Sorting in Code

• Nov 16, 2018
• 3 minutes to read

• Sort and Unsort Data
• Sort Modes
• Custom Sorting

Sort and Unsort Data

GridColumn.SortOrder

Allows you to sort data by selecting between Ascending and Descending values. Setting this property to None removes sorting by this column.

ColumnView.SortInfo

A collection that stores specific ColumnSortInfo objects for every grid column involved in sorting and grouping. To sort data by specific columns, modify this collection manually by calling the GridColumnSortInfoCollection.ClearAndAddRange method. The code below illustrates two different approaches to sort Grid data ascending by order dates, and then descending by customer IDs.

C#

gridView1.SortInfo.ClearAndAddRange(new[] {
    new GridColumnSortInfo(colOrderDate, DevExpress.Data.ColumnSortOrder.Ascending),
    new GridColumnSortInfo(colCustomerID, DevExpress.Data.ColumnSortOrder.Descending)
});

//or

colOrderDate.SortOrder = DevExpress.Data.ColumnSortOrder.Ascending;
colCustomerID.SortOrder = DevExpress.Data.ColumnSortOrder.Descending;

VB.NET

gridView1.SortInfo.ClearAndAddRange( {
    New GridColumnSortInfo(colOrderDate, DevExpress.Data.ColumnSortOrder.Ascending),
    New GridColumnSortInfo(colCustomerID, DevExpress.Data.ColumnSortOrder.Descending)
})

'or

colOrderDate.SortOrder = DevExpress.Data.ColumnSortOrder.Ascending
colCustomerID.SortOrder = DevExpress.Data.ColumnSortOrder.Descending

ColumnView.BeginSort, ColumnView.EndSort

If you perform multiple sorting operations in code, wrap these code blocks between the BeginSort/EndSort method calls to prevent excessive redraw.

ColumnView.StartSorting, ColumnView.EndSorting

Non-cancelable events that fire when a sorting operation starts and after it is complete.

ColumnView.ClearSorting

Removes all currently applied data sorting.

Sort Modes

By default, columns with LookUpEdit and ImageComboBoxEdit in-place editors sort their data by editor’s display values. Other columns sort their data by the editor edit values. Use the GridColumn.SortMode property to change this sorting mode.

In the figure below, a column with ImageComboBoxEdit is forced to sort items by priority, from low to high. To do so, the GridColumn.SortMode must be changed to ColumnSortMode.Value. Otherwise, items are sorted alphabetically by their display values.

Custom Sorting

The ColumnView.CustomColumnSort event fires when the Data Grid needs to sort data by a column, whose GridColumn.SortMode property equals Custom. The event allows you to compare rows one-by-one and decide what row should go first. In the example below, the default DateTime column sorting (comparing years, then months and dates) is changed to custom sorting where dates are compared by months and then days, while years are ignored.

C#

private void gridView_CustomColumnSort(object sender, DevExpress.XtraGrid.Views.Base.CustomColumnSortEventArgs e) {
    if (e.Column.FieldName == "BirthDate") {
        e.Handled = true;
        int month1 = Convert.ToDateTime(e.Value1).Month;
        int month2 = Convert.ToDateTime(e.Value2).Month;
        if (month1 > month2)
            e.Result = 1;
        else 
            if (month1 < month2)
                e.Result = -1;
            else e.Result = System.Collections.Comparer.Default.Compare(Convert.ToDateTime(e.Value1).Day, Convert.ToDateTime(e.Value2).Day);
    }
}

VB.NET

Private Sub gridView_CustomColumnSort(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As DevExpress.XtraGrid.Views.Base.CustomColumnSortEventArgs)
    If e.Column.FieldName = "BirthDate" Then
        e.Handled = True
        Dim month1 As Integer = Convert.ToDateTime(e.Value1).Month
        Dim month2 As Integer = Convert.ToDateTime(e.Value2).Month
        If month1 > month2 Then
            e.Result = 1
        Else
            If month1 < month2 Then
                e.Result = -1
            Else
                e.Result = System.Collections.Comparer.Default.Compare(Convert.ToDateTime(e.Value1).Day, Convert.ToDateTime(e.Value2).Day)
            End If
        End If
    End If
End Sub