I'm using the following query syntax
from table
where
where
orderby
orderby
Where the first orderby is a date and second orderby is a date. I would assume this would work like orderby thenby but appears to be doing something else.
How can I do an orderby thenby using the above syntax without using extension syntax. (Got it)
And what does the orderby, orderby do?
How can I do an orderby thenby using the above syntax without using extension syntax.
Use a comma between the fields:
orderby a, b
And what does the orderby, orderby do?
When you use orderby
twice in a row the elements conceptually will first be sorted using the first orderby
, and then sorted again using the second orderby
. Because the sorting is defined to be a stable sort (objects which are tied with the second orderby
will remain in the same order as after sorting with the first orderby
it effectively means that this:
var query = from x in l
orderby x.A
orderby x.B
select x;
is equivalent to:
var query = from x in l
orderby x.B, x.A
select x;
The result is that the orderby
terms are swapped from what you probably intended.
Testing it with LINQ to SQL
This can be verified by trying it in LINQ to SQL. I created the following query:
var query = from a in dc.Orders
orderby a.Date
orderby a.CustomerID
select a;
and this was the generated SQL:
SELECT [t0].[ID], [t0].[CustomerID], [t0].[Date], [t0].[Description]
FROM [dbo].[Order] AS [t0]
ORDER BY [t0].[CustomerID], [t0].[Date]
Note that the orderby a.Date
is not ignored. Both terms are included in the ORDER BY clause, but in the opposite order than you might have intended.
Performing a ThenBy in Query Expression Syntax is straighforward, simply follow the initial orderby with a comma and a 2nd statement:
// Create the data source.
List<Student> students = GetStudents();
// Create the query.
IEnumerable<Student> sortedStudents =
from student in students
orderby student.Last ascending, student.First ascending
select student;
Applying a 2nd orderby using the standard query operators (extension methods) will actually apply the second orderby to the result of the query result which includes the first orderby. In effect, only the second orderby will apply, although you'll still spend CPU time calculating the first order.
This is actually answered directly in the MSDN documentation for the Enumerable.OrderBy and Enumerable.ThenBy methods.
Because IOrderedEnumerable
inherits from IEnumerable, you can
call OrderBy or OrderByDescending on
the results of a call to OrderBy,
OrderByDescending, ThenBy or
ThenByDescending. Doing this
introduces a new primary ordering that
ignores the previously established
ordering.
The ThenBy
operator applies a secondary, ascending sort order to the sequence. It is akin to applying a secondary sort order in T-SQL like :
Select * from Customer order by FirstName,lastName
In linq we can write this as:
var thenby = mode.CustList.Select(cus => new
{
cus. FirstName,
cus. LastName,
cus. EmailAddress
}).OrderBy(cus => cus. FirstName).ThenBy(cus => cus. LastName);
You can check more about this here:
http://dotnetreaders.com/articles/ThenBy_in_LINQ_c-sharp,_Orderby_Thenby_in_LINQ_C-sharp/204
The answer to the thenby should be like this
orderby 1, 2
I'll leave part #2 for someone else.