Question: Is there a collection object like the hashmap or hashtable that stores values in an ordered path? Vector does this but I need the key/value functionality. hashmaps do not guarantee the order of the objects.

Answer: Take a look at java.util.TreeMap.
Red-Black tree based implementation of the SortedMap interface. This class guarantees that the map will be in ascending key order, sorted according to the natural order for the key's class (see Comparable), or by the comparator provided at creation time, depending on which constructor is used.

Java Code Examples for TreeMap, Hashtable, Hashmap, SortedMap, Comparable

Note that this implementation is not synchronized. If multiple threads access a map concurrently, and at least one of the threads modifies the map structurally, it must be synchronized externally.