How to enable DataGridView sorting when user clicks on the column header

Question

I have a datagridview on my form and I populate it with this   dataGridView1 DataSource   students Select s   gt  new   ID   s StudentId  RUDE   s RUDE  Nombre   s Name  Apellidos   s LastNameFather         s LastNameMother  Nacido   s DateOfBirth                                        OrderBy s   gt  s Apellidos                                      ToList      Now  I use the s Apellidos as the default sort  but I d also like to allow users to sort when clicking on the column header   This sort will not modify the data in any way  it s just a client side bonus to allow for easier searching for information when scanning the screen with their eyes   Thanks for the suggestions

User · Answer

put this line in your windows form  on load or better in a public method like  binddata              bind the data and make the grid sortable     this datagridview1 MakeSortable  myenumerablecollection       Put this code in a file called DataGridViewExtensions cs  or similar       MakeSortable extension      this will make any enumerable collection sortable on a datagrid view           BEGIN MAKESORTABLE - Mark A  Lloyd       Enables sort on all cols of a DatagridView             using System      using System Collections Generic      using System Linq      using System Threading Tasks      using System Windows Forms       public static class DataGridViewExtensions           public static void MakeSortable lt T gt           this DataGridView dataGridView           IEnumerable lt T gt  dataSource          SortOrder defaultSort   SortOrder Ascending           SortOrder initialSort   SortOrder None                var sortProviderDictionary   new Dictionary lt int  Func lt SortOrder  IEnumerable lt T gt  gt  gt             var previousSortOrderDictionary   new Dictionary lt int  SortOrder gt             var itemType   typeof T           dataGridView DataSource   dataSource          foreach  DataGridViewColumn c in dataGridView Columns                        object Provider T info    gt  itemType GetProperty c Name   GetValue info               sortProviderDictionary c Index    so   gt  so    defaultSort                    dataSource OrderByDescending lt T  object gt  Provider                     dataSource OrderBy lt T object gt  Provider               previousSortOrderDictionary c Index    initialSort                     async Task DoSort int index                         switch  previousSortOrderDictionary index                                 case SortOrder Ascending                      previousSortOrderDictionary index    SortOrder Descending                      break                  case SortOrder None                  case SortOrder Descending                      previousSortOrderDictionary index    SortOrder Ascending                      break                  default                      throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException                               IEnumerable lt T gt  sorted   null              dataGridView Cursor   Cursors WaitCursor              dataGridView Enabled   false              await Task Run      gt  sorted   sortProviderDictionary index  previousSortOrderDictionary index   ToList                 dataGridView DataSource   sorted              dataGridView Enabled   true              dataGridView Cursor   Cursors Default                      dataGridView ColumnHeaderMouseClick    object sender  DataGridViewCellMouseEventArgs e    gt  DoSort index  e ColumnIndex

User · Answer

Create a class which contains all properties you need  and populate them in the constructor  class Student       int  StudentId      public int StudentId  get       string  Name      public string Name  get                public Student int studentId  string name             StudentId   studentId   Name   name           Create an IComparer  lt  Student   class  to be able to sort  class StudentSorter   IComparer lt Student gt        public enum SField  StudentId  Name           SField  sField  SortOrder  sortOrder       public StudentSorder SField field  SortOrder order         sField   field   sortOrder   order        public int Compare Student x  Student y                if   SortOrder    SortOrder Descending                        Student tmp   x              x   y              y   tmp                     if  x    null    y    null              return 0           int result   0          switch   sField                        case SField StudentId                  result   x StudentId CompareTo y StudentId                   break              case SField Name                  result   x Name CompareTo y Name                   break                                         return result           Within the form containing the datagrid add  ListDictionary sortOrderLD   new ListDictionary      if less than 10 columns private SortOrder SetOrderDirection string column        if  sortOrderLD Contains column                 sortOrderLD column     SortOrder sortOrderLD column     SortOrder Ascending   SortOrder Descending   SortOrder Ascending            else               sortOrderLD Add column  SortOrder Ascending              return  SortOrder sortOrderLD column      Within datagridview ColumnHeaderMouseClick event handler do something like this  private void dgv ColumnHeaderMouseClick object sender  DataGridViewCellMouseEventArgs e        StudentSorter sorter   null      string column   dGV Columns e ColumnIndex  DataPropertyName    Use column name if you set it     if  column     StudentId                 sorter   new StudentSorter StudentSorter SField StudentId  SetOrderDirection column              else if  column     Name                 sorter   new StudentSorter StudentSorter SField Name  SetOrderDirection column                        List lt Student gt  lstFD   datagridview DataSource as List lt Student gt       lstFD Sort sorter       datagridview DataSource   lstFD      datagridview Refresh         Hope this helps

