Sorting

21 Dec 20228 minutes to read

Sorting enables you to sort data in the Ascending or Descending order. To sort a column, click the column header.

To enable sorting in the Grid, set the AllowSorting to true. Sorting options can be configured through the SortSettings.

CSHTML

@Html.EJS().Grid("Grid").DataSource((IEnumerable<object>)ViewBag.datasource).AllowSorting().Columns(col =>
{
    col.Field("OrderID").HeaderText("Order ID").Width("120").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
    col.Field("CustomerID").HeaderText("Customer Name").Width("170").Add();
    col.Field("OrderDate").HeaderText("Order Date").Width("130").Format("yMd").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
    col.Field("Freight").HeaderText("Freight").Width("120").Format("C2").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();

}).AllowPaging().PageSettings(page => page.PageCount(5)).Render()

Sorting.cs

public IActionResult Index()
 {
   var orders = OrderDetails.GetAllRecords();
   ViewBag.datasource = orders;            
   return View();
 }

NOTE

Grid columns are sorted in the Ascending order. If you click the already sorted column, the sort direction toggles.

You can apply and clear sorting by invoking sortColumn and clearSorting methods.

To disable sorting for a particular column, set the AllowSorting property of Column to false.

Initial sort

To sort at initial rendering, set the Field and Direction in Columns property of SortSettings.

CSHTML

@{
    List<object> cols = new List<object>();
    cols.Add(new { field = "OrderDate", direction = "Ascending" });
    cols.Add(new { field = "Freight", direction = "Descending" });
}

@Html.EJS().Grid("Grid").DataSource((IEnumerable<object>)ViewBag.datasource).AllowSorting().Columns(col =>
{
  col.Field("OrderID").HeaderText("Order ID").Width("120").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
  col.Field("CustomerID").HeaderText("Customer Name").Width("170").Add();
  col.Field("OrderDate").HeaderText("Order Date").Width("130").Format("yMd").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
  col.Field("Freight").HeaderText("Freight").Width("120").Format("C2").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
  col.Field("ShipCountry").HeaderText("Ship Country").Width("150").Add();

}).AllowPaging().PageSettings(page => page.PageCount(2)).SortSettings(sort => sort.Columns(cols)).Render()

Initial-sort.cs

public IActionResult Index()
 {
   var orders = OrderDetails.GetAllRecords();
   ViewBag.datasource = orders;            
   return View();
 }

Multi-column sorting

You can sort more than one column in a Grid. To sort multiple columns, press and hold the CTRL key and click the column header. The sorting order will be displayed in the header while performing multi-column sorting.

To clear sorting for a particular column, press the “Shift + mouse left click”.

NOTE

The AllowSorting must be true while enabling multi-column sort.

Set AllowMultiSorting property as false to disable multi-column sorting.

CSHTML

@Html.EJS().Grid("Grid").DataSource((IEnumerable<object>)ViewBag.datasource).AllowSorting().AllowMultiSorting().Columns(col =>
{
    col.Field("OrderID").HeaderText("Order ID").Width("120").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
    col.Field("CustomerID").HeaderText("Customer Name").Width("170").Add();
    col.Field("OrderDate").HeaderText("Order Date").Width("130").Format("yMd").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
    col.Field("Freight").HeaderText("Freight").Width("120").Format("C2").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();

}).AllowPaging().PageSettings(page => page.PageCount(5)).Render()

Multi-column-sort.cs

public IActionResult Index()
{
    var orders = OrderDetails.GetAllRecords();
    ViewBag.datasource = orders;
    return View();
}

Sort order

By default, the sorting order will be as ascending -> descending -> none.

When first click a column header it sorts the column in ascending. Again click the same column header, it will sort the column in descending. A repetitive third click on the same column header will clear the sorting.

Sort foreign key column based on Text

For local data in Grid, sorting will be performed based on the ForeignKeyValue property of Column.

For remote data in Grid, sorting will be performed based on the ForeignKeyField instead of ForeignKeyValue. To sort a column based on the displayed text and not based on the ForeignKeyField, we need to handle the sorting operation at the server side.

The following code example describes the handling of sorting operation at the server side.

