Sort Data

• Sep 20, 2022
• 4 minutes to read

ASPxGridView allows users to sort column data.

Run Demo: ASPxGridView - Sorting Data Run Demo: ASPxGridView - Sort by Summaries

Use the following properties to specify whether users can sort column data:

ASPxGridBehaviorSettings.AllowSort

Controls sort availability at the control level.

GridDataColumnSettings.AllowSort

Controls sort availability at the column level. If this property value is Default, the column’s behavior depends on the ASPxGridBehaviorSettings.AllowSort property value.

ASPX

<dx:ASPxGridView ID="grid" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="false">
    <SettingsBehavior AllowSort="true"/>
    <Columns>
        <dx:GridViewDataColumn FieldName="ContactName" SortIndex="2" SortOrder="Ascending" >
            <Settings AllowSort="false" SortMode="DisplayText" />
        </dx:GridViewDataColumn>
        <%--...--%>
    </Columns>
</dx:ASPxGridView>

The integrated data sort algorithm only works on types that implement the IComparable interface. If a column’s data type does not support this interface, or you wish to change the default sort order, apply a custom sort algorithm.

Sort in the UI

Click an unsorted column’s header to sort the column and clear the sort order for other columns. The sort glyph indicates the column’s current sort order. To change the sort order, click the header again.

Hold the Shift key and click the required column headers to sort data by multiple columns. To clear the sort order for an individual column, press the Ctrl key and click the column’s header.

The image below shows sorted columns in the grid:

• The Country column’s data is sorted in descending order.
• The City column’s data is sorted in ascending order.

Sort in Code

Sort a Column

Use any of the following API members to sort a column:

• Specify a column’s SortOrder property.

  C#

  ((GridViewDataColumn)ASPxGridView1.Columns["Department"]).SortOrder = ColumnSortOrder.Ascending;
  

  VB.NET

  CType(ASPxGridView1.Columns("Department"), GridViewDataColumn).SortOrder = DevExpress.Data.ColumnSortOrder.Ascending
  

• Call a column’s SortAscending() or SortDescending() method.

  C#

  ((GridViewDataColumn)ASPxGridView1.Columns["Department"]).SortAscending();
  

  VB.NET

  (CType(ASPxGridView1.Columns("Department"), GridViewDataColumn)).SortAscending()
  

• Call the server-side SortBy method.

  C#

  ASPxGridView1.SortBy(ASPxGridView1.Columns["Department"], ColumnSortOrder.Ascending);
  

  VB.NET

  ASPxGridView1.SortBy(ASPxGridView1.Columns("Department"), DevExpress.Data.ColumnSortOrder.Ascending)
  

• Call the client-side SortBy method.

  JS

  function ProcessSorting(s, e, grid) {
      grid.SortBy(e.column.name);
      //...
  }
  

Clear Sorting

Use any of the following API members to clear the sort order:

• Set a column’s SortOrder property to None.

  C#

  ((GridViewDataColumn)ASPxGridView1.Columns["Department"]).SortOrder= ColumnSortOrder.None;
  

  VB.NET

  CType(ASPxGridView1.Columns("Department"), GridViewDataColumn).SortOrder = DevExpress.Data.ColumnSortOrder.None
  

• Call a column’s UnSort() method.

  C#

  ((GridViewDataColumn)ASPxGridView1.Columns["Department"]).UnSort();
  

  VB.NET

  CType(ASPxGridView1.Columns("Department"), GridViewDataColumn).UnSort()
  

• Set a column’s SortIndex property to -1.

  C#

  ((GridViewDataColumn)ASPxGridView1.Columns["Department"]).SortIndex=-1;
  

  VB.NET

  CType(ASPxGridView1.Columns("Department"), GridViewDataColumn).SortIndex=-1
  

• Call the control’s ClearSort() method.

