How to Specify the Linq Orderby Argument Dynamically

How do I specify the Linq OrderBy argument dynamically?

Here's a possiblity using reflection...

var param = "Address";    
var propertyInfo = typeof(Student).GetProperty(param);    
var orderByAddress = items.OrderBy(x => propertyInfo.GetValue(x, null));

Dynamic Order By in Linq

Well, you definitely want to use OrderByDescending instead of reversing. It's not going to be quite as brief as the SQL, but you could at least use:

IQueryable<Entity> GetSortedData(IQueryable<Entity> result, String orderby, bool desc)
{
   switch (orderby.ToLowerInvariant())
   {
     case "id":
         return desc ? result.OrderByDescending(c => c.Id) : result.OrderBy(c => c.Id);
     case "code":
         return desc ? result.OrderByDescending(c => c.Code) : result.OrderBy(c => c.Code);
     case "active":
         return desc ? result.OrderByDescending(c => c.Active) : result.OrderBy(c => c.Active);
     default:
         return desc ? result.OrderByDescending(c => c.Name) : result.OrderBy(c => c.Name);
   }
}

You could remove that repetition with your own extension method:

public static IOrderedQueryable<TSource> OrderBy<TSource, TKey>(
    this IQueryable<TSource> source,
    Expression<Func<TSource, TKey>> keySelector,
    bool descending) =>
    descending ? source.OrderByDescending(keySelector) : source.OrderBy(keySelector);

Then write:

IQueryable<Entity> GetSortedData(IQueryable<Entity> result, String orderby, bool desc)
{
   switch (orderby.ToLowerInvariant())
   {
     case "id": return result.OrderBy(c => c.Id, desc);
     case "code": return result.OrderBy(c => c.Code, desc);
     case "active": return result.OrderBy(c => c.Active, desc);
     default: return result.OrderBy(c => c.Name, desc);
   }
}

How can I do an OrderBy with a dynamic string parameter?

Absolutely. You can use the LINQ Dynamic Query Library. There's also an updated version available on CodePlex.

It lets you create OrderBy clauses, Where clauses, and just about everything else by passing in string parameters. It works great for creating generic code for sorting/filtering grids, etc.

var result = data
    .Where(/* ... */)
    .Select(/* ... */)
    .OrderBy("Foo asc");

var query = DbContext.Data
    .Where(/* ... */)
    .Select(/* ... */)
    .OrderBy("Foo ascending");

Dynamic LINQ OrderBy on IEnumerable<T> / IQueryable<T>

Just stumbled into this oldie...

To do this without the dynamic LINQ library, you just need the code as below. This covers most common scenarios including nested properties.

To get it working with IEnumerable<T> you could add some wrapper methods that go via AsQueryable - but the code below is the core Expression logic needed.

public static IOrderedQueryable<T> OrderBy<T>(
    this IQueryable<T> source, 
    string property)
{
    return ApplyOrder<T>(source, property, "OrderBy");
}

public static IOrderedQueryable<T> OrderByDescending<T>(
    this IQueryable<T> source, 
    string property)
{
    return ApplyOrder<T>(source, property, "OrderByDescending");
}

public static IOrderedQueryable<T> ThenBy<T>(
    this IOrderedQueryable<T> source, 
    string property)
{
    return ApplyOrder<T>(source, property, "ThenBy");
}

public static IOrderedQueryable<T> ThenByDescending<T>(
    this IOrderedQueryable<T> source, 
    string property)
{
    return ApplyOrder<T>(source, property, "ThenByDescending");
}

static IOrderedQueryable<T> ApplyOrder<T>(
    IQueryable<T> source, 
    string property, 
    string methodName) 
{
    string[] props = property.Split('.');
    Type type = typeof(T);
    ParameterExpression arg = Expression.Parameter(type, "x");
    Expression expr = arg;
    foreach(string prop in props) {
        // use reflection (not ComponentModel) to mirror LINQ
        PropertyInfo pi = type.GetProperty(prop);
        expr = Expression.Property(expr, pi);
        type = pi.PropertyType;
    }
    Type delegateType = typeof(Func<,>).MakeGenericType(typeof(T), type);
    LambdaExpression lambda = Expression.Lambda(delegateType, expr, arg);

    object result = typeof(Queryable).GetMethods().Single(
            method => method.Name == methodName
                    && method.IsGenericMethodDefinition
                    && method.GetGenericArguments().Length == 2
                    && method.GetParameters().Length == 2)
            .MakeGenericMethod(typeof(T), type)
            .Invoke(null, new object[] {source, lambda});
    return (IOrderedQueryable<T>)result;
}

---

Edit: it gets more fun if you want to mix that with dynamic - although note that dynamic only applies to LINQ-to-Objects (expression-trees for ORMs etc can't really represent dynamic queries - MemberExpression doesn't support it). But here's a way to do it with LINQ-to-Objects. Note that the choice of Hashtable is due to favorable locking semantics:

using Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder;
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Dynamic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
static class Program
{
    private static class AccessorCache
    {
        private static readonly Hashtable accessors = new Hashtable();

        private static readonly Hashtable callSites = new Hashtable();

        private static CallSite<Func<CallSite, object, object>> GetCallSiteLocked(
            string name) 
        {
            var callSite = (CallSite<Func<CallSite, object, object>>)callSites[name];
            if(callSite == null)
            {
                callSites[name] = callSite = CallSite<Func<CallSite, object, object>>
                    .Create(Binder.GetMember(
                                CSharpBinderFlags.None, 
                                name, 
                                typeof(AccessorCache),
                                new CSharpArgumentInfo[] { 
                                    CSharpArgumentInfo.Create(
                                        CSharpArgumentInfoFlags.None, 
                                        null) 
                                }));
            }
            return callSite;
        }

