public static void verifyElementOrder(
     Iterator<? extends Element> elements, String key, Order order, int expectedCount) {
   Comparable previous = null;
   int count = 0;
   while (elements.hasNext()) {
     Element element = elements.next();
     Comparable current = element.value(key);
     if (previous != null) {
       int cmp = previous.compareTo(current);
       assertTrue(
           previous + " <> " + current + " @ " + count, order == Order.ASC ? cmp <= 0 : cmp >= 0);
     }
     previous = current;
     count++;
   }
   assertEquals(expectedCount, count);
 }