Copare function

Hi there
I'm trying to compare string elements ( to sort lists )

and now I come up to this code :

Type item
	Field _st:String
End Type


Local o1:Item=New Item;	o1._st="machin"
Local o2:Item=New Item;	o2._st="truc"
Local o3:Item=New Item;	o3._st="bidule"
Local o4:Item=New Item;	o4._st="turc"
Local o5:Item=New Item;	o5._st="2cac"
Local o6:Item=New Item;	o6._st="2six"
Local o7:Item=New Item;	o7._st="3bla"
Local o8:Item=New Item;	o8._st="mach1"
Local o9:Item=New Item;	o9._st="m"
Local oA:Item=New Item;	oA._st="mb"


Print " Compare "+o1._st+" => "+o2._st+" === "+Item(STR_Compare(o1,o2,o1._st,o2._st) )._st
Print " Compare "+o1._st+" => "+o3._st+" === "+Item(STR_Compare(o1,o3,o1._st,o3._st) )._st
Print " Compare "+o1._st+" => "+o4._st+" === "+Item(STR_Compare(o1,o4,o1._st,o4._st) )._st
Print " Compare "+o1._st+" => "+o5._st+" === "+Item(STR_Compare(o1,o5,o1._st,o5._st) )._st
Print " Compare "+o5._st+" => "+o6._st+" === "+Item(STR_Compare(o5,o6,o5._st,o6._st) )._st
Print " Compare "+o6._st+" => "+o5._st+" === "+Item(STR_Compare(o6,o5,o6._st,o5._st) )._st
Print " Compare "+o1._st+" => "+o8._st+" === "+Item(STR_Compare(o1,o8,o1._st,o8._st) )._st
Print " Compare "+o1._st+" => "+o9._st+" === "+Item(STR_Compare(o1,o9,o1._st,o9._st) )._st
Print " Compare "+o1._st+" => "+oA._st+" === "+Item(STR_Compare(o1,oA,o1._st,oA._st) )._st



Const C_STR_ASC_A:Int=Asc("A")
Const C_STR_ASC_Z:Int=Asc("z")

Function STR_Compare:Object(Obj1:Object,Obj2:Object,name1:String,name2:String)
	Local Let1:Int=0	' caractere item 1
	Local Let2:Int=0	' caractere item 2
	If Len(name1)=0 Return Obj1
	If Len(name2)=0 Return Obj2
	Let1=Asc(Left(Upper(name1),1))
	Let2=Asc(Left(Upper(name2),1))
	' premier = nombre ?
	If Let1<C_STR_ASC_A' Or Let1>C_STR_ASC_Z
		' si Let2 = nombre => compare les nombre...
		If Let2<C_STR_ASC_A' Or Let2>C_STR_ASC_Z
		' sinon => le chiffre gagne !
			If Int(Let1)=Int(Let2)
				' egaux, => recursif sur les string sans le premier caractere
				Return STR_Compare(Obj1,Obj2,Right(name1,Len(name1)-1),Right(name2,Len(name2)-1))
			ElseIf Int(Let1)<Int(Let2)
				' premier inferieur !
				Return Obj1
			Else
				' seconde inferieur
				Return Obj2
			EndIf
		Else
			Return Obj1
		EndIf
	Else
		' lettre = caractere ... mais lettre2 = chiffre
		If Let2<C_STR_ASC_A' Or Let2>C_STR_ASC_Z
			Return Obj2
		Else
			If Let1=Let2 Return STR_Compare(Obj1,Obj2,Right(name1,Len(name1)-1),Right(name2,Len(name2)-1))
			If Let1<Let2
				Return Obj1
			Else
				Return Obj2
			EndIf
		EndIf
	EndIf
End Function

I coded at 5 am ... so I'm not really sleepy, maybe i made big mistakes

I was wondering : Is there a better way to compare strings ?

( don't halt on the object return, I need it )

Notice => I commented "z" test and i can be a mistake... but for some reason, we don't expect each time to compare the whole weyboard chars ... if we only use digit and alpha, it works fine

You could use a buildin list:

local names:TList=new TList
names.AddFirst ("Mark")
names.AddFirst ("Steven")
names.AddFirst ("Santa")
names.Addfirst ("Claus")

names.Sort()
for local name$=eachin list
  print name
next

You even can create your own compare function to sort the list, but strings can be sorted out of the box. If I remember right there's an example in the official docs. Can't look right now as my docs are scrambled :(