User · Answer

I have a BindingList lt   object bind as a data source to dataGridView   BindingList x1  x1   new BindingList lt sourceObject gt     BindingSource bsx1   new BindingSource    bsx1 DataSource   x1  dataGridView1 DataSource   bsx1    When I clicked the column header  no sorting takes place   I used the SortableBindingList answer provided by Tom Bushell   Having included two source files into my project   SortableBindingList cs PropertyComparer cs   Then this change is made to my code   Be Timvw Framework ComponentModel SortableBindingList x1                           1 x1   new Be Timvw Framework ComponentModel SortableBindingList lt sourceObject gt        2 BindingSource bsx1   new BindingSource    bsx1 DataSource   x1  dataGridView1 DataSource   bsx1    After these changes I performed a build on my program  I am now able to sort by clicking the column headers  Only two lines need changing  they are highlighted in the code snippet above by trailing comments

User · Answer

Just in case somebody still looks for it  I did it on VS 2008 C    On the Event ColumnHeaderMouseClick  add a databinding for the gridview  and send the order by field like a parameter  You can get the clicked field as follows   dgView Columns e ColumnIndex  Name   In my case the header s names are similar to view field names

User · Answer

If you get an error message like     An unhandled exception of type  System NullReferenceException    occurred in System Windows Forms dll   if you work with SortableBindingList  your code probably uses some loops over DataGridView rows and also try to access the empty last row   BindingSource   null   If you don t need to allow the user to add new rows directly in the DataGridView this line of code easily solve the issue   InitializeComponent    m dataGridView AllowUserToAddRows   false     after components initialized

User · Answer

One more way to do this is using  System Linq Dynamic  library  You can get this library from Nuget  No need of any custom implementations or sortable List     using System Linq Dynamic  private bool sortAscending   false   private void dataGridView ColumnHeaderMouseClick   object sender  DataGridViewCellMouseEventArgs e         if   sortAscending           dataGridView DataSource   list OrderBy   dataGridView Columns   e ColumnIndex   DataPropertyName   ToList          else         dataGridView DataSource   list OrderBy   dataGridView Columns   e ColumnIndex   DataPropertyName   Reverse     ToList          sortAscending    sortAscending

User · Answer

You don t need to create a binding datasource  If you want to apply sorting for all of your columns  here is a more generic solution of mine   private int  previousIndex  private bool  sortDirection   private void gridView ColumnHeaderMouseClick object sender  DataGridViewCellMouseEventArgs e        if  e ColumnIndex     previousIndex           sortDirection    true     toggle direction      gridView DataSource   SortData           List lt MainGridViewModel gt  gridReview DataSource  gridReview Columns e ColumnIndex  Name   sortDirection         previousIndex   e ColumnIndex     public List lt MainGridViewModel gt  SortData List lt MainGridViewModel gt  list  string column  bool ascending        return ascending            list OrderBy     gt    GetType   GetProperty column  GetValue     ToList             list OrderByDescending     gt    GetType   GetProperty column  GetValue     ToList        Make sure you subscribe your data grid to the event ColumnHeaderMouseClick  When the user clicks on the column it will sort by descending  If the same column header is clicked again  sorting will be applied by ascending

User · Answer

I suggest using a DataTable DefaultView as a DataSource  Then the line below   foreach  DataGridViewColumn column in gridview Columns               column SortMode   DataGridViewColumnSortMode Automatic          After that the gridview itself will manage sorting Ascending or Descending is supported

