Using DataView.Sort

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After my DataView.RowFilter post, the next obvious step is of course a short post on using the DataView.Sort property. This property is simpler, as it simply takes column names, with a possible ASC or DESC modifier. You cannot use expressions directly in the Sort property, although you can use expression columns (see the sample below).

To give this a try, build it with the referenced command line (assuming you save this to dv.cs), and run it with dv.exe. Here are some interesting values to try:

  • Name
  • Name, ID
  • Name, ID DESC
  • ID * 2 (will display an error message)
  • DoubleID (works fine)

dv.cs

// %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\csc.exe dv.cs

using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace NS
{
public class DoIt
{
[STAThread]
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
DataTable table = new DataTable();
table.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("ID", typeof(int)));
table.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("Name", typeof(string)));
table.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("Date", typeof(DateTime)));
table.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("DoubleID", typeof(int), "ID * 2"));
table.Rows.Add(new object[] { 1, "Charlie", DateTime.Now });
table.Rows.Add(new object[] { 2, "Candy", DateTime.Now.AddHours(2) });
table.Rows.Add(new object[] { 3, "Candy", DateTime.Now.AddHours(4) });

DataView dv = new DataView(table);

            DataGridView view = new DataGridView();
view.DataSource = dv;
view.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;

Form form = new Form();
form.Text = "DataView Sort Sample";

Label label = new Label();
label.Dock = DockStyle.Bottom;

TextBox box = new TextBox();
box.Dock = DockStyle.Top;
box.TextChanged += delegate {
try
{
dv.Sort = box.Text;
label.Text = "";
}
catch(Exception exception)
{
label.Text = exception.Message;
}
};

            form.Controls.Add(view);
form.Controls.Add(box);
form.Controls.Add(label);

Application.Run(form);
}
}
}