How do I sort an observable collection?

Maciek picture Maciek · Dec 22, 2009 · Viewed 141.3k times · Source

I have a following class :

[DataContract]
public class Pair<TKey, TValue> : INotifyPropertyChanged, IDisposable
{
    public Pair(TKey key, TValue value)
    {
        Key = key;
        Value = value;
    }

    #region Properties
    [DataMember]
    public TKey Key
    {
        get
        { return m_key; }
        set
        {
            m_key = value;
            OnPropertyChanged("Key");
        }
    }
    [DataMember]
    public TValue Value
    {
        get { return m_value; }
        set
        {
            m_value = value;
            OnPropertyChanged("Value");
        }
    }
    #endregion

    #region Fields
    private TKey m_key;
    private TValue m_value;
    #endregion

    #region INotifyPropertyChanged Members

    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

    protected void OnPropertyChanged(string name)
    {
        PropertyChangedEventHandler handler = PropertyChanged;
        if (handler != null)
        {
            handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(name));
        }
    }

    #endregion

    #region IDisposable Members

    public void Dispose()
    { }

    #endregion
}

Which I've put in an ObservableCollection :

ObservableCollection<Pair<ushort, string>> my_collection = 
    new ObservableCollection<Pair<ushort, string>>();

my_collection.Add(new Pair(7, "aaa"));
my_collection.Add(new Pair(3, "xey"));
my_collection.Add(new Pair(6, "fty"));

Q : How do I sort it by key ?

Answer

NielW picture NielW · May 2, 2013

This simple extension worked beautifully for me. I just had to make sure that MyObject was IComparable. When the sort method is called on the observable collection of MyObjects, the CompareTo method on MyObject is called, which calls my Logical Sort method. While it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the rest of the answers posted here, it's exactly what I needed.

static class Extensions
{
    public static void Sort<T>(this ObservableCollection<T> collection) where T : IComparable
    {
        List<T> sorted = collection.OrderBy(x => x).ToList();
        for (int i = 0; i < sorted.Count(); i++)
            collection.Move(collection.IndexOf(sorted[i]), i);
    }
}

public class MyObject: IComparable
{
    public int CompareTo(object o)
    {
        MyObject a = this;
        MyObject b = (MyObject)o;
        return Utils.LogicalStringCompare(a.Title, b.Title);
    }

    public string Title;

}
  .
  .
  .
myCollection = new ObservableCollection<MyObject>();
//add stuff to collection
myCollection.Sort();