C# DataBinded ListBoxes - Sorting Issue

Question

I have these ListBox es.. all of them are DataBind ed to same table and they are in a table type of manner, every row corresponds to its actual value in the datbase. When i switch selection(SelectedIndexChange) on any of these ListBoxes i change the SelectedIndex of all the other ListBox es.

Now i cannot simply select "Sort = true" for any of the ListBox because doing so the values in ListBox es will not correspond to their actual values in other ListBox es. I want to provide an option to sort Acoording to one of the ListBox while keeping the correspondences valid. HOW TO DO IT .Any Suggestions.

I don't want to run any Sorting Algorithm on ListBox, picking every entry(Item) and sorting it and then changing the rest of ListBox es accordingly.

Answer 1

If you're needing to do exactly what you have listed, I'd recommend adding in a 'layer' of logic before actually binding to the listboxes.

i.e.:

Instead of databinding directly to the ListBoxes, create a List<> of the datarows (or your own custom object). When you need to sort the list, call the .Sort() method on the List<> for whatever property/column you need, and then clear out the ListBoxes, repopulate them based upon your List<> (probably adding the ListItems one at a time for each box), and then correct the SelectedIndex(es) of the ListBoxes.

By doing it this way, you never lose association between rows of the ListBoxes.

Answer 2

You should really use a ListView instead of using all those list boxes. It would make your life a lot less complicated, as it supports the functionality you are requesting without you having to worry about keeping things in sync.