C# How to sort a list of objects by any property

Question

public class SortExample
{
  public int IntField {get; set;}

  public string StringField {get; set;}

  public DateTime DateField {get; set;}
}

This class is set as a source for a listview and the sortExpression param passed in function below is property name with sort order 'IntField ASC' 'IntField DESC' 'StringField ASC' 'StringField DESC'

public void SortExampleMethod(string sortExpression)
{
   List<SortExample> list = new  List<SortExample>();
   list.OrderBy(sortExpression);
}

Is the only way to implement this is to write a Comparator for every property or something in LINQ allows this to be done easily?

Answer 1

To do what you need, you can use LINQ Dynamic Query Library which allows you to pass string to your OrderBy .

ex: var result = list.OrderBy("intField asc");

Here full tutorial

https://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/dynamic-linq-part-1-using-the-linq-dynamic-query-library

Another Solution is to make the method accepts Expression class

public void sort(Expression<Func<TEntity, S>> orderByExpression, bool ascending)
{

List<SortExample> list = new  List<SortExample>();
if(ascending)
{
   list.OrderBy(orderByExpression);
}
else
   list.OrderByDescneding(orderByExpression);
}

Answer 2

Somthing like:

list.OrderBy(x => x.property);

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb534966.aspx