User · Answer

KISS   Keep it simple  stupid  Way A  Implement an own SortableBindingList class when like to use DataBinding and sorting   Way B  Use a List lt string gt  sorting works also but does not work with DataBinding

User · Answer

Set all the column s  which can be sortable by users  SortMode property to Automatic dataGridView1 DataSource   students Select s   gt  new   ID   s StudentId  RUDE   s RUDE  Nombre   s Name  Apellidos   s LastNameFather    quot   quot    s LastNameMother  Nacido   s DateOfBirth                                        OrderBy s   gt  s Apellidos                                      ToList         foreach DataGridViewColumn column in dataGridView1 Columns                     column SortMode   DataGridViewColumnSortMode Automatic         Edit  As your datagridview is bound with a linq query  it will not be sorted  So please go through this  404 dead link  see next section  which explains how to create a sortable binding list and to then feed it as datasource to datagridview  Code as recovered from dead link Link from above is 404-dead  I recovered the code from the Internet Wayback Machine archive of the page  public Form1         InitializeComponent         SortableBindingList lt person gt  persons   new SortableBindingList lt person gt         persons Add new Person 1   quot timvw quot   new DateTime 1980  04  30         persons Add new Person 2   quot John Doe quot   DateTime Now         this dataGridView1 AutoGenerateColumns   false      this ColumnId DataPropertyName    quot Id quot       this ColumnName DataPropertyName    quot Name quot       this ColumnBirthday DataPropertyName    quot Birthday quot       this dataGridView1 DataSource   persons

User · Answer

your data grid needs to be bound to a sortable list in the first place   Create this event handler       void MakeColumnsSortable DataBindingComplete object sender  DataGridViewBindingCompleteEventArgs e                  Add this as an event on DataBindingComplete         DataGridView dataGridView   sender as DataGridView          if  dataGridView    null                        var ex   new InvalidOperationException  This event is for a DataGridView type senders only                 ex Data Add  Sender type   sender GetType   Name               throw ex                     foreach  DataGridViewColumn column in dataGridView Columns              column SortMode   DataGridViewColumnSortMode Automatic          And initialize the event of each of your datragrids like this           dataGridView1 DataBindingComplete    MakeColumnsSortable DataBindingComplete

User · Answer

You can use DataGridViewColoumnHeaderMouseClick event like this    Private string order   String Empty  private void dgvDepartment ColumnHeaderMouseClick object sender  DataGridViewCellMouseEventArgs e        if  order     d             order    a                   dataGridView1 DataSource   students Select s   gt  new   ID   s StudentId  RUDE   s RUDE  Nombre   s Name  Apellidos   s LastNameFather         s LastNameMother  Nacido   s DateOfBirth       OrderBy s   gt  s Apellidos  ToList              else               order    d           dataGridView1 DataSource   students Select s   gt  new   ID   s StudentId  RUDE   s RUDE  Nombre   s Name  Apellidos   s LastNameFather         s LastNameMother  Nacido   s DateOfBirth   OrderByDescending s   gt  s Apellidos    ToList

User · Answer

there is quite simply solution when using Entity Framework  version 6 in this case   I m not sure but it seems to ObservableCollectionExtensions ToBindingList lt T gt  method returns implementation of sortable binding list  I haven t found source code to confirm this supposition but object returning from this method works with DataGridView very well especially when sorting columns by clicking on its headers   The code is very simply and relies only on  net and entity framework classes   using System Data Entity   IEnumerable lt Item gt  items   MethodCreatingItems     var observableItems   new System Collections ObjectModel ObservableCollection lt Item gt  items   System ComponentModel BindingList lt Item gt  source   observableItems ToBindingList     MyDataGridView DataSource   source

User · Answer

In my case  the problem was that I had set my DataSource as an object  which is why it didn t get sorted  After changing from object to a DataTable it workd well without any code complement

User · Answer

As Niraj suggested  use a SortableBindingList   I ve used this very successfully with the DataGridView  Here s a link to the updated code I used - Presenting the SortableBindingList - Take Two - archive Just add the two source files to your project  and you ll be in business  Source is in SortableBindingList zip - 404 dead link

[c#] How to enable DataGridView sorting when user clicks on the column header?

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