Best structure for list of key-value (integer, string) to be shuffled

Question

I need to implement a structure in Java that is a key-value list (of types Integer-String) and I want to shuffle it.

Basically, I would like to do something like that.

Answer 1

Create a Pair class, that holds both the Integer and the String and then add multiple Pair objects to a List, which will be shuffled.

public class Pair {
  private Integer integer;

  private String string;

  //accessors
}

Then:

List<Pair> list = new ArrayList<Pair>();
//...add some Pair objects to the list
Collections.shuffle(list);

Answer 2

You could keep a separate List of the keyvalues, shuffle that and use it to access the HashMap.

List<Integer> keys = new ArrayList<Integer>(map.keySet());
Collections.shuffle(keys);
for(Integer i : keys)
    map.get(i);     // Gets the values in the shuffled order

Answer 3

You can use enum to achieve this, example

package device.packet.data;

public enum TLVList {
    
    SpeedingAlarm(0x1001, 3, Short.class),
    LowVoltageAlarm(0x1002, 3, Short.class),
    OBDCommunicationError(0x1015, 3, Short.class),
    IgnitionOn(0x1016, 3, Short.class),
    IgnitionOff(0x1017, 3, Short.class),
    MILAlarm(0x1018, 3, Short.class),
    UnlockAlarm(0x1019, 3, Short.class),
    NoCardPresented(0x101A, 3, Short.class),
    HiddenCommand(0x101B, 3, Short.class),
    Vibration(0x101C, 3, Short.class),
    DoorOpened(0x101D, 3, Short.class);
    
    private int tagFlagHex;
    private int length;
    private Class aClass;

    public int gettagFlagHex() {
        return tagFlagHex;
    }

    public int getLength() {
        return length;
    }

    public Class getClassType() {
        return aClass;
    }

    TLVList(int tagFlagHex, int length, Class aClass) {

        this.tagFlagHex = tagFlagHex;
        this.length = length;
        this.aClass = aClass;
    }

    public static TLVList of(Integer tagFlagHex) {
        for (TLVList tagFlag : TLVList.values()) {
            if(tagFlag.tagFlagHex == tagFlagHex) return tagFlag;
        }
        return null;
    }
}

I hope it helps.

Answer 4

You can keep the Map. The Map is designed to be looked up by key so I suggest you have a list of shuffled keys.

public Map<Integer, String> getQuestionOptionsMap() {
    Map<Integer, String> map = new HashMap<>();
    String[] answers = {null, answer1, answer2, answer3, answer4};
    for (int i = 1; i < answers.length; i++)
        if (answers[i] != null)
            map.put(i, answers[i]);
    List<Integer> order = new ArrayList<>(map.keySet());
    Collections.shuffle(order);
    Map<Integer, String> shuffled = new LinkedHashMap<>();
    for (Integer key : order)
        shuffled.put(key, map.get(key));
    return shuffled;
}

Answer 5

Hashtable<Integer, String>

As an alternative to less convenient and effective List<SomePairClass<Integer, String>>