Sorting GridView By Columns Header In Asp.Net Ascending Descending

This is example of how to enable Sorting In GridView By Clicking on Columns Or Headers In Ascending Or Descending Direction In Asp.Net Using C# And VB

If you have Populated GridView With ObjectDataSource or SqlDataSOurce to Insert Update Edit Delete record , then You just have toset AllowSorting property to True andSortExpression property of columns to respective field from database to sort.

Setting these properties changes column names to hyperlink and No coding is required. 

Write html source as mentioned below 

<asp:GridView ID="gvDetails" runat="server" 

              AutoGenerateColumns="False" 

              onsorting="gvDetails_Sorting">

<Columns>

<asp:TemplateField HeaderText="First Name" SortExpression="FirstName">

<ItemTemplate>

<asp:Label ID="lblFname" runat="server" Text='<%#Eval("FirstName")%>'/>

</ItemTemplate>

</asp:TemplateField>

<asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Last Name" SortExpression="LastName">

<ItemTemplate>

<asp:Label ID="lblLname" runat="server" Text='<%#Eval("LastName")%>'/>

</ItemTemplate>

</asp:TemplateField>

<asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Location" SortExpression="Location">

<ItemTemplate>

<asp:Label ID="lblLocation" runat="server" Text='<%#Eval("Location")%>'/>

</ItemTemplate>

</asp:TemplateField>

</Columns>

</asp:GridView>

IF SQLCONNECTION AND SQLCOMMAND IS USED IN CODE BEHIND

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If data is populated from database using code behind, then to sortwe need to write custom codeto save direction (Ascending or Descending) in ViewState and writecode in Sorting Event of Grid.

Populate and load GridView on Page_Load Event

BindGridView Method fetches data from database and return it as DataTable.

C# CODE

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01protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

02    {

03        if (!Page.IsPostBack)

04        {

05            gvDetails.DataSource = BindGridView();

06            gvDetails.DataBind();

07        }

08    }

09 

10    private DataTable BindGridView()

11    {

12        DataTable dtGrid = new DataTable();

13        SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["ConnectionString"].ConnectionString);

14        string strSelect = "SELECT FirstName,LastName,Location FROM Details";

15        SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(strSelect, con);

16        SqlDataAdapter dAdapter = new SqlDataAdapter(cmd);

17        dAdapter.Fill(dtGrid);

18        return dtGrid;

19    }

VB.NET CODE

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01Protected Sub Page_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)

02 If Not Page.IsPostBack Then

03  gvDetails.DataSource = BindGridView()

04  gvDetails.DataBind()

05 End If

06End Sub

07 

08Private Function BindGridView() As DataTable

09 Dim dtGrid As New DataTable()

10 Dim con As New SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("ConnectionString").ConnectionString)

11 Dim strSelect As String = "SELECT FirstName,LastName,Location FROM Details"

12 Dim cmd As New SqlCommand(strSelect, con)

13 Dim dAdapter As New SqlDataAdapter(cmd)

14 dAdapter.Fill(dtGrid)

15 Return dtGrid

16End Function

Create Public Property of SortDirection type and store direction in ViewState.

C# CODE

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01public SortDirection dir

02    {

03        get

04        {

05            if (ViewState["dirState"] == null)

06            {

07                ViewState["dirState"] = SortDirection.Ascending;

08            }

09            return (SortDirection)ViewState["dirState"];

10        }

11        set

12        {

13            ViewState["dirState"] = value;

14        }

15    }

VB.NET CODE

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01Public Property dir() As SortDirection

02 Get

03  If ViewState("dirState") Is Nothing Then

04   ViewState("dirState") = SortDirection.Ascending

05  End If

06  Return DirectCast(ViewState("dirState"), SortDirection)

07 End Get

08 Set

09  ViewState("dirState") = value

10 End Set

11End Property

Check Gridview's current direction from ViewState and set new sort direction in Sorting Event.
C# CODE

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01protected void gvDetails_Sorting(object sender, GridViewSortEventArgs e)

02    {

03        string sortingDirection = string.Empty;

04        if (dir == SortDirection.Ascending)

05        {

06            dir = SortDirection.Descending;

07            sortingDirection = "Desc";

08        }

09        else

10        {

11            dir = SortDirection.Ascending;

12            sortingDirection = "Asc";

13        }

14 

15        DataView sortedView = new DataView(BindGridView());

16        sortedView.Sort = e.SortExpression + " " + sortingDirection;

17        gvDetails.DataSource = sortedView;

18        gvDetails.DataBind();

19    }

VB.NET CODE

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01Protected Sub gvDetails_Sorting(sender As Object, e As GridViewSortEventArgs)

02 Dim sortingDirection As String = String.Empty

03 If dir = SortDirection.Ascending Then

04  dir = SortDirection.Descending

05  sortingDirection = "Desc"

06 Else

07  dir = SortDirection.Ascending

08  sortingDirection = "Asc"

09 End If

10 

11 Dim sortedView As New DataView(BindGridView())

12 sortedView.Sort = Convert.ToString(e.SortExpression) & " " & sortingDirection

13 gvDetails.DataSource = sortedView

14 gvDetails.DataBind()

15End Sub