Code for 2004 blog post A Generic Sorter For Strongly-Typed Collections

GenericSorter.cs

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Globalization;
using System.Reflection;
namespace IanNelson.Utilities
{
    /// <SUMMARY>
    /// A generic sorter, inheriting from IComparer,
    /// intended to allow for the sorting of
    /// strongly-typed collections on any named public property
    /// which implements IComparable
    /// </SUMMARY>
    public class GenericSorter : IComparer
    {
        string sortPropertyName;
        SortOrder sortOrder;
        public GenericSorter(string sortPropertyName)
        {
            this.sortPropertyName = sortPropertyName;
            this.sortDirection = SortDirection.Ascending;
            // default to ascending order
        }
        public GenericSorter(string sortPropertyName,
        SortDirection sortOrder)
        {
            this.sortPropertyName = sortPropertyName;
            this.sortDirection = sortDirection;
        }
        public int Compare(object x, object y)
        {
            // Get the values of the relevant property on the
            //  x and y objects
            object valueOfX = x.GetType().
            GetProperty(sortPropertyName).GetValue(x, null);
            object valueOfY = y.GetType().
            GetProperty(sortPropertyName).GetValue(y, null);
            // Do the comparison
            if (sortOrder == SortOrder.Ascending)
            {
                return ((IComparable)valueOfX).CompareTo(valueOfY);
            }
            else
            {
                return ((IComparable)valueOfY).CompareTo(valueOfX);
            }
        }
    }
    ///
    /// Enumerator to indicate whether to sort in ascending or
    /// descending order
    ///
    public enum SortDirection
    {
        Ascending,
        Descending
    }
}