How to Sort a List by a property in the object

Question

I have a class called Order which has properties such as OrderId, OrderDate, Quantity, and Total. I have a list of this Order class:

List<Order> objListOrder = new List<Order>();
GetOrderList(objListOrder); // fill list of orders

Now I want to sort the list based on one property of the Order object, for example I need to sort it by the order date or order id.

How can i do this in C#?

Answer 1

Doing it without Linq as you said:

public class Order : IComparable
{
    public DateTime OrderDate { get; set; }
    public int OrderId { get; set; }

    public int CompareTo(object obj)
    {
        Order orderToCompare = obj as Order;
        if (orderToCompare.OrderDate < OrderDate || orderToCompare.OrderId < OrderId)
        {
            return 1;
        }
        if (orderToCompare.OrderDate > OrderDate || orderToCompare.OrderId > OrderId)
        {
            return -1;
        }

        // The orders are equivalent.
        return 0;
    }
}

Then just call .sort() on your list of Orders

Answer 2

Based on GenericTypeTea's Comparer :
we can obtain more flexibility by adding sorting flags :

public class MyOrderingClass : IComparer<Order> {  
    public int Compare(Order x, Order y) {  
        int compareDate = x.Date.CompareTo(y.Date);  
        if (compareDate == 0) {  
            int compareOrderId = x.OrderID.CompareTo(y.OrderID);  

            if (OrderIdDescending) {  
                compareOrderId = -compareOrderId;  
            }  
            return compareOrderId;  
        }  

        if (DateDescending) {  
            compareDate = -compareDate;  
        }  
        return compareDate;  
    }  

    public bool DateDescending { get; set; }  
    public bool OrderIdDescending { get; set; }  
}  

In this scenario, you must instantiate it as MyOrderingClass explicitly( rather then IComparer )
in order to set its sorting properties :

MyOrderingClass comparer = new MyOrderingClass();  
comparer.DateDescending = ...;  
comparer.OrderIdDescending = ...;  
orderList.Sort(comparer);  

Answer 3

Simplest way to order a list is to use OrderBy

 List<Order> objListOrder = 
    source.OrderBy(order => order.OrderDate).ToList();

If you want to order by multiple columns like following SQL Query.

ORDER BY OrderDate, OrderId

To achieve this you can use ThenBy like following.

  List<Order> objListOrder = 
    source.OrderBy(order => order.OrderDate).ThenBy(order => order.OrderId).ToList();

Answer 4

// Totally generic sorting for use with a gridview

public List<T> Sort_List<T>(string sortDirection, string sortExpression, List<T> data)
    {

        List<T> data_sorted = new List<T>();

        if (sortDirection == "Ascending")
        {
            data_sorted = (from n in data
                              orderby GetDynamicSortProperty(n, sortExpression) ascending
                              select n).ToList();
        }
        else if (sortDirection == "Descending")
        {
            data_sorted = (from n in data
                              orderby GetDynamicSortProperty(n, sortExpression) descending
                              select n).ToList();

        }

        return data_sorted;

    }

    public object GetDynamicSortProperty(object item, string propName)
    {
        //Use reflection to get order type
        return item.GetType().GetProperty(propName).GetValue(item, null);
    }

Answer 5

You can do something more generic about the properties selection yet be specific about the type you're selecting from, in your case 'Order':

write your function as a generic one:

public List<Order> GetOrderList<T>(IEnumerable<Order> orders, Func<Order, T> propertySelector)
        {
            return (from order in orders
                    orderby propertySelector(order)
                    select order).ToList();
        } 

and then use it like this:

var ordersOrderedByDate = GetOrderList(orders, x => x.OrderDate);

You can be even more generic and define an open type for what you want to order:

public List<T> OrderBy<T,P>(IEnumerable<T> collection, Func<T,P> propertySelector)
        {
            return (from item in collection
                    orderby propertySelector(item)
                    select item).ToList();
        } 

and use it the same way:

var ordersOrderedByDate = OrderBy(orders, x => x.OrderDate);

Which is a stupid unnecessary complex way of doing a LINQ style 'OrderBy', But it may give you a clue of how it can be implemented in a generic way

Answer 6

Please let me complete the answer by @LukeH with some sample code, as I have tested it I believe it may be useful for some:

public class Order
{
    public string OrderId { get; set; }
    public DateTime OrderDate { get; set; }
    public int Quantity { get; set; }
    public int Total { get; set; }

    public Order(string orderId, DateTime orderDate, int quantity, int total)
    {
        OrderId = orderId;
        OrderDate = orderDate;
        Quantity = quantity;
        Total = total;
    }
}

public void SampleDataAndTest()
{
    List<Order> objListOrder = new List<Order>();

    objListOrder.Add(new Order("tu me paulo ", Convert.ToDateTime("01/06/2016"), 1, 44));
    objListOrder.Add(new Order("ante laudabas", Convert.ToDateTime("02/05/2016"), 2, 55));
    objListOrder.Add(new Order("ad ordinem ", Convert.ToDateTime("03/04/2016"), 5, 66));
    objListOrder.Add(new Order("collocationem ", Convert.ToDateTime("04/03/2016"), 9, 77));
    objListOrder.Add(new Order("que rerum ac ", Convert.ToDateTime("05/02/2016"), 10, 65));
    objListOrder.Add(new Order("locorum ; cuius", Convert.ToDateTime("06/01/2016"), 1, 343));


    Console.WriteLine("Sort the list by date ascending:");
    objListOrder.Sort((x, y) => x.OrderDate.CompareTo(y.OrderDate));

    foreach (Order o in objListOrder)
        Console.WriteLine("OrderId = " + o.OrderId + " OrderDate = " + o.OrderDate.ToString() + " Quantity = " + o.Quantity + " Total = " + o.Total);

    Console.WriteLine("Sort the list by date descending:");
    objListOrder.Sort((x, y) => y.OrderDate.CompareTo(x.OrderDate));
    foreach (Order o in objListOrder)
        Console.WriteLine("OrderId = " + o.OrderId + " OrderDate = " + o.OrderDate.ToString() + " Quantity = " + o.Quantity + " Total = " + o.Total);

    Console.WriteLine("Sort the list by OrderId ascending:");
    objListOrder.Sort((x, y) => x.OrderId.CompareTo(y.OrderId));
    foreach (Order o in objListOrder)
        Console.WriteLine("OrderId = " + o.OrderId + " OrderDate = " + o.OrderDate.ToString() + " Quantity = " + o.Quantity + " Total = " + o.Total);

    //etc ...
}