Question

I have a table of data which I would like to order by the date. My date field is varchar on the database in the following format; dd/mm/yyyy

I am trying to return my data with the following code;

var q = from na in db.NewsArticles orderby (Convert.ToDateTime(na.articleCreated).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd")) descending select na;
return q;

However this throws the following error;

Method 'System.String ToString(System.String)' has no supported translation to SQL.

Could someone point me in the right direction please?

Answer 1

Skip the .ToString("yyyy-MM-dd")

var q = 
  from na in db.NewsArticles 
  orderby Convert.ToDateTime(na.articleCreated) descending 
  select na;

EDIT
Since the DB collation does not seem to mach your date formatting, you can try this:

var q = db.NewsArticles.AsEnumerable().OrderByDescending(x => 
           DateTime.Parse(x, new CultureInfo("en-GB", false).DateTimeFormat))

Where “en-GB” is the culture from which your formatting is used. (you might need to change that)