Question

class Program
{


    static void Main(string[] args)
    {

        //Period 01 2008, Period 02 2008
        Series s1 = new Series { Text = "Period 01 2008", Value = "1"};
        Series s2 = new Series { Text = "Period 02 2008", Value = "2" };
        Series s3 = new Series { Text = "Period 03 2008", Value = "3" };

        Series s11 = new Series { Text = "Period 01 2009", Value = "1" };
        Series s21 = new Series { Text = "Period 02 2009", Value = "2" };
        Series s31 = new Series { Text = "Period 03 2009", Value = "3" };

        Series s12 = new Series { Text = "Period 01 2010", Value = "1" };
        Series s22 = new Series { Text = "Period 02 2010", Value = "2" };
        Series s32 = new Series { Text = "Period 03 2010", Value = "3" };

        List<Series> series = new List<Series> { s21, s31, s1, s12, s11, s2, s22, s3, s32 };


       // mySeries.ForEach(i => Console.WriteLine("Period {0} {1}",i.Period, i.Year));
        series.ForEach(i => Console.WriteLine(i.Text));

        Console.WriteLine("************************");

        series.OrderBy(i => i.Text);

        series.ForEach(i=> Console.WriteLine(i.Text));

    }

}


public class Series
{
    public string Text { get; set; }
    public string Value {get;set;}
}

Basically I want my list to be ordered by the Text property of the Series class. I have a work-around by splitting the text, but I am looking for any other way – using IComparer maybe?

The ordered list should be something like this:

Period 01 2008, Period 02 2008, Period 03 2008, Period 01 2009,
Period 02 2009…

Update: the definition of the Series class cannot be changed.

Answer 1

Add following comparer

public class SeriesTextComparer : IComparer<string>
{
    public int Compare(string x, string y)
    {
        string[] xparts = x.Split(' ');
        string[] yparts = y.Split(' ');

        if (xparts[2] == yparts[2])
        {
            if (Convert.ToInt32(xparts[1]) > Convert.ToInt32(yparts[1]))
            {
                return 1;
            }
            else if(Convert.ToInt32(xparts[1]) < Convert.ToInt32(yparts[1]))
            { 
                return -1;
            }
            else
            {
                return 0;
            }
        }
        else
        { 
        if (Convert.ToInt32(xparts[2]) > Convert.ToInt32(yparts[2]))
            {
                return 1;
            }
            else if(Convert.ToInt32(xparts[2]) < Convert.ToInt32(yparts[2]))
            { 
                return -1;
            }
            else
            {
                return 0;
            }
        }
    }
}

And change last two lines in your example as below

List<Series> sortedSeries =  series.OrderBy(i => i.Text, new SeriesTextComparer()).ToList();
sortedSeries.ForEach(i => Console.WriteLine(i.Text));