How can I parse a csv file and fit it to an existing table in C#?

Question

Okay, so right now I have a parseCSV function that returns a table to me in 2D format like so:

List<string[]> data = parseCSVFle(file);

Now, I'd like the rows in 'data' to be arranged in a particular order. This order is determined by the first column in temp (i.e. first element of the string array). The order is maintained in a string array elsewhere.

String[] dogs = {"rottweiler", "germanshepherd", "dalmatian"};

How do I rearrange 'data' to reflect the order in 'dogs'?

Additional constraints include

• The string in 'dogs' may be a substring of the string in 'data'. In this case, the string from 'dogs' is displayed.
• The string in 'dogs' may not be present in 'data' at all. In this case, the string from 'dogs' is added to the 2D table but with blanks in the other columns.

---

Example data

data_initial

dalmatian 45 52 rottweiler 58

data_final

rottweiler 58 - germanshepherd - - dalmatian 45 52

Thanks for looking, all.

Answer 1

If I understand you correctly you want to sort the content of the rows by their header entry, which is one of the dogs - in that case a custom sort comparer would do the trick.

static string[] dogs = {"rottweiler", "germanshepherd", "dalmatian"};

public static int CompareRows(string[] row1, string[] row2)
{
    int idx1 = Array.IndexOf(dogs,row1[0]);
    int idx2 = Array.IndexOf(dogs,row2[0]);

    if(idx1 == idx2)
        return 0;
    else return (idx1 < idx2) ? -1 : 1;
}

public static void testArraySort()
{
    string [] data1 = { "germanshepherd", "rufus", "george"};
    string[] data2 = { "dalmatian", "mimi", "dalma" };
    string[] data3 = { "rottweiler", "fifi", "dawg" };

    List<string[]> data = new List<string[]>() { data1, data2, data3 };
    data.Sort(CompareRows);
}