Question

How should i use linq to sort my data when my data contain both numbers and letters?

For example my current linq

Dim MyQuery = From c In XDoc.Descendants() _
Where c.Attribute(Y) IsNot Nothing And c.Attribute(Str) IsNot Nothing _
Order By Val(c.Attribute(Y).Value), Val(c.Attribute(X).Value) _
Select Str = c.Attribute(Str)

returns something like the following

13
167   
172   
231      
44    
49  

which is not what i would like it to be…
The output should be like the one below

13
44    
49 
167   
172   
231      

Any ideas?
Thank you for your time

Answer 1

Don’t use the Value property of XAttribute – use the explicit conversion to Integer. I think this should do it:

Dim MyQuery = From c In XDoc.Descendants() _
Where c.Attribute(Y) IsNot Nothing And c.Attribute(Str) IsNot Nothing _
Order By CInt(c.Attribute(Y)), CInt(c.Attribute(X)) _
Select Str = c.Attribute(Str)

Note that it’s generally a better idea to use the explicit conversions supported by XAttribute and XElement than to use Int32.Parse etc, as then the XML-specific parsing will be performed, following the appropriate standard formats.