Question

I want to bind a dictionary to DropDownList. But before binding
I want to sort it alphabetically – either by key or value.

How can I obtain that? Is there some kind of build in sort
function or a trick?

Here is my code:

      Dim Dic1 As New Dictionary(Of String, String)

      Dic1.Add("1", "pear")
      Dic1.Add("2", "apple")
      Dic1.Add("3", "juice")
      Dic1.Add("4", "milk")
      Dic1.Add("5", "cornflakes")

    drpProduct.DataSource = Dic1
    drpProduct.DataTextField = "Value"
    drpProduct.DataValueField = "Key"
    drpProduct.DataBind()

Thanks in advance,
Best regards.

Answer 1

You can use Linq:

drpProduct.DataSource = From kv In Dic1 Order By kv.Value
drpProduct.DataTextField = "Value"
drpProduct.DataValueField = "Key"
drpProduct.DataBind()

Change Order By kv.Value to Order By kv.Key if you want to order by the keys instead.

But as Adi has already mentioned, it is better to use a SortedDictionary from the start then.