C# Sort List by multiple conditions

Question

I need to sort some soccer standings. My problem is how to sort in the right order.

Sortorder:

• Points DESC
• Approximation match
• Goal difference DESC
• Goals scored DESC
• Goals against

Input: TeamName - Points - GoalsScored - GoalsAgainst

• Team 1 - 1 - 4 - 7
• Team 2 - 5 - 8 - 6
• Team 3 - 1 - 2 - 10
• Team 4 - 8 - 12 - 5
• Team 5 - 5 - 7 - 4

... Match #4 - Team 5 - Team 2 -- 1-2

Match #7 - Team 1 - Team 3 -- 3-3 ...

Output: TeamName - Points - GoalsScored - GoalsAgainst

• Team 4 - 8 - 12 - 5
• Team 2 - 5 - 8 - 6
• Team 5 - 5 - 7 - 4
• Team 1 - 1 - 4 - 7
• Team 3 - 1 - 2 - 10

Because Team 2 won over Team 5 they ends up at 2nd place.

Because Team 1 draw against Team 3, they ends up at 4. place, with a better goal difference.

public class Standing
{
    public Team Team { get; set; }
    public int? MatchesPlayed { get; set; }
    public int? GoalsScored { get; set; }
    public int? GoalsAgainst { get; set; }
    public int? Points { get; set; }
}

public class Match
{
    public int MatchID { get; set; }
    public DateTime? PlayTime { get; set; }
    public Team HomeTeam { get; set; }
    public Team AwayTeam { get; set; }
    public int? HomeScore { get; set; }
    public int? AwayScore { get; set; }
}

public class Pool
{
    public int PoolID { get; set; }
    public string PoolName { get; set; }
    public DateTime? StartTime { get; set; }
    public List<Team> Teams { get; set; }
    public List<Match> Matches { get; set; }
    public List<Standing> Standings { get; set; }
}

Answer 1

I think you should check out the IComparable interface and consider implementing it over your object(s).

Answer 2

You want to write yourself a comparator function and pass that to the sort method.

If one team has more points, indicate that that team is "bigger".

If both teams have the same number of points, look at the goal difference and use that to decide which team is "bigger".

Answer 3

Can you use .NET 3.5? It's pretty straightforward to use the LINQ OrderBy and ThenBy extension methods for this.

Answer 4

If your data is stored in a database (is it?) then you could sort in the select query by using ORDER BY. The resulting C# data structure will then be in order.