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

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="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://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)
    {
        var 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;
                    }
                }

                var columnBinding = headerClicked.Column.DisplayMemberBinding as Binding;
                var sortBy = columnBinding?.Path.Path ?? headerClicked.Column.Header as string;

                Sort(sortBy, 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;
            }
        }
    }
}
Partial Public Class Window1
    Inherits Window
    Public Sub New()
        InitializeComponent()
    End Sub

    Private _lastHeaderClicked As GridViewColumnHeader = Nothing
    Private _lastDirection As ListSortDirection = ListSortDirection.Ascending

    Private Sub GridViewColumnHeaderClickedHandler(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As RoutedEventArgs)
        Dim headerClicked = TryCast(e.OriginalSource, GridViewColumnHeader)
        Dim direction As ListSortDirection

        If headerClicked IsNot Nothing Then
            If headerClicked.Role <> GridViewColumnHeaderRole.Padding Then
                If headerClicked IsNot _lastHeaderClicked Then
                    direction = ListSortDirection.Ascending
                Else
                    If _lastDirection = ListSortDirection.Ascending Then
                        direction = ListSortDirection.Descending
                    Else
                        direction = ListSortDirection.Ascending
                    End If
                End If

                Dim columnBinding = TryCast(headerClicked.Column.DisplayMemberBinding, Binding)
                Dim sortBy = If(columnBinding?.Path.Path, TryCast(headerClicked.Column.Header, String))

                Sort(sortBy, direction)

                If direction = ListSortDirection.Ascending Then
                    headerClicked.Column.HeaderTemplate = TryCast(Resources("HeaderTemplateArrowUp"), DataTemplate)
                Else
                    headerClicked.Column.HeaderTemplate = TryCast(Resources("HeaderTemplateArrowDown"), DataTemplate)
                End If

                ' Remove arrow from previously sorted header
                If _lastHeaderClicked IsNot Nothing AndAlso _lastHeaderClicked IsNot headerClicked Then
                    _lastHeaderClicked.Column.HeaderTemplate = Nothing
                End If

                _lastHeaderClicked = headerClicked
                _lastDirection = direction
            End If
        End If
    End Sub
End Class

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();
}
Private Sub Sort(ByVal sortBy As String, ByVal direction As ListSortDirection)
    Dim dataView As ICollectionView = CollectionViewSource.GetDefaultView(lv.ItemsSource)

    dataView.SortDescriptions.Clear()
    Dim sd As New SortDescription(sortBy, direction)
    dataView.SortDescriptions.Add(sd)
    dataView.Refresh()
End Sub

See also