How to: Sort a GridView Column When a Header Is Clicked

Article
11/03/2006

This example shows how to create a ListView control that implements a GridView view mode and sorts the data content when a user clicks a column header.

Example

The following example defines a GridView with three columns that bind to the Year, Month, and Day, properties of the DateTime structure.

<GridView>
  <GridViewColumn DisplayMemberBinding="{Binding Path=Year}" 
                  Header="Year"
                  Width="100"/>
  <GridViewColumn DisplayMemberBinding="{Binding Path=Month}" 
                  Header="Month"
                  Width="100"/>
  <GridViewColumn DisplayMemberBinding="{Binding Path=Day}" 
                  Header="Day"
                  Width="100"/>
</GridView>

The following example shows the data items that are defined as an ArrayList of DateTime objects. The ArrayList is defined as the ItemsSource for the ListView control.

<ListView.ItemsSource>
  <s:ArrayList>
    <p:DateTime>1993/1/1 12:22:02</p:DateTime>
    <p:DateTime>1993/1/2 13:2:01</p:DateTime>
    <p:DateTime>1997/1/3 2:1:6</p:DateTime>
    <p:DateTime>1997/1/4 13:6:55</p:DateTime>
    <p:DateTime>1999/2/1 12:22:02</p:DateTime>
    <p:DateTime>1998/2/2 13:2:01</p:DateTime>
    <p:DateTime>2000/2/3 2:1:6</p:DateTime>
    <p:DateTime>2002/2/4 13:6:55</p:DateTime>
    <p:DateTime>2001/3/1 12:22:02</p:DateTime>
    <p:DateTime>2006/3/2 13:2:01</p:DateTime>
    <p:DateTime>2004/3/3 2:1:6</p:DateTime>
    <p:DateTime>2004/3/4 13:6:55</p:DateTime>
  </s:ArrayList>
</ListView.ItemsSource>

The s and p identifiers in the XAML tags refer to namespace mappings that are defined in the metadata of the XAML page. The following example shows the metadata definition.

<Window      
    xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="https://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    x:Class="ListViewSort.Window1"    
    xmlns:s="clr-namespace:System.Collections;assembly=mscorlib"
    xmlns:p="clr-namespace:System;assembly=mscorlib">

To sort the data according to the contents of a column, the example defines an event handler to handle the Click event that occurs when you press the column header button. The following example shows how to specify an event handler for the GridViewColumnHeader control.

<ListView x:Name='lv' Height="150" HorizontalAlignment="Center" 
  VerticalAlignment="Center" 
  GridViewColumnHeader.Click="GridViewColumnHeaderClickedHandler"
 >

The example defines the event handler so that the sort direction changes between ascending order and descending order each time you press the column header button. The following example shows the event handler.

public partial class Window1 : Window
{
    public Window1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    GridViewColumnHeader _lastHeaderClicked = null;
    ListSortDirection _lastDirection = ListSortDirection.Ascending;

    void GridViewColumnHeaderClickedHandler(object sender,
                                            RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        GridViewColumnHeader headerClicked =
              e.OriginalSource as GridViewColumnHeader;
        ListSortDirection direction;

        if (headerClicked != null)
        {
            if (headerClicked.Role != GridViewColumnHeaderRole.Padding)
            {
                if (headerClicked != _lastHeaderClicked)
                {
                    direction = ListSortDirection.Ascending;
                }
                else
                {
                    if (_lastDirection == ListSortDirection.Ascending)
                    {
                        direction = ListSortDirection.Descending;
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        direction = ListSortDirection.Ascending;
                    }
                }

                string header = headerClicked.Column.Header as string;
                Sort(header, direction);

                if (direction == ListSortDirection.Ascending)
                {
                    headerClicked.Column.HeaderTemplate =
                      Resources["HeaderTemplateArrowUp"] as DataTemplate;
                }
                else
                {
                    headerClicked.Column.HeaderTemplate =
                      Resources["HeaderTemplateArrowDown"] as DataTemplate;
                }

                // Remove arrow from previously sorted header
                if (_lastHeaderClicked != null && _lastHeaderClicked != headerClicked)
                {
                    _lastHeaderClicked.Column.HeaderTemplate = null;
                }


                _lastHeaderClicked = headerClicked;
                _lastDirection = direction;
            }
        }
    }

The following example shows the sorting algorithm that is called by the event handler to sort the data. The sort is performed by creating a new SortDescription structure.

private void Sort(string sortBy, ListSortDirection direction)
{
    ICollectionView dataView =
      CollectionViewSource.GetDefaultView(lv.ItemsSource);

    dataView.SortDescriptions.Clear();
    SortDescription sd = new SortDescription(sortBy, direction);
    dataView.SortDescriptions.Add(sd);
    dataView.Refresh();
}

For the complete sample, see ListView That Sorts Data Sample.

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How to: Sort a GridView Column When a Header Is Clicked

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