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.NET Framework 3.5
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Microsoft Visual Studio 2008/.NET Framework 3.5

Other versions are also available for the following:
.NET Framework Class Library
SortDescription Structure

Defines the direction and the property name to be used as the criteria for sorting a collection.

Namespace:  System.ComponentModel
Assembly:  WindowsBase (in WindowsBase.dll)
XMLNS for XAML: Not mapped to an xmlns.
Visual Basic (Declaration)
Public Structure SortDescription
Visual Basic (Usage)
Dim instance As SortDescription
C#
public struct SortDescription
Visual C++
public value class SortDescription
JScript
JScript supports the use of structures, but not the declaration of new ones.
XAML Object Element Usage
<SortDescription .../>

This example describes how to sort data in a view.

The following example creates a simple ListBox and a Button:

XAML
<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.

C#
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

How to: Sort and Group Data Using a View in XAML This example shows how to create a view of a data collection in Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML). Views allow for the functionalities of grouping, sorting, filtering, and the notion of a current item.
Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0
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