ListViewSortEventArgs.SortExpression Property

Reference

Definition

Namespace:: System.Web.UI.WebControls

Assembly:: System.Web.Extensions.dll

Important

Some information relates to prerelease product that may be substantially modified before it’s released. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information provided here.

Gets or sets the expression that is used to sort the items in the ListView control.

public:
 property System::String ^ SortExpression { System::String ^ get(); void set(System::String ^ value); };

public string SortExpression { get; set; }

member this.SortExpression : string with get, set

Public Property SortExpression As String

Property Value

String

The expression that is used to sort the items in the ListView control.

Examples

The following example shows how to use the ListViewSortEventArgs object to display the sort direction and the column being sorted. This code example is part of a larger example provided for the ListViewSortEventArgs class.

void ContactsListView_Sorting(Object sender, ListViewSortEventArgs e)
{
  // Check the sort direction to set the image URL accordingly.
  string imgUrl;
  if (e.SortDirection == SortDirection.Ascending)
    imgUrl = "~/images/ascending.gif";
  else
    imgUrl = "~/images/descending.gif";
    
  // Check which field is being sorted
  // to set the visibility of the image controls.
  Image sortImage1 = (Image) ContactsListView.FindControl("SortImage1");
  Image sortImage2 = (Image)ContactsListView.FindControl("SortImage2");
  Image sortImage3 = (Image)ContactsListView.FindControl("SortImage3");
  switch (e.SortExpression)
  {
    case "FirstName":
      sortImage1.Visible = true;
      sortImage1.ImageUrl = imgUrl;
      sortImage2.Visible = false;
      sortImage3.Visible = false;
      break;
    case "LastName":
      sortImage1.Visible = false;
      sortImage2.Visible = true;
      sortImage2.ImageUrl = imgUrl;
      sortImage3.Visible = false;
      break;
    case "EmailAddress":
      sortImage1.Visible = false;
      sortImage2.Visible = false;
      sortImage3.Visible = true;
      sortImage3.ImageUrl = imgUrl;
      break;
  }
}

Sub ContactsListView_Sorting(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As ListViewSortEventArgs) 

  ' Check the sort direction to set the image URL accordingly.
  Dim imgUrl As String
  If e.SortDirection = SortDirection.Ascending Then
    imgUrl = "~/images/ascending.gif"
  Else
    imgUrl = "~/images/descending.gif"
  End If
  
  ' Check which field is being sorted
  ' to set the visibility of the image controls.
  Dim sortImage1 As Image = CType(ContactsListView.FindControl("SortImage1"), Image)
  Dim sortImage2 As Image = CType(ContactsListView.FindControl("SortImage2"), Image)
  Dim sortImage3 As Image = CType(ContactsListView.FindControl("SortImage3"), Image)
  
  Select Case e.SortExpression
    Case "FirstName"
      sortImage1.Visible = True
      sortImage1.ImageUrl = imgUrl
      sortImage2.Visible = False
      sortImage3.Visible = False
    Case "LastName"
      sortImage1.Visible = False
      sortImage2.Visible = True
      sortImage2.ImageUrl = imgUrl
      sortImage3.Visible = False
    Case "EmailAddress"
      sortImage1.Visible = False
      sortImage2.Visible = False
      sortImage3.Visible = True
      sortImage3.ImageUrl = imgUrl
  End Select
  
End Sub

The following example shows how to set the SortExpression property in order to sort multiple columns with different sort directions applied to each column.

<%@ Page language="C#" %>
    
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
    
<script runat="server">        

  protected void ContactsListView_Sorting(object sender, ListViewSortEventArgs e)
  {
    // Create the sort expression from the values selected 
    // by the user from the DropDownList controls. Multiple
    // columns can be sorted by creating a sort expression
    // that contains a comma-separated list of field names
    // and optionally directions for each column.
    e.SortExpression = SortList1.SelectedValue + " " +
        DirectionList1.SelectedValue + " ," +
        SortList2.SelectedValue;

    // Determine the sort direction of the second column.
    // The sort direction parameter applies only to the 
    // last column sorted.
    e.SortDirection = SortDirection.Ascending;
    if (DirectionList2.SelectedValue == "DESC")
      e.SortDirection = SortDirection.Descending;

  }
</script>

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
  <head id="Head1" runat="server"> 
    <title>SortExpression Example</title>
    <style type="text/css">
      body {  font: 10pt Trebuchet MS; }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
          
