Sorting an observable collection with linq

Question

I have an observable collection and I sort it using linq. Everything is great, but the problem I have is how do I sort the actual observable collection? Instead I just end

Answer 1

Since the collection doesn't provide any Sort mechanism, this is probably the most practical option. You could implement a sort manually using Move etc, but it will probably be slower than doing in this way.

    var arr = list.OrderBy(x => x.SomeProp).ToArray();
    list.Clear();
    foreach (var item in arr) {
        list.Add(item);
    }

Additionally, you might consider unbinding any UI elements while sorting (via either approach) you only pay to re-bind once:

Interestingly, if this was BindingList, you could use RaiseListChangedEvents to minimise the number of notifications:

    var arr = list.OrderBy(x => x).ToArray();
    bool oldRaise = list.RaiseListChangedEvents;
    list.RaiseListChangedEvents = false;
    try {
        list.Clear();
        foreach (var item in arr) {
            list.Add(item);
        }
    } finally {
        list.RaiseListChangedEvents = oldRaise;
        if (oldRaise) list.ResetBindings();
    }