multipicklist values order changed when copied over to another record

Question

I've a multi-picklist field called SegmentA(A,B,C,D) on ObjectA. Also, another multi-picklist field called SegmentB(A,B,C,D) on ObjectB.

Values in both the multi-picklist fields are same.

Selected values on RecordA of ObjectA is showing A,C while Selected values on RecordB of ObjectB is showing C,A.

I'm not able to compare both the values programatically. The order of values given is same.

Below is the code i tried to compare, which is displaying me the result(selected values) in reverse order.

String ts = t.AccountSegment__c == null?'NULL':t.AccountSegment__c; 
String qs = o.QuotaSegment__c == null?'NULL':O.QuotaSegment__c;       
System.debug('__AASSDD8.7_'+ts.equals(qs));

Any idea on why this order change is happening?

Answer 1

An alternate comparison mechanism can be employed here, using the Set type instead of the string.equals method.

You can use the Set<>.containsAll(Set<>) in both directions to check whether both Sets contain the same elements.

Set<String> firstSet = new Set<String>('item1;item2;item3;'.split(';'));
Set<String> secondSet = new Set<String>('item2;item1;item3;'.split(';'));
system.debug(firstSet);
system.debug(secondSet);
system.debug(firstSet.containsAll(secondSet) && secondSet.containsAll(firstSet));

Your code would look something like this:

if (t.AccountSegment__c != null && o.QuotaSegment__c != null) {
    Set<String> firstSet = new Set<String>(t.AccountSegment__c.split(';'));
    Set<String> secondSet = new Set<String>(o.QuotaSegment__c.split(';'));
    system.debug(firstSet);
    system.debug(secondSet);
    system.debug('__AASSDD8.7_' + (firstSet.containsAll(secondSet) && secondSet.containsAll(firstSet)));
}

(@Ralph's approach works well too!)

Answer 2

I can't find it documented anywhere, but it appears you can't count on a specific ordering of the multi-select values in the object. In lieu of comparing the ;-concatenated version that comes from the database, push them into a set and compare them that way.

Example

Set<String> tVals = (String.isBlank(t.AccountSegment__c)) 
    ? new Set<String>() 
    : t.AccountSegment__c.split(';');
Set<String> oVals = (String.isBlank(o.QuotaSegment__c)) 
    ? new Set<String>() 
    : o.QuotaSegment__c.split(';');
Set<String> tVals2 = tVals.clone();
Set<String> oVals2 = oVals.clone();
tVals2.removeAll(oVals);
oVals2.removeAll(tVals);
Boolean setsEquals = tVals2.isEmpty() && oVals2.isEmpty();

Answer 3

I've a multi-picklist field called SegmentA(A,B,C,D) on ObjectA. Also, another multi-picklist field called SegmentB(A,B,C,D) on ObjectB.

This is not unusual behavior from what I discovered when researching this. Depending on your use case, you may find the following of interest. One solution to the problem of copying them from one object to another was as follows below. It is simply a means of "copying" multi-select picklist values from one object to another as text:

if(ISPICKVAL( Opportunity__r.Project_State__c , "AK") , "AK",
if(ISPICKVAL( Opportunity__r.Project_State__c , "AL") , "AL",
if(ISPICKVAL( Opportunity__r.Project_State__c , "AR") , "AR",
if(ISPICKVAL( Opportunity__r.Project_State__c , "AZ") , "AZ",
if(ISPICKVAL( Opportunity__r.Project_State__c , "CA") , "CA",

I'm not able to compare both the values programatically. The order of values given is same.

I found another "Formula Based" solution on success.salesforce.com I thought worth posting that was in response to the following:

"We need to create a formula field on a child object that displays all of the selected values from a multi-select picklist on the parent object."

IF ( INCLUDES ( parent.multipicklist__c , "Value 1" ), "Value 1; ",null ) & 
IF ( INCLUDES ( parent.multipicklist__c , "Value 2" ), "Value 2; ",null ) & 
IF ( INCLUDES ( parent.multipicklist__c , "Value 3" ), "Value 3; ",null ) & 
IF ( INCLUDES ( parent.multipicklist__c , "Value 4" ), "Value 4; ",null ) & 
IF ( INCLUDES ( parent.multipicklist__c , "Value 5" ), "Value 5; ",null )

Alternatively, if you want multiple lines displayed, you can do something like this:

IF(INCLUDES( parent.multipicklist__c , "Value 1"), "Value 1", NULL)  + BR() + 
IF(INCLUDES( parent.multipicklist__c , "Value 2"), "Value 2", NULL)  + BR() + 
IF(INCLUDES( parent.multipicklist__c , "Value 3"), "Value 3", NULL)  + BR() + 
IF(INCLUDES( parent.multipicklist__c , "Value 4"), "Value 4", NULL)  + BR() + 
IF(INCLUDES( parent.multipicklist__c , "Value 5"), "Value 5", NULL)

or, (which may appear a bit cleaner)...

IF(INCLUDES( parent.multipicklist__c , "Value 1"), "Value 1"  + BR(), NULL) 
IF(INCLUDES( parent.multipicklist__c , "Value 2"), "Value 2"  + BR(), NULL) 
IF(INCLUDES( parent.multipicklist__c , "Value 3"), "Value 3"  + BR(), NULL) 
IF(INCLUDES( parent.multipicklist__c , "Value 4"), "Value 4"  + BR(), NULL) 
IF(INCLUDES( parent.multipicklist__c , "Value 5"), "Value 5", NULL)