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 l

Answer 1

A Classical Object Oriented Solution

First I must genuflect to the awesomeness of LINQ.... Now that we've got that out of the way

A variation on JimmyHoffa answer. With generics the CompareTo parameter becomes type safe.

public class Order : IComparable<Order> {

    public int CompareTo( Order that ) {
        if ( that == null ) return 1;
        if ( this.OrderDate > that.OrderDate) return 1;
        if ( this.OrderDate < that.OrderDate) return -1;
        return 0;
    }
}

// in the client code
// assume myOrders is a populated List<Order>
myOrders.Sort(); 

This default sortability is re-usable of course. That is each client does not have to redundantly re-write the sorting logic. Swapping the "1" and "-1" (or the logic operators, your choice) reverses the sort order.

Answer 2

If you need to sort the list in-place then you can use the Sort method, passing a Comparison<T> delegate:

objListOrder.Sort((x, y) => x.OrderDate.CompareTo(y.OrderDate));

If you prefer to create a new, sorted sequence rather than sort in-place then you can use LINQ's OrderBy method, as mentioned in the other answers.

Answer 3

//Get data from database, then sort list by staff name:

List<StaffMember> staffList = staffHandler.GetStaffMembers();

var sortedList = from staffmember in staffList
                 orderby staffmember.Name ascending
                 select staffmember;

Answer 4

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 ...
}

Answer 5

The easiest way I can think of is to use Linq:

List<Order> SortedList = objListOrder.OrderBy(o=>o.OrderDate).ToList();

Answer 6

Using LINQ

objListOrder = GetOrderList()
                   .OrderBy(o => o.OrderDate)
                   .ToList();

objListOrder = GetOrderList()
                   .OrderBy(o => o.OrderId)
                   .ToList();