Question

I have a following class :

[DataContract]
public class Pair<TKey, TValue> : INotifyPropertyChanged, IDisposable
{
    public Pair(TKey key, TValue value)
    {
        Key = key;
        Value = value;
    }

    #region Properties
    [DataMember]
    public TKey Key
    {
        get
        { return m_key; }
        set
        {
            m_key = value;
            OnPropertyChanged("Key");
        }
    }
    [DataMember]
    public TValue Value
    {
        get { return m_value; }
        set
        {
            m_value = value;
            OnPropertyChanged("Value");
        }
    }
    #endregion

    #region Fields
    private TKey m_key;
    private TValue m_value;
    #endregion

    #region INotifyPropertyChanged Members

    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

    protected void OnPropertyChanged(string name)
    {
        PropertyChangedEventHandler handler = PropertyChanged;
        if (handler != null)
        {
            handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(name));
        }
    }

    #endregion

    #region IDisposable Members

    public void Dispose()
    { }

    #endregion
}

Which I’ve put in an ObservableCollection :

ObservableCollection<Pair<ushort, string>> my_collection = 
    new ObservableCollection<Pair<ushort, string>>();

my_collection.Add(new Pair(7, "aaa"));
my_collection.Add(new Pair(3, "xey"));
my_collection.Add(new Pair(6, "fty"));

Q : How do I sort it by key ?

Answer 1

Sorting an observable and returning the same object sorted can be done using an extension method. For larger collections watch out for the number of collection changed notifications.

I have updated my code to improve performance (thanks to nawfal) and to handle duplicates which no other answers here do at time of writing. The observable is partitioned into a left sorted half and a right unsorted half, where each time the minimum item (as found in the sorted list) is shifted to the end of the sorted partition from the unsorted. Worst case O(n). Essentially a selection sort (See below for output).

public static void Sort<T>(this ObservableCollection<T> collection)
        where T : IComparable<T>, IEquatable<T>
    {
        List<T> sorted = collection.OrderBy(x => x).ToList();

        int ptr = 0;
        while (ptr < sorted.Count - 1)
        {
            if (!collection[ptr].Equals(sorted[ptr]))
            {
                int idx = search(collection, ptr+1, sorted[ptr]);
                collection.Move(idx, ptr);
            }
            
            ptr++;
        }
    }

    public static int search<T>(ObservableCollection<T> collection, int startIndex, T other)
            {
                for (int i = startIndex; i < collection.Count; i++)
                {
                    if (other.Equals(collection[i]))
                        return i;
                }
    
                return -1; // decide how to handle error case
            }

usage:
Sample with an observer (used a Person class to keep it simple)

    public class Person:IComparable<Person>,IEquatable<Person>
            { 
                public string Name { get; set; }
                public int Age { get; set; }
    
                public int CompareTo(Person other)
                {
                    if (this.Age == other.Age) return 0;
                    return this.Age.CompareTo(other.Age);
                }
    
                public override string ToString()
                {
                    return Name + " aged " + Age;
                }
    
                public bool Equals(Person other)
                {
                    if (this.Name.Equals(other.Name) && this.Age.Equals(other.Age)) return true;
                    return false;
                }
            }
    
          static void Main(string[] args)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("adding items...");
                var observable = new ObservableCollection<Person>()
                {
                    new Person {Name = "Katy", Age = 51},
                    new Person {Name = "Jack", Age = 12},
                    new Person {Name = "Bob", Age = 13},
                    new Person {Name = "Alice", Age = 39},
                    new Person {Name = "John", Age = 14},
                    new Person {Name = "Mary", Age = 41},
                    new Person {Name = "Jane", Age = 20},
                    new Person {Name = "Jim", Age = 39},
                    new Person {Name = "Sue", Age = 5},
                    new Person {Name = "Kim", Age = 19}
                };
    
                //what do observers see?
            
    
observable.CollectionChanged += (sender, e) =>
        {
            Console.WriteLine(
                e.OldItems[0] + " move from " + e.OldStartingIndex + " to " + e.NewStartingIndex);
            int i = 0;
            foreach (var person in sender as ObservableCollection<Person>)
            {
                if (i == e.NewStartingIndex)
                {
                    Console.Write("(" + (person as Person).Age + "),");
                }
                else
                {
                    Console.Write((person as Person).Age + ",");
                }
                
                i++;
            }

            Console.WriteLine();
        };

Details of sorting progress showing how the collection is pivoted:

Sue aged 5 move from 8 to 0
(5),51,12,13,39,14,41,20,39,19,
Jack aged 12 move from 2 to 1
5,(12),51,13,39,14,41,20,39,19,
Bob aged 13 move from 3 to 2
5,12,(13),51,39,14,41,20,39,19,
John aged 14 move from 5 to 3
5,12,13,(14),51,39,41,20,39,19,
Kim aged 19 move from 9 to 4
5,12,13,14,(19),51,39,41,20,39,
Jane aged 20 move from 8 to 5
5,12,13,14,19,(20),51,39,41,39,
Alice aged 39 move from 7 to 6
5,12,13,14,19,20,(39),51,41,39,
Jim aged 39 move from 9 to 7
5,12,13,14,19,20,39,(39),51,41,
Mary aged 41 move from 9 to 8
5,12,13,14,19,20,39,39,(41),51,

The Person class implements both IComparable and IEquatable the latter is used to minimise the changes to the collection so as to reduce the number of change notifications raised

• EDIT Sorts same collection without creating a new copy *

To return an ObservableCollection, call .ToObservableCollection on *sortedOC* using e.g. [this implementation][1].

**** orig answer – this creates a new collection ****
You can use linq as the doSort method below illustrates. A quick code snippet: produces

3:xey
6:fty
7:aaa

Alternatively you could use an extension method on the collection itself

var sortedOC = _collection.OrderBy(i => i.Key);

private void doSort()
{
    ObservableCollection<Pair<ushort, string>> _collection = 
        new ObservableCollection<Pair<ushort, string>>();

    _collection.Add(new Pair<ushort,string>(7,"aaa"));
    _collection.Add(new Pair<ushort, string>(3, "xey"));
    _collection.Add(new Pair<ushort, string>(6, "fty"));

    var sortedOC = from item in _collection
                   orderby item.Key
                   select item;

    foreach (var i in sortedOC)
    {
        Debug.WriteLine(i);
    }

}

public class Pair<TKey, TValue>
{
    private TKey _key;

    public TKey Key
    {
        get { return _key; }
        set { _key = value; }
    }
    private TValue _value;

    public TValue Value
    {
        get { return _value; }
        set { _value = value; }
    }
    
    public Pair(TKey key, TValue value)
    {
        _key = key;
        _value = value;

    }

    public override string ToString()
    {
        return this.Key + ":" + this.Value;
    }
}