XML Sorting options C# .Net

Question

I am trying to print out documents in various different orders. Right now I have a collection of print objects and an XML document where each node has attributes associated with a print object in the collection. I want to sort these objects by sorting the XML document based on these attributes.

Right now I am using a series of collections that i am cycling through and adding the node into a new collection based on the sorting i need done. The problem is 3 or 4 sorts in it gets messy. I am sure there has to be a better way to sort this collection of print objects, using XML or not.

Here are some attributes that my XML has that i am sorting on:

# of pages
Zip Code listed on document
Name of Document

Does anyone have a better idea?

thanks,

EDIT -

my document will look something like

<xml>
<claim key="1" att1="wd" att2="de"/>
<claim key="2" att1="wd" att2="de"/>
<claim key="3" att1="wd" att2="de"/>
<claim key="4" att1="wd" att2="de"/>
</xml>

The key value is associated with a spot in the print object collection. The claim nodes may have more child nodes but i do not think that is relevant at this point. I would just like to be able to sort based on the attributes, there will be at least 3 attributes but more may be added. Also this needs to be versatile so if I need to switch the sorting order it should be somewhat easy to rearrange. Once I have the XML in the correct order I want, then i use a cycle through the XML in order putting the key into a list and then print out the Print objects by the keys in that list.

thanks,

Can you post an example of the document and how you are linking the XML nodes to the print object, please? It would help a great deal. — deadlyvices, Mar 19 '12 at 13:08
I'm going to suggest that possibly a little LINQ with some grouping and sorting will help you out, but we'd have to see what the XML looks like to give you any concrete examples. [Here's a post](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5013710/linq-order-by-group-by-and-order-by-each-group) to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. — Cᴏʀʏ, Mar 19 '12 at 13:11

Cᴏʀʏ · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-19T13:50:58.670

1

I tried this example out in LINQPad and it seems to do what you're asking.

var root = XDocument.Parse("<xml><claim>...</claim></xml>").Element("xml");

var query = from claim in root.Elements("claim")
            let key = claim.Attributes("key").First().Value
            let att1 = claim.Attributes("att1").First().Value
            let att2 = claim.Attributes("att2").First().Value
            orderby key, att1, att2
            select claim;

It finds the <claim> nodes in your XML, selects the attributes on which you'd like to sort, sorts them, and then returns an IEnumerable<XElement> collection representing the sorted <claim> nodes.

You can then use the query result to build your Print objects, or you could change the above to have it do it for you:

var query2 = from claim in root.Elements("claim")
            let key = claim.Attributes("key").First().Value
            let att1 = claim.Attributes("att1").First().Value
            let att2 = claim.Attributes("att2").First().Value
            orderby key, att1, att2
            select new Print {
                        Property1 = key, // do type conversion if needed
                        Property2 = att1,
                        Property3 = att2
                    };

I think it fits the maintainability requirements you mentioned -- you just have to change add/remove/change the attribute names in the LINQ query if you need to sort differently.

EDIT: To get the key into a list of ints, as per your comment below:

var printKeys = (from claim in query
                select Integer.Parse(claim.Attributes("key").First().Value)).ToList();

edited Mar 19 '12 at 13:50

answered Mar 19 '12 at 13:42

Cᴏʀʏ

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This looks like it will work for what I need, My only question is, since I am somewhat new to c#, how can I loop through the IEnumerable collection so that I can put the Key value in a list of ints. I would not order by key, the key will just allow me to figure out which spot in the print obj collection to print. – kds6253 Mar 19 '12 at 13:50
Thanks, I am working with it now. Do you have any recommended reading on XDocument and the solutuon you used. I would like to read more into it, this solution is 100 times simpler then I originally came up with and I would like to learn where else this type of solution could be used. – kds6253 Mar 19 '12 at 13:57
@kds6253: Good question. LINQ is a really powerful addition to the .NET Framework -- you'll find that it's uses are endless. When I first dove into it, I experimented with the MSDN examples [here](http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/101-LINQ-Samples-3fb9811b), and I also bought [this book](http://www.amazon.com/Pro-LINQ-Language-Integrated-Experts/dp/1590597893/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1332166210&sr=8-6). I believe the new `XDocument` and `XElement` classes are covered in the LINQ to XML section of that book. – Cᴏʀʏ Mar 19 '12 at 14:11
How can I tell if the query collection is full? My list of keys is not being filled so i am not sure if my query collection is empty or if i am not doing something right with filling the list of ints. – kds6253 Mar 19 '12 at 14:42
@kds6253: What do you mean by "full"? If you want to check if it has any elements, you can check `query.Any()` or `query.Count() > 0`. – Cᴏʀʏ Mar 19 '12 at 14:44

XML Sorting options C# .Net

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