public List sort(String[] params){ String sortCriteria = params[0]; String order = params[1]; String query = "SELECT * FROM " +TABLE_NAME+ " " + "ORDER BY ? ?"; try (Connection connection = getConnection(); PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(query)){ System.out.println("sortCriteria in sort: " +sortCriteria); System.out.println("order.toUpperCase in sort: " +order.toUpperCase()); String sortCriteria2 = String.format(SQL, "SUBSTR(DSN,27,16)"); ps.setString(1, sortCriteria2 ); ps.setString(2, order.toUpperCase()); ResultSet rs = ps.executeQuery(); List foodItemsList = populateListFromResultSet(rs); if (foodItemsList == null){ return null; } Stat sortStat = convertStringToStat(sortCriteria); if (sortStat == null){ return null; } List sortedList = this.sorter.sortByStat(foodItemsList, sortStat); return sortedList; } catch (SQLException e){ System.out.println("yuh"); System.err.println(e); return null; } }