how to sort ObservableCollection

Question

I have a an ObservableCollection and a WPF UserControl is Databound to it. The Control is a graph that shows a vertical bar for each item of type BarData in the ObservableCo

Answer 1

The problem with sorting an ObservableCollection is that every time you change the collection, an event will get fired off. So for a sort that is removing items from one position and adding them to another, you will end up having a ton of events firing.

I think you're best bet is to just insert the stuff into the ObservableCollection in the proper order to begin with. Removing items from the collection won't effect ordering. I whipped up a quick extension method to illustrate

    public static void InsertSorted(this ObservableCollection collection, T item, Comparison comparison)
    {
        if (collection.Count == 0)
            collection.Add(item);
        else
        {
            bool last = true;
            for (int i = 0; i < collection.Count; i++)
            {
                int result = comparison.Invoke(collection[i], item);
                if (result >= 1)
                {
                    collection.Insert(i, item);
                    last = false;
                    break;
                }
            }
            if (last)
                collection.Add(item);
        }
    }

So if you were to use strings (for instance), the code would look like this

        ObservableCollection strs = new ObservableCollection();
        Comparison comparison = new Comparison((s1, s2) => { return String.Compare(s1, s2); });
        strs.InsertSorted("Mark", comparison);
        strs.InsertSorted("Tim", comparison);
        strs.InsertSorted("Joe", comparison);
        strs.InsertSorted("Al", comparison);

Edit

You can keep the calls identical if you extend the ObservableCollection and supply your own insert/add methods. Something like this:

public class BarDataCollection : ObservableCollection
{
    private Comparison _comparison = new Comparison((bd1, bd2) => { return DateTime.Compare(bd1.StartDate, bd2.StartDate); });

    public new void Insert(int index, BarData item)
    {
        InternalInsert(item);
    }

    protected override void InsertItem(int index, BarData item)
    {
        InternalInsert(item);
    }

    public new void Add(BarData item)
    {
        InternalInsert(item);
    }

    private void InternalInsert(BarData item)
    {
        if (Items.Count == 0)
            Items.Add(item);
        else
        {
            bool last = true;
            for (int i = 0; i < Items.Count; i++)
            {
                int result = _comparison.Invoke(Items[i], item);
                if (result >= 1)
                {
                    Items.Insert(i, item);
                    last = false;
                    break;
                }
            }
            if (last)
                Items.Add(item);
        }
    }
}

The insert index is ignored.

        BarData db1 = new BarData(DateTime.Now.AddDays(-1));
        BarData db2 = new BarData(DateTime.Now.AddDays(-2));
        BarData db3 = new BarData(DateTime.Now.AddDays(1));
        BarData db4 = new BarData(DateTime.Now);
        BarDataCollection bdc = new BarDataCollection();
        bdc.Add(db1);
        bdc.Insert(100, db2);
        bdc.Insert(1, db3);
        bdc.Add(db4);