Adding sorted data into a hashtable or Dictionary while reading the data from file

Question

I have a file with contains as
A,15
B,67
C,45
D,10

I am reading the data from file, but i wanted to read the data into a dictionary or hashtable but the data sould be sorted into it by its value that is
B,67
C,45
A,15
D.10

If Any other List will work as efficient manner, please suggest

Thanks

Answer 1

A Dictionary<,>/Hashtable has no defined sort; that will not work. A SortedDictionary<,> is sorted by key, not by value, so that won't work. Personally, I think you should just use a regular List<T> (for some simple T with the two properties), and after loading it:

list.Sort((x,y) => y.SecondProp.CompareTo(x.SecondProp));

the subtle x/y switch in there achieves "descending". If you also need the data keyed by the first property, then separately store a Dictionary<string,int>.

Full example:

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        List<MyData> list = new List<MyData>();
        // load the data (replace this with a loop over the file)
        list.Add(new MyData { Key = "B", Value = 67 });
        list.Add(new MyData { Key = "C", Value = 45 });
        list.Add(new MyData { Key = "A", Value = 15 });
        list.Add(new MyData { Key = "D", Value = 10 });
        // sort it
        list.Sort((x,y)=> y.Value.CompareTo((x.Value)));
        // show that it is sorted
        foreach(var item in list)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("{0}={1}", item.Key, item.Value);

        }
    }
}

internal class MyData
{
    public string Key { get; set; }
    public int Value { get; set; }
}