Question

I am using following code to bind a paged datasource to repeater control

  protected void Paging()
    {
        Array q = (Array)Session["q"];
        PagedDataSource objPds = new PagedDataSource();
        objPds.DataSource = q;
        objPds.AllowPaging = true;
        objPds.PageSize = Convert.ToInt32(ddlPageNo.SelectedValue);

        objPds.CurrentPageIndex = CurrentPage;

        lblCurrentPage.Text = "Page: " + (CurrentPage + 1).ToString() + " of "
           + objPds.PageCount.ToString();

        // Disable Prev or Next buttons if necessary
        cmdPrev.Enabled = !objPds.IsFirstPage;
        cmdNext.Enabled = !objPds.IsLastPage;

        rptHotels.DataSource = objPds;
        rptHotels.DataBind();

    }

where q is

 getAvailableHotelResponse getres = new getAvailableHotelResponse();    
  getres = objsoap.getAvailableHotel(apiKey, destinationId, checkIn, checkOut, strCurrencyCode, "UK", false, rooms, f);   
            List<hotel> hr = new List<hotel>();
            hr = getres.availableHotels.ToList();

            List<BALHotelList> bh = new List<BALHotelList>();
            bh = h.GetHotelListByDestinationId(destinationId);
     var q = from a in bh
                    join b in hr on a.HotelCode equals b.hotelCode
                    orderby a.HotelName
                    select new
            {
                a.HotelCode,
                a.ImageURL_Text,
                a.HotelName,
                a.StarRating,
                a.HotelAddress,
                a.Destination,
                a.Country,
                a.HotelInfo,
                a.Latitude,
                a.Longitude,
                b.totalPrice,
                b.totalPriceSpecified,
                b.totalSalePrice,
                b.totalSalePriceSpecified,
                b.rooms

            };


            //rptHotels.DataSource = getres.availableHotels;

            Session["q"] = q.ToArray();

now i want to use

want to sort the array q by hotelname or starRating .

I am not finding any method like

q.sort(); 

or

q.orderBy(q->hotelName)

Answer 1

q for you is an instance of the Array class, rather than an array of some type (i.e. int[], string[], object[]). Array only implements IEnumerable, not IEnumerable<T> so the Linq methods aren’t there. The underlying problem here is that it is an array of an anonymous type, so other than through using really messy workarounds you can’t effectively get a strongly typed array back.

The best solution at this point is to create a new class to hold your data (i.e. Hotel) rather than putting it into an anonymous type. When you populate the session create new instances of that type (Hotel) , and then when you pull it out of the session cast it to an array of that type (Hotel[]), rather then the generic Array. At that point you will be able to use the Linq methods on the object.