Question

I have my SqlDataSource control. It basically has UpdateCommand and SelectCommand. My gridview is bound to this sqldatasource control. My SelectCommand is:

Select Username, Status from Users Order by LastLoginTime desc

I have my table something like this:

ABC IN PROGESS  somedate
DEF COMPLETE    somedate
PQR PENDING     somedate
JLM COMPLETE    somedate
LKM IN PROGESS  somedate

Currently query results are sorted by lastlogintime (i.e somedate). But I want my results to be sorted by 2nd column(say this column name is Status). I want the records to be sorted in such a way that 1st all users whole status is IN PROGRESS should appear then PENDING and then COMPLETE. As you can say this is not a simple order by clause.

How can I sort in this way with my SqlDataSource control?

Answer 1

You should use Custom Sort Order using CASE in SQL. Try this

SELECT Name, Status FROM UsersOrder ORDER BY CASE Status
    WHEN 'IN PROGESS' THEN 1
    WHEN 'PENDING' THEN 2
    WHEN 'COMPLETE' THEN 3
    ELSE 99
END

So in effect your SelectCommand will be a hideous one-liner. 🙂

SelectCommand="SELECT Name, Status FROM UsersOrder ORDER BY CASE Status WHEN 'IN PROGESS' THEN 1 WHEN 'PENDING' THEN 2 WHEN 'COMPLETE' THEN 3 ELSE 99 END" 

I am afraid this is the only solution.