how to sort a datagridview by 2 columns

Question

How do I sort a DataGridView by two columns (ascending)? I have two columns: day and status.

If I need to sort by one column, I do:

Answer 1

Here is a refinement on the IComparer class from @John Kurtz, which supports mutliple columns and sorting by numbers or dates.

    public static void SortOnMultipleColumns(DataGridView dgv, Dictionary sortingColumns)
    {
        // Show the glyphs
        foreach (DataGridViewColumn col in dgv.Columns)
        {
            System.Windows.Forms.SortOrder sortOrder = System.Windows.Forms.SortOrder.None;

            foreach (var kvp in sortingColumns)
            {
                if (kvp.Key == col.Name)
                {
                    sortOrder = kvp.Value.SortOrder;
                    break;
                }
            }
            col.HeaderCell.SortGlyphDirection = sortOrder;
        }

        // Sort the grid
        MultiColumnCompararor multiColumnCompararor = new MultiColumnCompararor(sortingColumns);
        dgv.Sort(multiColumnCompararor);
    }

    public class ColumnSortInfo
    {
        public enum ValueConversion { ToString, ToNumber, ToDate}
        public ColumnSortInfo(System.Windows.Forms.SortOrder sortOrder, ValueConversion valueConversion = ValueConversion.ToString)
        {
            SortOrder = sortOrder;
            MyValueConversion = valueConversion;
            SortOrderMultiplier = (SortOrder == SortOrder.Ascending) ? 1 : -1;
        }
        public System.Windows.Forms.SortOrder SortOrder { get; set; }
        public int SortOrderMultiplier { get; }
        public ValueConversion MyValueConversion { get; set; }

        public static double StringToDouble(string sVal)
        {
            if (Double.TryParse(sVal, out double dVal))
            {
                return dVal;
            }
            return 0;
        }
        public static DateTime StringToDateTime(string sVal)
        {
            if (DateTime.TryParse(sVal, out DateTime dt))
            {
                return dt;
            }
            return DateTime.MinValue;
        }
    }
    private class MultiColumnCompararor : System.Collections.IComparer
    {

        IDictionary _sortingColumns;

        public MultiColumnCompararor(IDictionary sortingColumns)
        {
            _sortingColumns = sortingColumns;
        }

        public int Compare(object x, object y)
        {
            try
            {
                DataGridViewRow r1 = (DataGridViewRow)x;
                DataGridViewRow r2 = (DataGridViewRow)y;

                foreach (var kvp in _sortingColumns)
                {
                    string colName = kvp.Key;
                    ColumnSortInfo csi = kvp.Value;

                    string sVal1 = r1.Cells[colName].Value?.ToString().Trim()??"";
                    string sVal2 = r2.Cells[colName].Value?.ToString().Trim()??"";

                    int iCompareResult = 0;

                    switch (csi.MyValueConversion)
                    {
                        case ColumnSortInfo.ValueConversion.ToString:
                            iCompareResult = String.Compare(sVal1, sVal2);
                            break;
                        case ColumnSortInfo.ValueConversion.ToNumber:
                            double d1 = ColumnSortInfo.StringToDouble(sVal1);
                            double d2 = ColumnSortInfo.StringToDouble(sVal2);
                            iCompareResult = ((d1 == d2) ? 0 : ((d1 > d2) ? 1 : -1));
                            break;
                        case ColumnSortInfo.ValueConversion.ToDate:
                            DateTime dt1 = ColumnSortInfo.StringToDateTime(sVal1);
                            DateTime dt2 = ColumnSortInfo.StringToDateTime(sVal2);
                            iCompareResult = ((dt1 == dt2) ? 0 : ((dt1 > dt2) ? 1 : -1));
                            break;
                        default:
                            break;
                    }

                    iCompareResult = csi.SortOrderMultiplier * iCompareResult;

                    if (iCompareResult != 0) { return iCompareResult; }
                }
                return 0;
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                return 0;
            }
        }
    }

Usage:

        Dictionary sortingColumns = new Dictionary
                        { {"policyNumber", new ColumnSortInfo(System.Windows.Forms.SortOrder.Ascending)},
                          {"MessageId", new ColumnSortInfo(System.Windows.Forms.SortOrder.Descending, ColumnSortInfo.ValueConversion.ToNumber)},
                          {"CreationDate", new ColumnSortInfo(System.Windows.Forms.SortOrder.Ascending, ColumnSortInfo.ValueConversion.ToDate)}};

        CsUtils.SortOnMultipleColumns(dgv, sortingColumns);