  C#

  ASPxGridView1.ClearSort();
  

  VB.NET

  ASPxGridView1.ClearSort()
  

Related API

API member	Type	Description
ColumnSorting	Event	Fires before the grid sorts its data by column values.
BeforeColumnSortingGrouping	Event	Fires before a column is sorted or grouped.
CustomColumnSort	Event	Allows you to apply a custom sort algorithm to a column.
IsAllowSort(GridViewColumn)	Method	Indicates whether sorting by the specified column is enabled.
GetSortedColumns()	Method	Returns a collection of sorted columns.
SortCount	Property	Gets the number of sorted columns (rows for ASPxVerticalGrid).
SortIndex	Property	Specifies the column’s sort priority among columns (a lower number indicates a higher priority).
SortOrder	Property	Specifies the column’s sort order.

Custom Sorting

1. Set the SortMode property to Custom.
2. Handle the CustomColumnSort event to apply a custom sort algorithm to the column.

The example below sorts the Country column by character length in descending order.

ASPX

<dx:ASPxGridView ID="ASPxGridView1" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="false"
    OnCustomColumnSort="grid_CustomColumnSort">
    <Columns>
        <dx:GridViewDataColumn FieldName="Country" SortOrder="Descending">
            <Settings SortMode="Custom" />
        </dx:GridViewDataColumn>
        <%--...--%>
    </Columns>
</dx:ASPxGridView>

C#

protected void grid_CustomColumnSort(object sender, DevExpress.Web.CustomColumnSortEventArgs e) {
    if(e.Column.FieldName == "Country") {
        e.Handled = true;
        string s1 = e.Value1.ToString(), s2 = e.Value2.ToString();
        if(s1.Length > s2.Length)
            e.Result = 1;
        else
            if(s1.Length == s2.Length)
            e.Result = Comparer.Default.Compare(s1, s2);
        else
            e.Result = -1;
    }
}

VB.NET

Protected Sub grid_CustomColumnSort(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As DevExpress.Web.CustomColumnSortEventArgs)
    If e.Column.FieldName = "Country" Then
        e.Handled = True
        Dim s1 As String = e.Value1.ToString(), s2 As String = e.Value2.ToString()

        If s1.Length > s2.Length Then
            e.Result = 1
        ElseIf s1.Length = s2.Length Then
            e.Result = Comparer.[Default].Compare(s1, s2)
        Else
            e.Result = -1
        End If
    End If
End Sub

Sort Groups by Summary Values

To sort groups by their summary values, create an instance of the ASPxGroupSummarySortInfo object, customize its settings, and add this object to the GroupSummarySortInfo collection. Remove this object from the collection to disable the summary sort feature.

The example below sorts group rows by their summary values in descending order.

ASPX

<dx:ASPxGridView ID="grid" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="False" KeyFieldName="ProductID">
    <Columns>
        <dx:GridViewDataTextColumn FieldName="ProductID" VisibleIndex="0" />
        <dx:GridViewDataTextColumn FieldName="CategoryName" VisibleIndex="1" GroupIndex="0" />
        <dx:GridViewDataTextColumn FieldName="ProductName" VisibleIndex="2" />
    </Columns>
    <GroupSummary>
        <dx:ASPxSummaryItem FieldName="ProductName" SummaryType="Count" />
    </GroupSummary>
</dx:ASPxGridView>

C#

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
    grid.GroupSummarySortInfo.Clear();
    ASPxGroupSummarySortInfo sortInfo = new ASPxGroupSummarySortInfo();
    sortInfo.SortOrder = ColumnSortOrder.Descending;
    sortInfo.SummaryItem = grid.GroupSummary["ProductName", SummaryItemType.Count];
    sortInfo.GroupColumn = "CategoryName";
    grid.GroupSummarySortInfo.AddRange(sortInfo);
}

VB.NET

Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
    grid.GroupSummarySortInfo.Clear()
    Dim sortInfo As ASPxGroupSummarySortInfo = New ASPxGroupSummarySortInfo()
    sortInfo.SortOrder = ColumnSortOrder.Descending
    sortInfo.SummaryItem = grid.GroupSummary("ProductName", SummaryItemType.Count)
    sortInfo.GroupColumn = "CategoryName"
    grid.GroupSummarySortInfo.AddRange(sortInfo)
End Sub