C# DataGridView sorting with Generic List as underlying source

Question

I\'m using a Windows Forms DataGridView to display a generic list of MyObject objects.

First of all I wrap this collection into a

Answer 1

If creating your own user control is preferable, you can make a custom sort method using the code below:

    private string _lastSortColumn;
    private ListSortDirection _lastSortDirection;

    public void Sort(DataGridViewColumn column)
    {
        // Flip sort direction, if the column chosen was the same as last time
        if (column.Name == _lastSortColumn)
            _lastSortDirection = 1 - _lastSortDirection;
        // Otherwise, reset the sort direction to its default, ascending
        else
        {
            _lastSortColumn = column.Name;
            _lastSortDirection = ListSortDirection.Ascending;
        }

        // Prep data for sorting
        var data = (IEnumerable)DataSource;
        var orderProperty = column.DataPropertyName;

        // Sort data
        if (_lastSortDirection == ListSortDirection.Ascending)
            DataSource = data.OrderBy(x => x.GetType().GetProperty(orderProperty).GetValue(x, null)).ToList();
        else
            DataSource = data.OrderByDescending(x => x.GetType().GetProperty(orderProperty).GetValue(x, null)).ToList();

        // Set direction of the glyph
        Columns[column.Index].HeaderCell.SortGlyphDirection
            = _lastSortDirection == ListSortDirection.Ascending
            ? SortOrder.Ascending : SortOrder.Descending;
    }

You can then override the header click method to call your sort function:

    protected override void OnColumnHeaderMouseClick(DataGridViewCellMouseEventArgs e)
    {
        base.OnColumnHeaderMouseClick(e);

        var column = Columns[e.ColumnIndex];

        if (column.SortMode == DataGridViewColumnSortMode.Automatic
            || column.SortMode == DataGridViewColumnSortMode.NotSortable)
            Sort(column);
    }