Useful "dynamic" LINQ Query

[Nate Bross]

So I was trying to use the orderby method in LINQ to sort some data. It requires the actual property name to use so you end up with code like this.

var items = from item i in items
    where i.Property.Contains("value")
    orderby i.AnotherProperty descending
    select i

If you use a gridview you can't use the e.SortExpression to dynamically sort. unless you write a LINQ query for each possible column.

 

So after huting around on the internet, I ended up with this, which allows you to dynamically sort based on object property names.

var items = from item i in items
    where i.Property.Contains("value")
    orderby i.GetType().InvokeMember("SortProperty", System.Reflection.BindingFlags.GetProperty, null, i, null) descending
    select i

[PlausiblyDamp]

http://mironabramson.com/blog/post/2008/05/Sorting-a-collection-using-sort-expression-string.aspx has a nice way of doing this using lambda expression trees rather than reflection - not a clue if it is better or worse but it has nice buzz words in the article and has worked for me in the past ;)

[Nate Bross]

Yes, I saw a few articles using Lambda -- for some reason I couldn't get them to compile against my List<T>.