      <h3>SortExpression Example</h3>

      <table>
        <tr>
          <td>Sort by:</td>
          <td>
            <asp:DropDownList ID="SortList1" runat="server">
              <asp:ListItem>ContactID</asp:ListItem>
              <asp:ListItem Selected="true">FirstName</asp:ListItem>
              <asp:ListItem>LastName</asp:ListItem>
              <asp:ListItem>EmailAddress</asp:ListItem>              
            </asp:DropDownList>
          </td>
          <td>Sort order:</td>
          <td>
            <asp:DropDownList ID="DirectionList1" runat="server">
              <asp:ListItem Value="ASC" Text="Ascending" Selected="True" />
              <asp:ListItem Value="DESC" Text="Descending" />
            </asp:DropDownList>
          </td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td>Then by:</td>
          <td>
            <asp:DropDownList ID="SortList2" runat="server">
              <asp:ListItem>ContactID</asp:ListItem>
              <asp:ListItem>FirstName</asp:ListItem>
              <asp:ListItem Selected="true">LastName</asp:ListItem>
              <asp:ListItem>EmailAddress</asp:ListItem>
            </asp:DropDownList>
          </td>
          <td>Sort order:</td>
          <td>
            <asp:DropDownList ID="DirectionList2" runat="server">
              <asp:ListItem Value="ASC" Text="Ascending" Selected="True" />
              <asp:ListItem Value="DESC" Text="Descending" />
            </asp:DropDownList>
          </td>
        </tr>
      </table>

      <asp:ListView ID="ContactsListView" 
        DataSourceID="ContactsDataSource" 
        runat="server" onsorting="ContactsListView_Sorting">
        <LayoutTemplate>
          <asp:Button id="SortButton"
            Text="Sort"
            CommandName="Sort"
            runat="server"/>  

          <br/><br />

          <table cellpadding="2" width="640px" border="1" runat="server" id="tblContacts">
            <tr runat="server">
              <th runat="server">ContactID</th>
              <th runat="server">FirstName</th>
              <th runat="server">LastName</th>
              <th runat="server">EmailAddress</th>
            </tr>
            <tr runat="server" id="itemPlaceholder" />
          </table>
          <asp:DataPager runat="server" ID="ContactsDataPager" PageSize="12">
            <Fields>
              <asp:NextPreviousPagerField ButtonType="Button"
                ShowFirstPageButton="true" 
                ShowLastPageButton="true" />
            </Fields>
          </asp:DataPager>
        </LayoutTemplate>
        <ItemTemplate>
          <tr runat="server">
            <td>
              <asp:Label ID="ContactIDLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#Eval("ContactID") %>' />
            </td>
            <td>
              <asp:Label ID="FirstNameLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#Eval("FirstName") %>' />
            </td>
            <td>
              <asp:Label ID="LastNameLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#Eval("LastName") %>' />
            </td>
            <td>
              <asp:Label ID="EmailAddressLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#Eval("EmailAddress") %>' />
            </td>
          </tr>
        </ItemTemplate>
      </asp:ListView>              
        
      <!-- This example uses Microsoft SQL Server and connects      -->
      <!-- to the AdventureWorks sample database. Use an ASP.NET    -->
      <!-- expression to retrieve the connection string value       -->
      <!-- from the Web.config file.                                -->      
      <asp:SqlDataSource ID="ContactsDataSource" runat="server" 
        ConnectionString="<%$ ConnectionStrings:AdventureWorks_DataConnectionString %>"
        SelectCommand="SELECT [ContactID], [FirstName], [LastName], [EmailAddress] 
          FROM Person.Contact">
      </asp:SqlDataSource>
        
    </form>
  </body>
</html>

<%@ Page language="VB" %>
    
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
    
<script runat="server">        

  Sub ContactsListView_Sorting(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As ListViewSortEventArgs)
    
    ' Create the sort expression from the values selected 
    ' by the user from the DropDownList controls. Multiple
    ' columns can be sorted by creating a sort expression
    ' that contains a comma-separated list of field names
    ' and optionally directions for each column.
    e.SortExpression = SortList1.SelectedValue & " " & _
      DirectionList1.SelectedValue & " ," & SortList2.SelectedValue
    
    ' Determine the sort direction of the second column.
    ' The sort direction parameter applies only to the 
    ' last column sorted.
    e.SortDirection = SortDirection.Ascending
    If DirectionList2.SelectedValue = "DESC" Then
      e.SortDirection = SortDirection.Descending
    End If
    
