SortDescription Structure

This example describes how to sort data in a view.

The following example creates a simple ListBox and a Button:

<Window x:Class="ListBoxSort_snip.Window1"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    Title="ListBoxSort_snip" Height="300" Width="300">
    <DockPanel>
      <ListBox Name="myListBox" DockPanel.Dock="Top">
        <ListBoxItem>my</ListBoxItem>
        <!--Or you can set the content this way:-->
        <!--<ListBoxItem Content="my"/>-->
        <ListBoxItem>1</ListBoxItem>
        <ListBoxItem>Sort</ListBoxItem>
        <ListBoxItem>3</ListBoxItem>
        <ListBoxItem>ListBox</ListBoxItem>
        <ListBoxItem>2</ListBoxItem>
      </ListBox>
      <Button Click="OnClick" Width="30" Height="20" DockPanel.Dock="Top">Sort</Button>
    </DockPanel>
</Window>

The Click event handler of the button contains logic to sort the items in the ListBox in the descending order. You can do this because adding items to a ListBox this way adds them to the ItemCollection of the ListBox, and ItemCollection derives from the CollectionView class. If you are binding your ListBox to a collection using the ItemsSource property, you can use the same technique to sort.

private void OnClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    myListBox.Items.SortDescriptions.Add(
        new SortDescription("Content", ListSortDirection.Descending));
}

As long as you have a reference to the view object, you can use the same technique to sort the content of other collection views. For an example of how to obtain a view, see How to: Get the Default View of a Data Collection. For another example, see How to: Sort a GridView Column When a Header Is Clicked. For more information about views, see Binding to Collections in Data Binding Overview.

For an example of how to apply sorting logic in Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML), see How to: Sort and Group Data Using a View in XAML.

More Code

.NET Framework

.NET Framework Client Profile

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

Reference

Other Resources