Sorting multidimensional array and displaying it - sorting

Question

Here's part of my code.
<%
Dim lineData,fso,filea,fileb,filec
s=request.querystring("query")
set fso = Server.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
a(0,0)=0
a(1,0)=" - Entries in File A"
set filea = fso.OpenTextFile(Server.MapPath("FileA.txt"), 1, true)
do until lone.AtEndOfStream
lineData = lcase(filea.ReadLine())
if instr(lineData,s)>0 then
a(0,0)=a(0,0)+1
end if
Loop
a(0,1)=0
a(1,1)=" - Entries in File B"
set fileb = fso.OpenTextFile(Server.MapPath("FileB.txt"), 1, true)
do until mile.AtEndOfStream
lineData = lcase(fileb.ReadLine())
if instr(lineData,s)>0 then
a(0,1)=a(0,1)+1
end if
Loop
a(0,2)=0
a(1,2)=" - Entries in File C"
set filec = fso.OpenTextFile(Server.MapPath("FileC.txt"), 1, true)
do until payne.AtEndOfStream
lineData = lcase(filec.ReadLine())
if instr(lineData,s)>0 then
a(0,2)=a(0,2)+1
end if
Loop
%>
The code essentially looks for the number of entries in a text file. What I need is it to be sorted such that the file with the most number of entries comes first.
Suppose there are 10 entries in FileA, 12 in FileB and 7 in FileC. I'd like the output to be displayed like this:
12 - Entries in File B
10 - Entries in File A
7 - Entries in File C
I'm guessing it won't be too complicated since response.write(a(0,i)&a(1,i)) will work. I just need help with the loop or any sorting method if there is one.
Any help I can get in here will be much appreciated.

Answer 1

This will be a "neo-answer" that should help you get to where you want to go, both in the short- and long-term.
1) First, a suggestion for further reading to help you address this sort of problem in a more general way -- and to help you develop your "chops" as you go. You can Google the term "bubble sort" and get a whole host of interesting and mostly helpful input, but here's a link you probably will find most directly helpful, from a brief series of articles on sorting from the 4 Guys from Rolla site, which back in the day was THE place for quality writing on ASP:
https://web.archive.org/web/20211020153403/https://www.4guysfromrolla.com/webtech/011601-1.shtml
You will see that there is a link to an introductory article at the top of this one that covers one-dimensional array sorting, and I recommend it as well. For one, it introduces another sort method, QuickSort, and having multiple tools in your toolbox is almost never a bad idea. (As you will discover, bubble sorting is often the easiest to envision and implement, but because its performance is essentially linear based on the number of items being sorted, can become a performance problem on larger datasets.) Go ahead, check it out; I'll wait 'til you get back...
2) OK, to give you a more concrete approach to address your specific situation here, if the number of files you're reviewing isn't going to be too large, you can do a sort of "final pass" sort to present your results in the desired order.
First, you'll want to introduce a simple global counting variable up toward the top of your code:
dim intMaxEntries
intMaxEntries = 0
Then, at the end of each of your file-parsing runs, you'll want to check the number of entries against intMaxEntries and update intMaxEntries if the number of entries just read in is greater.
if a(0, 1) > intMaxEntries then
intMaxEntries = a(0, 1)
end if
You'll do right after each file reading loop, so the comparison in the above snippet would be done for a(0, 1), a(1, 1), and a(2, 1). More on that repetitive logic at the end.
After you've done all the file reads, intMaxEntries will have the maximum number of entries you've found in one of the files. Then, you can just step down from that value and print out entry counts in the correct order when they match your countdown:
dim i, j
for i = intMaxEntries to 0 step -1
for j = 0 to ubound(a) 'By default gives the upper bound of the 1st dimen.
if a(j, 1) = i then
Response.Write i & a(j, 2) & "<BR>"
end if
next j
next i
This is more than a bit of a hack, and I would encourage you to opt instead for doing a proper sort of your array so that you have something more generalizably useful, but it will work to get you where you want to go, especially if the number of files -- or the maximum number of entries -- isn't too large. You could also clean up my example by introducing the possibility of breaking out of the loops when all the files are accounted for, but I'll let you figure out if that's necessary.
3) You may have just simplified the codebase to get the concept across more cleanly (for which I applaud you if true), but just in case, I would encourage you to look at ways to modularize your work by building your file reading functionality as a function that is simply called with the file and string comparison information needed. (Also, probably an artifact of your snipping, but the "lone", "mile" and "Payne" references in there don't make sense; assuming those are the FSOs you are instantiating and have just forgotten to change them to fileA, fileB and fileC.)
Hope that helps a bit,
Bret

Answer 2

#bret
Someone else came through.
Here's a code that worked perfectly.
Would this be an example of "bubble sort"?
for k=23 to 0 Step-1
for j=0 to k
if (a(0,j)<a(0,j+1)) then
t1=a(0,j+1)
t2=a(1,j+1)
a(0,j+1)=a(0,j)
a(1,j+1)=a(1,j)
a(0,j)=t1
a(1,j)=t2
end If
next
next
for i=0 to 24
if a(0,i)>0 then
response.write (a(0,i)&a(1,i)&"<br>")
end if
next

Answer 3

set objFSO = Server.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
set objFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(server.mappath("Files"))
set objfiles = objFolder.Files
Function filesearch(name)
set searchname = objFSO.OpenTextFile(server.mappath(filename),1, true)
do until searchname.AtEndOfStream
lineData = lcase(searchname.ReadLine())
if instr(lineData,s)>0 then
instances = instances + 1
end if
Loop
End Function
For Each objFile in objFolder.Files
filesearch(objFile)
Response.Write filename & "<br>" & instances & "<br>" & "<br>"
Next
Set objFolder = Nothing
Set objFSO = Nothing
There are a few rough edges but what really bothers me now is the sorting. Where do I keep the bubble sort code?
EDIT:
I've got it work perfect with the following code.
For Each objFile in objFolder.Files
filesearch(objFile)
i = i + 1
a(0,i) = instances
a(1,i) = filename
Next
I was also wondering if there's anyway I could also write the total number of instances. I was able to do it before with:
for i=0 to 43
entries=entries+a(0,i)
next
I cant seem to make it work now.
EDIT:
Works now with:
for i = 0 to n
entries = entries + a(0,i)
next