How to compare objects by multiple fields

Question

Assume you have some objects which have several fields they can be compared by:

public class Person {

    private String firstName;
    private String lastN         


        

Answer 1

import com.google.common.collect.ComparisonChain;

/**
 * @author radler
 * Class Description ...
 */
public class Attribute implements Comparable {

    private String type;
    private String value;

    public String getType() { return type; }
    public void setType(String type) { this.type = type; }

    public String getValue() { return value; }
    public void setValue(String value) { this.value = value; }

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return "Attribute [type=" + type + ", value=" + value + "]";
    }

    @Override
    public int compareTo(Attribute that) {
        return ComparisonChain.start()
            .compare(this.type, that.type)
            .compare(this.value, that.value)
            .result();
    }

}