How Can I Sort A 'Version Number' Column Generically Using a SQL Server Query

Question

I wonder if the SQL geniuses amongst us could lend me a helping hand.

I have a column VersionNo in a table Versions that contains \'version

Answer 1

If You are using SQL Server 2008

select VersionNo from Versions order by cast('/' + replace(VersionNo , '.', '/') + '/' as hierarchyid);

What is hierarchyid

Edit:

Solutions for 2000, 2005, 2008: Solutions to T-SQL Sorting Challenge here.

The challenge