Sort dynamic set of (key, string) pairs VB6 - vb6

Question

Could anybody please tell me what is the best way to sort a dynamic (key, string) set by the key using VB6.
I have tried to use VBA.collections and 2D arrays. But they seems to have a big workaround to do the sort.
I also tried with the MSComctlLib.ListView as mentioned in this stackoverflow question.
Dim lvSelectedStyles As MSComctlLib.ListView
Dim listItem As MSComctlLib.listItem
'Some code here
lvSelectedStyles.ListItems.Add Key:=CStr(lngCount) Text:=objParagraph.Key
But this item adding gives an error saying "Object or with block variable not set". If I can go through this I can sort the list view by column and move forward.
Could anybody please let me know a way to overcome this, or if you have any other way to do this, please let me know.
Thank you.

Answer 1

Try using a Recordset object to do the sorting like this
Option Explicit
Private Function pvSortImpl(vData As Variant, _
ByVal lKeyType As Long, _
ByVal lKeySize As Long, _
ByVal lValueType As Long, _
ByVal lValueSize As Long) As Variant
Const adFldIsNullable As Long = 32
Dim rs As Object
Dim vElem As Variant
Dim vFields As Variant
Dim vRetVal As Variant
Dim lIdx As Long
Dim oFldKey As Object
Dim oFldValue As Object
Set rs = CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
rs.Fields.Append "Key", lKeyType, lKeySize, adFldIsNullable
rs.Fields.Append "Value", lValueType, lValueSize, adFldIsNullable
rs.Open
vFields = Array(0, 1)
For Each vElem In vData
rs.AddNew vFields, vElem
Next
If rs.RecordCount = 0 Then
vRetVal = Array()
Else
rs.Sort = "Key"
ReDim vRetVal(0 To rs.RecordCount - 1) As Variant
Set oFldKey = rs.Fields("Key")
Set oFldValue = rs.Fields("Value")
rs.MoveFirst
Do While Not rs.EOF
vRetVal(lIdx) = Array(oFldKey.Value, oFldValue.Value)
lIdx = lIdx + 1
rs.MoveNext
Loop
End If
pvSortImpl = vRetVal
End Function
Public Function SortNumeric(vData As Variant) As Variant
Const adDouble As Long = 5
Const adVarWChar As Long = 202
SortNumeric = pvSortImpl(vData, adDouble, 0, adVarWChar, 1000)
End Function
Public Function SortStrings(vData As Variant) As Variant
Const adVarWChar As Long = 202
SortStrings = pvSortImpl(vData, adVarWChar, 202, adVarWChar, 1000)
End Function
Private Sub Form_Load()
Dim vResult As Variant
vResult = SortStrings(Array(Array("bbb", "test"), Array("aaa", Now)))
Debug.Print Join(vResult(0), "=>")
Debug.Print Join(vResult(1), "=>")
vResult = SortNumeric(Array(Array("33", "test"), Array("2.2", Now), Array("22", "Proba")))
Debug.Print Join(vResult(0), "=>")
Debug.Print Join(vResult(1), "=>")
Debug.Print Join(vResult(2), "=>")
End Sub
This prints in Immediate window
aaa=>9/21/2018 11:50:19 AM
bbb=>test
2.2=>9/21/2018 11:50:19 AM
22=>Proba
33=>test