Complex logix in Java Comparator

I have a list of actors where each actor has a type (“Artist”, “Producer”, “Mixer”…some other types).

I need to order this list taking the following into consideration:

1. Actors with the type of “Artist” will be displayed first.
2. Actors with the type of “Producer” will be displayed next.
3. Actors with the type of “Mixer” will be displayed next.

All actors also have to be ordered in alphabetical order based on their names.

I know I could write differet comparators and chain them, but I’m not sure how to implement the first 3 points.

Answer

The cleanest solution is use an enum for types, which holds the priority of each type. Basically maps the type to a priority number.

public enum ActorType {

  ARTIST(1),
  PRODUCER(2),
  MIXER(3);

  private final int priority;

  ActorType(int priority) {
    this.priority = priority;
  }

  public static int compare(ActorType t1, ActorType t2) {
    return Integer.compare(t1.priority, t2.priority);
  }
}

Then the comparator is quite simple.

public class ActorByActorTypeComparator implements Comparator<Actor> {

  @Override
  public int compare(Actor actor1, Actor actor2) {
    return ActorType.compare(actor1.getActorType(), actor2.getActorType());
  }
}

If you use String for types and can’t change for whatever reason, one option is the comparator to hold the priority for each type. Something like this.

public class ActorByTypeComparator implements Comparator<Actor> {
  
  private final Map<String, Integer> typePriorityMap = new HashMap<>();
  //add each type in map
  //map.put("Artist", 1);
  //or provide the map from constructor

  @Override
  public int compare(Actor a1, Actor a2) {
    int a1Priority = this.typePriorityMap.getOrDefault(a1.getType(), Integer.MAX_VALUE);
    //handle unknown type, according to your needs
    int a2Priority = this.typePriorityMap.getOrDefault(a2.getType(), Integer.MAX_VALUE);
    return Integer.compare(a1Priority, a2Priority);
  }
}

The first option is cleaner and less error prone.