  End Sub
</script>

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
  <head id="Head1" runat="server"> 
    <title>SortExpression Example</title>
    <style type="text/css">
      body {  font: 10pt Trebuchet MS; }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
          
      <h3>SortExpression Example</h3>

      <table>
        <tr>
          <td>Sort by:</td>
          <td>
            <asp:DropDownList ID="SortList1" runat="server">
              <asp:ListItem>ContactID</asp:ListItem>
              <asp:ListItem Selected="true">FirstName</asp:ListItem>
              <asp:ListItem>LastName</asp:ListItem>
              <asp:ListItem>EmailAddress</asp:ListItem>              
            </asp:DropDownList>
          </td>
          <td>Sort order:</td>
          <td>
            <asp:DropDownList ID="DirectionList1" runat="server">
              <asp:ListItem Value="ASC" Text="Ascending" Selected="True" />
              <asp:ListItem Value="DESC" Text="Descending" />
            </asp:DropDownList>
          </td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td>Then by:</td>
          <td>
            <asp:DropDownList ID="SortList2" runat="server">
              <asp:ListItem>ContactID</asp:ListItem>
              <asp:ListItem>FirstName</asp:ListItem>
              <asp:ListItem Selected="true">LastName</asp:ListItem>
              <asp:ListItem>EmailAddress</asp:ListItem>
            </asp:DropDownList>
          </td>
          <td>Sort order:</td>
          <td>
            <asp:DropDownList ID="DirectionList2" runat="server">
              <asp:ListItem Value="ASC" Text="Ascending" Selected="True" />
              <asp:ListItem Value="DESC" Text="Descending" />
            </asp:DropDownList>
          </td>
        </tr>
      </table>

      <asp:ListView ID="ContactsListView" 
        DataSourceID="ContactsDataSource" 
        runat="server" onsorting="ContactsListView_Sorting">
        <LayoutTemplate>
          <asp:Button id="SortButton"
            Text="Sort"
            CommandName="Sort"
            runat="server"/>  

          <br/><br />

          <table cellpadding="2" width="640px" border="1" runat="server" id="tblContacts">
            <tr runat="server">
              <th runat="server">ContactID</th>
              <th runat="server">FirstName</th>
              <th runat="server">LastName</th>
              <th runat="server">EmailAddress</th>
            </tr>
            <tr runat="server" id="itemPlaceholder" />
          </table>
          <asp:DataPager runat="server" ID="ContactsDataPager" PageSize="12">
            <Fields>
              <asp:NextPreviousPagerField ButtonType="Button"
                ShowFirstPageButton="true" 
                ShowLastPageButton="true" />
            </Fields>
          </asp:DataPager>
        </LayoutTemplate>
        <ItemTemplate>
          <tr runat="server">
            <td>
              <asp:Label ID="ContactIDLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#Eval("ContactID") %>' />
            </td>
            <td>
              <asp:Label ID="FirstNameLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#Eval("FirstName") %>' />
            </td>
            <td>
              <asp:Label ID="LastNameLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#Eval("LastName") %>' />
            </td>
            <td>
              <asp:Label ID="EmailAddressLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#Eval("EmailAddress") %>' />
            </td>
          </tr>
        </ItemTemplate>
      </asp:ListView>              
        
      <!-- This example uses Microsoft SQL Server and connects      -->
      <!-- to the AdventureWorks sample database. Use an ASP.NET    -->
      <!-- expression to retrieve the connection string value       -->
      <!-- from the Web.config file.                                -->      
      <asp:SqlDataSource ID="ContactsDataSource" runat="server" 
        ConnectionString="<%$ ConnectionStrings:AdventureWorks_DataConnectionString %>"
        SelectCommand="SELECT [ContactID], [FirstName], [LastName], [EmailAddress] 
          FROM Person.Contact">
      </asp:SqlDataSource>
        
    </form>
  </body>
</html>

Remarks

When the Sorting event is raised, you can use the SortExpression property to specify the sort expression that will be used to sort the ListView control. The sort expression contains the name of the field to sort. You can also sort multiple columns at a time by programmatically setting this property to a comma-separated list of field names.

Note

By default, the ListView control applies the sort direction to the complete list of columns. As a result, the sort direction applies to only the last column in the list.

Applies to

Jaa