CSHTML

@Html.EJS().Grid("ItemGrid").DataSource(dataManger => { dataManger.Url("/OData/Items").Adaptor("ODataV4Adaptor"); }).Columns(col =>
{
    col.Field("OrderID").HeaderText("Order ID").Width("120").TextAlign("Right").Add();
    col.Field("EmployeeID").ForeignKeyField("EmployeeID").ForeignKeyValue("FirstName").DataSource(dm => { dm.Url("/OData/Brands").Adaptor("ODataV4Adaptor"); }).HeaderText("First Name").Add();
    col.Field("Freight").HeaderText("Freight").Width("120").Format("C2").TextAlign("Right").Add();
    col.Field("ShipName").HeaderText("Ship Name").Add();
    
}).AllowPaging().AllowSorting(true).AllowMultiSorting(true).Render()

Foreign-sort.cs

public class ItemsController : ODataController
{
    [EnableQuery]
    public IQueryable<Item> Get()
    {
        List<Item> GridData = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Item[]>(Properties.Resources.ItemsJson).AsQueryable().ToList();
        List<Brand> empData = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Brand[]>(Properties.Resources.BrandsJson).AsQueryable().ToList();
        var queryString = HttpContext.Current.Request.QueryString;
        var allUrlKeyValues = ControllerContext.Request.GetQueryNameValuePairs();
        string key = allUrlKeyValues.LastOrDefault(x => x.Key == "$orderby").Value;
        if (key != null)
        {
            if (key == "EmployeeID") {
                GridData = SortFor(key); //Only for foreignKey Column ascending
            }
            else if(key == "EmployeeID desc") {
                GridData = SortFor(key); //Only for foreignKey Column descending
            }
        }
        var count = GridData.Count();
        var data = GridData.AsQueryable();
        return data;
    }
        
    public List<Item> SortFor(String Sorted)
    {
        List<Item> GridData = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Item[]>(Properties.Resources.ItemsJson).AsQueryable().ToList();
        List<Brand> empData = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Brand[]>(Properties.Resources.BrandsJson).AsQueryable().ToList();
        if (Sorted == "EmployeeID") //check whether ascending or descending
            empData = empData.OrderBy(e => e.FirstName).ToList();
        else if(Sorted == "EmployeeID desc")
            empData = empData.OrderByDescending(e => e.FirstName).ToList();
        List<Item> or = new List<Item>();
        for (int i = 0; i < empData.Count(); i++) {
            //Select the Field matching records
            IEnumerable<Item> list = GridData.Where(pred => pred.EmployeeID == empData[i].EmployeeID).ToList();
            or.AddRange(list);
        }
        return or;
    }
}

Sorting events

During the sort action, the grid component triggers two events. The ActionBegin event triggers before the sort action starts, and the ActionComplete event triggers after the sort action is completed. Using these events you can perform the needed actions.

CSHTML

@Html.EJS().Grid("Grid").DataSource((IEnumerable<object>)ViewBag.datasource).AllowSorting(true).ActionComplete("sortEvent").ActionBegin("sortEvent").Columns(col =>
{
    col.Field("OrderID").HeaderText("Order ID").Width("120").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
    col.Field("CustomerID").HeaderText("Customer Name").Width("170").Add();
    col.Field("OrderDate").HeaderText("Order Date").Width("130").Format("yMd").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
    col.Field("Freight").HeaderText("Freight").Width("120").Format("C2").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();

}).AllowPaging().PageSettings(page => page.PageCount(5)).Render()

<script>
      function sortEvent(args){
            alert(args.requestType + ' ' + args.type); //custom Action
      }
</script>

Sort-event.cs

public IActionResult Index()
 {
    ViewBag.datasource = OrdersDetails.GetAllRecords();            
    return View();
 }

NOTE

The args.requestType is the current action name. For example, in sorting the args.requestType is sorting.

Touch interaction

When you tap the grid header on touchscreen devices, the selected column header is sorted. A popup is displayed for multi-column sorting. To sort multiple columns, tap the popup, and then tap the desired grid headers.

NOTE

The AllowMultiSorting and AllowSorting should be true then only the popup will be shown.

The following screenshot shows grid touch sorting.

See Also

• How to perform own sorting logic in ASP.NET MVC Grid