I was looking around on the web for a method for sorting a list without having to write all the custom compare methods, and I came across this 2006 code on the by a guy named Dipend Lama on the c-sharpcorner website:
Sorting Collection of Custom Type using Generic
After copying the code to my project, and seeing the results, I decided I occasionally needed to sort by more then just one property at a time. Unfortunately, this class didn't support that particular design consideration, so it was up to me to implement it.
My first task was to decide on a way to pass multiple (or even just one) properties on which to search. I settled on an array of strings because they're easy to instantiate in a method call. However, if just a single property was specified, I wanted to allow the programmer to do so without having to create a string array, so I kept the original constructor, and overloaded it with one that accepted a string array. The next problem was slightly tougher - wow was I going to sort the list with ALL of the properties?
My solution boiled down to a single basic programming practice - recursion. In all honesty, recursion is not all that common. I've written MILLIONS of lines of code in the last 30 years and have used recursion MAYBE half a dozen times.
It was actually very simple to do. I took the original Compare method:
public int Compare(T x, T y)
{
PropertyInfo propertyInfo = typeof(T).GetProperty(sortColumn);
IComparable obj1 = (IComparable)propertyInfo.GetValue(x, null);
IComparable obj2 = (IComparable)propertyInfo.GetValue(y, null);
if (sortingOrder == SortOrder.Ascending)
{
return (obj1.CompareTo(obj2));
}
else
{
return (obj2.CompareTo(obj1));
}
}
and changed it to this:
public int Compare(T x, T y)
{
return CompareProperty(0, x, y);
}
private int CompareProperty(int index, T x, T y)
{
int result = 0;
PropertyInfo propertyInfo = typeof(T).GetProperty(propertyArray[index]);
IComparable obj1 = (IComparable)propertyInfo.GetValue(x, null);
IComparable obj2 = (IComparable)propertyInfo.GetValue(y, null);
if (sortingOrder == GenericSortOrder.Ascending)
{
result = (obj1.CompareTo(obj2));
}
else
{
result = (obj2.CompareTo(obj1));
}
if (result == 0 && index < propertyArray.Length - 1)
{
index++;
result = CompareProperty(index, x, y);
}
return result;
}
The new method calls itself for each property in the string array, and once the result of the compare is not 0, I know it's done, and can back out of the stack. Here's the whole thing for easy cut/pasting into your own code.
public enum GenericSortOrder { Ascending, Descending };
public sealed class GenericComparer<T> : IComparer<T>
{
private GenericSortOrder sortingOrder;
private string[] propertyArray = null;
public GenericSortOrder SortingOrder { get { return sortingOrder; } }
public GenericComparer(string sortColumn, GenericSortOrder sortingOrder)
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(sortColumn))
{
throw new Exception("The sortColumn parameter is null/empty");
}
this.sortingOrder = sortingOrder;
this.propertyArray = new string[1] {sortColumn};
}
public GenericComparer(string[] properties, GenericSortOrder order)
{
if (properties == null || properties.Length < 1)
{
throw new Exception("Properties array cannot be null/empty.");
}
this.sortingOrder = order;
this.propertyArray = properties;
}
public int Compare(T x, T y)
{
return CompareProperty(0, x, y);
}
private int CompareProperty(int index, T x, T y)
{
int result = 0;
PropertyInfo propertyInfo = typeof(T).GetProperty(propertyArray[index]);
IComparable obj1 = (IComparable)propertyInfo.GetValue(x, null);
IComparable obj2 = (IComparable)propertyInfo.GetValue(y, null);
if (sortingOrder == GenericSortOrder.Ascending)
{
result = (obj1.CompareTo(obj2));
}
else
{
result = (obj2.CompareTo(obj1));
}
if (result == 0 && index < propertyArray.Length - 1)
{
index++;
result = CompareProperty(index, x, y);
}
return result;
}
}
Usage looks something like this:
List<MyObject> list = new List<MyObject>();
list.Sort(new GenericCompare<MyObject>("singleProperty", GenericOrder.Descending);
list.Sort(new GenericCompare<MyObject>(new string[2] {"property1", "property2"},
GenericSortOrder.Descending);
Care must be exercised that you don't sort on too many properties, or your code will throw a stack overflow exception.
There may be more elegant solutions out there, and if you know of one, by all means, post it as an alternative.
EDIT ===========================
And here's the compare method without recursion (many thanks to supercat9):
public int Compare(T x, T y)
{
int index = 0;
int count = propertyArray.Length;
int result = 0;
PropertyInfo propertyInfo;
IComparable obj1;
IComparable obj2;
do
{
propertyInfo = typeof(T).GetProperty(propertyArray[index]);
obj1 = (IComparable)propertyInfo.GetValue(x, null);
obj2 = (IComparable)propertyInfo.GetValue(y, null);
result = obj1.CompareTo(obj2);
if (this.SortingOrder == GenericSortOrder.Descending)
{
result = -result;
}
index++;
} while (result == 0 && index < count);
return result;
}
EDIT (08/26/2010) -------------
Fixed some non-escaped <> brackets.
I've been paid as a programmer since 1982 with experience in Pascal, and C++ (both self-taught), and began writing Windows programs in 1991 using Visual C++ and MFC. In the 2nd half of 2007, I started writing C# Windows Forms and ASP.Net applications, and have since done WPF, Silverlight, WCF, web services, and Windows services.
My weakest point is that my moments of clarity are too brief to hold a meaningful conversation that requires more than 30 seconds to complete. Thankfully, grunts of agreement are all that is required to conduct most discussions without committing to any particular belief system.