Distribution Algorithm

Question

I have a list of class Item:

public class Item
{
   public int Id { get; set; }
   public string Name { get; set; }
   public int ItemSize { get; set; }
   public int? ContainerId { get; set; }
}

and also a class Container

public class Container
{
   public int Id { get; set; }
   public int ContainerSize { get; set; }
}

A container have a Max Value for the property Size. I need to assign each object of List to a container, taking care about these rules:

1. Object of List Item which share the same name MUST be placed on the same Container. Of course it is impossible to have a number of Item with the same Name with TotalSize > Max Container Size.

2. I have to create the less possibile number of Containers

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Split the items by Container ID and use a knapsack algorithm to solve the separate problem instances.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knapsack_problem