        internal static Func<dynamic,object> GetAccessor(string name)
        {
            Func<dynamic, object> accessor = (Func<dynamic, object>)accessors[name];
            if (accessor == null)
            {
                lock (accessors )
                {
                    accessor = (Func<dynamic, object>)accessors[name];
                    if (accessor == null)
                    {
                        if(name.IndexOf('.') >= 0) {
                            string[] props = name.Split('.');
                            CallSite<Func<CallSite, object, object>>[] arr 
                                = Array.ConvertAll(props, GetCallSiteLocked);
                            accessor = target =>
                            {
                                object val = (object)target;
                                for (int i = 0; i < arr.Length; i++)
                                {
                                    var cs = arr[i];
                                    val = cs.Target(cs, val);
                                }
                                return val;
                            };
                        } else {
                            var callSite = GetCallSiteLocked(name);
                            accessor = target =>
                            {
                                return callSite.Target(callSite, (object)target);
                            };
                        }
                        accessors[name] = accessor;
                    }
                }
            }
            return accessor;
        }
    }

    public static IOrderedEnumerable<dynamic> OrderBy(
        this IEnumerable<dynamic> source, 
        string property)
    {
        return Enumerable.OrderBy<dynamic, object>(
            source, 
            AccessorCache.GetAccessor(property), 
            Comparer<object>.Default);
    }

    public static IOrderedEnumerable<dynamic> OrderByDescending(
        this IEnumerable<dynamic> source, 
        string property)
    {
        return Enumerable.OrderByDescending<dynamic, object>(
            source, 
            AccessorCache.GetAccessor(property), 
            Comparer<object>.Default);
    }

    public static IOrderedEnumerable<dynamic> ThenBy(
        this IOrderedEnumerable<dynamic> source, 
        string property)
    {
        return Enumerable.ThenBy<dynamic, object>(
            source, 
            AccessorCache.GetAccessor(property), 
            Comparer<object>.Default);
    }

    public static IOrderedEnumerable<dynamic> ThenByDescending(
        this IOrderedEnumerable<dynamic> source, 
        string property)
    {
        return Enumerable.ThenByDescending<dynamic, object>(
            source, 
            AccessorCache.GetAccessor(property), 
            Comparer<object>.Default);
    }

    static void Main()
    {
        dynamic a = new ExpandoObject(), 
                b = new ExpandoObject(), 
                c = new ExpandoObject();
        a.X = "abc";
        b.X = "ghi";
        c.X = "def";
        dynamic[] data = new[] { 
            new { Y = a },
            new { Y = b }, 
            new { Y = c } 
        };

        var ordered = data.OrderByDescending("Y.X").ToArray();
        foreach (var obj in ordered)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(obj.Y.X);
        }
    }
}

How to store Microsoft's Dynamic Linq's OrderBy in a variable?

Is this what your looking for?

Func<IQueryable<T>, IOrderedQueryable<T>> _orderBy = t => t.OrderBy( String.Join(",", orderBy));

How to Conditionally the column in LINQ OrderByDescending for OrderBy?

You can use the library System.Linq.Dynamic.Core which supports dynamic querying, selecting and ordering.

Example code:

var q = new List<Person>
{
    new Person{Name = "C", Age = 30 },
    new Person{Name = "A", Age = 7 },
    new Person{Name = "B", Age = 5 }
}.AsQueryable();

var x1 = q.OrderBy("Name asc");

var a1 = q.OrderBy("Age desc");

How do you OrderBy in C# and LINQ using a parameter defined in runtime for a List<dynamic> where each dynamic is an ExpandoObject

You can cast to IDictionary<string, object> and use square bracket indexers with the property name string, e.g.

dynamic report1 = new ExpandoObject();
report1.Name = "Foo";
dynamic report2 = new ExpandoObject();
report2.Name = "Bar";

var reports = new[] { report1, report2 }.ToList();    

var sortBy = "Name";

var first = reports.OrderBy(x => ((IDictionary<string, object>)x)[sortBy]).First();

Console.WriteLine(first.Name); // Bar

LINQ method, which Dynamically ordering data by column name I send

Try to create a QueryableExtensions with the the following code:

//required using System.Linq;
//required using System.Linq.Expressions;
public static class QueryableExtensions
{
    public static IQueryable<T> OrderBy<T>(this IQueryable<T> source, string columnName, bool isAscending = true)
    {
        if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(columnName))
        {
            return source;
        }

        ParameterExpression parameter = Expression.Parameter(source.ElementType, "");

        MemberExpression property = Expression.Property(parameter, columnName);
        LambdaExpression lambda = Expression.Lambda(property, parameter);

        string methodName = isAscending ? "OrderBy" : "OrderByDescending";

        Expression methodCallExpression = Expression.Call(typeof(Queryable), methodName,
                              new Type[] { source.ElementType, property.Type },
                              source.Expression, Expression.Quote(lambda));

        return source.Provider.CreateQuery<T>(methodCallExpression);
    }

Then, in the LINQ statement, we could use the above method to sort the records:

    public IActionResult CategoryIndex()
    {
        //CategoryName Descending
        var result1 = _context.Categories.OrderBy("CategoryName", false).Select(c=>c.CategoryName).ToArray();
        //CategoryID Descending
        var result2 = _context.Categories.OrderBy("CategoryID", false).Select(c => c.CategoryID).ToArray();
        return View();
    }

The screenshot as below:

Linq orderby StringComparer dynamically

Since propertyInfo.GetValue returns Object (not String) you have a syntax error. Try casting to String:

List<data> newList = _list
  .OrderBy(x => propertyInfo.GetValue(x, null) as String,
           StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase)
  .ToList();

---

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