shafaet", 7, 35));
        pq.poll();
        pq.poll();
        pq.add(new Student("Samiha", 85, 36));
        pq.poll();
        pq.add(new Student("Ashley", 9, 42));
        pq.add(new Student("Maria", 6, 46));
        pq.add(new Student("Anik", 95, 49));
        pq.add(new Student("Dan", 95, 50));
        pq.poll();

        // Not guaranteed to be in priorty order
        System.out.println("Using PriorityQueue's Iterator, may not be in the correct priority order.");
        for (Student s : pq) {
            System.out.println(s.getName() + " " + s.getCgpa() + " " + s.getId());
        }

        // Correct order, but removes from the Priority Queue
        System.out.println("\nIterating until empty using PriorityQueue.poll(), will be in the correct order.");
        while (!pq.isEmpty()) {
            Student s = pq.poll();
            System.out.println(s.getName() + " " + s.getCgpa() + " " + s.getId());
        }
    }

}

Student (renamed, should be singular)

public class Student {

    private double cgpa;
    private String name;
    private int id;

    public Student(String name, double cgpa, int id) {
        this.name = name;
        this.cgpa = cgpa;
        this.id = id;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public int getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public double getCgpa() {
        return cgpa;
    }

}

StComp (logic unchanged from question)

public class StComp implements Comparator<Student> {

    @Override
    public int compare(Student st1, Student st2) {
        if (st1.getCgpa() == st2.getCgpa()) {
            if (st1.getName().equals(st2.getName())) {
                return st1.getId() - st2.getId();
            } else {
                return st1.getName().compareTo(st2.getName());
            }
        } else {
            return (st1.getCgpa() < st2.getCgpa()) ? 1 : -1;
        }
    }
}

Output (for me at least, results may vary for the first Iterator variant)

Using PriorityQueue's Iterator, may not be in the correct priority order.
Dan 95.0 50
Ashley 9.0 42
Maria 6.0 46
Shafaet 7.0 35

Iterating until empty using PriorityQueue.poll(), will be in the correct order.
Dan 95.0 50
Ashley 9.0 42
Shafaet 7.0 35
Maria 6.0 46