Sorting a collection by value - excel

Question

I have a collection of dates with the format "1801,1802,1803,1710,1711 etc.
I would like to be able to sort them by value so that the lowest ones are first e.g 1710,1711,1801,1802,1803.
The reason for this is so i can then put them into a string in the correct order.
I am not sure how to do this and any help would be appreciated. Thank you

Answer 1

Here is a really simple example:
Sub Nathan()
Dim c As Collection, arr, brr
Dim MyString As String
Set c = New Collection
' Part 1 build Collection
arr = Split("1801,1802,1803,1710,1711", ",")
For Each a In arr
c.Add Val(a)
Next a
' Part 2 put Collection into an array
ReDim brr(1 To c.Count)
For i = 1 To c.Count
brr(i) = c.Item(i)
Next i
' Part 3 sort the array
Call aSort(brr)
' make and output a css
MyString = Join(brr, ",")
MsgBox MyString
End Sub
Public Sub aSort(ByRef InOut)
Dim i As Long, j As Long, Low As Long
Dim Hi As Long, Temp As Variant
Low = LBound(InOut)
Hi = UBound(InOut)
j = (Hi - Low + 1) \ 2
Do While j > 0
For i = Low To Hi - j
If InOut(i) > InOut(i + j) Then
Temp = InOut(i)
InOut(i) = InOut(i + j)
InOut(i + j) = Temp
End If
Next i
For i = Hi - j To Low Step -1
If InOut(i) > InOut(i + j) Then
Temp = InOut(i)
InOut(i) = InOut(i + j)
InOut(i + j) = Temp
End If
Next i
j = j \ 2
Loop
End Sub
Consider using a scripting dictionary (because sort is already built-in)
EDIT#1:
To avoid writing a sort, you can use System.Collection.ArrayList. Here is an example that takes data from column A, sorts it, and puts the result in column B:
Sub AsortedAffair()
Dim arr, o As Object, oc As Long, i As Long
arr = Columns(1).SpecialCells(2)
Set o = CreateObject("System.Collections.ArrayList")
For Each a In arr
o.Add a
Next a
o.Sort
oc = o.Count
For i = 1 To oc
Cells(i, 2) = o.Item(i - 1)
Next i
End Sub
It is equally easy to build a comma-separated string out of this.
Note that the index of this Item() property starts at zero rather than one.