Sorting

TableView has built-in column sorting. Clicking a column header cycles the sort direction for that column: ascending → descending → cleared.

When to use it

Use sorting whenever users need to find the highest or lowest value in a column, or locate items alphabetically. Sorting is enabled by default and requires no extra code for the standard use case.

Basic example

Sorting is on by default. No extra configuration is needed:

<tv:TableView ItemsSource="{x:Bind Products}" />

Clicking the Price column header sorts the rows by price.

Sort direction indicator on a column header

Disabling sorting

Disable sorting for the entire table:

<tv:TableView CanSortColumns="False" />

Disable sorting for a specific column:

<tv:TableViewNumberColumn Header="Price" Binding="{Binding Price}" CanSort="False" />

Sorting by a different property (SortMemberPath)

By default, clicking a column header sorts by the column's bound property path. Use SortMemberPath to sort by a different property than the one displayed in the cell.

This is essential when:

The displayed value is a formatted string or computed property, but you want to sort by the raw underlying value.
You have a TableViewTemplateColumn with no Binding, but you still want sort to work on a specific property.

<!-- Display a formatted status string, but sort by the numeric StatusCode -->
<tv:TableViewTextColumn Header="Status"
                        Binding="{Binding StatusLabel}"
                        SortMemberPath="StatusCode" />

<!-- Template column with no Binding — sort by the Name property -->
<tv:TableViewTemplateColumn Header="Employee"
                             SortMemberPath="Name"
                             CanSort="True">
    <tv:TableViewTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
        <DataTemplate>
            <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Spacing="8">
                <Image Source="{Binding AvatarUrl}" Width="24" Height="24" />
                <TextBlock Text="{Binding Name}" />
            </StackPanel>
        </DataTemplate>
    </tv:TableViewTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
</tv:TableViewTemplateColumn>

When SortMemberPath is set, sorting uses reflection on the named property. When it is not set, the column falls back to the bound property path (for bound columns) or the cell's displayed content (for template columns).

Add sort descriptions to TableView.SortDescriptions:

// Sort by price ascending
tableView.SortDescriptions.Add(new SortDescription("Price", SortDirection.Ascending));

// Sort by name then price
tableView.SortDescriptions.Clear();
tableView.SortDescriptions.Add(new SortDescription("Name", SortDirection.Ascending));
tableView.SortDescriptions.Add(new SortDescription("Price", SortDirection.Ascending));

The SortDescriptions collection comes from the internal AdvancedCollectionView. Changes take effect immediately.

Clear all sorting using the dedicated method:

tableView.ClearAllSorting();

Refreshing the sort

Call RefreshSorting() to re-apply the current sort descriptions without requiring any user interaction. This is useful after you modify the underlying data outside of an ObservableCollection and need the displayed order to reflect the current values:

// Re-evaluate the sort after updating data in place
tableView.RefreshSorting();

The Sorting event

Handle the Sorting event to replace or supplement the built-in sort logic. Setting e.Handled = true prevents the default sort from running:

tableView.Sorting += (s, e) =>
{
    // Custom sort: case-insensitive name sort
    if (e.Column.Header?.ToString() == "Name")
    {
        var direction = e.Column.SortDirection == SortDirection.Ascending
            ? SortDirection.Descending
            : SortDirection.Ascending;

        tableView.ClearAllSorting();
        tableView.SortDescriptions.Add(new SortDescription(
            "Name",
            direction,
            StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase));

        e.Column.SortDirection = direction;
        e.Handled = true;
    }
};

TableViewSortingEventArgs properties:

Property	Description
`Column`	The column being sorted
`Handled`	Set `true` to suppress default sort behavior

The ClearSorting event

ClearSorting fires when the sort is removed from a column (third click cycles back to no sort):

tableView.ClearSorting += (s, e) =>
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Sort cleared on column: {e.Column.Header}");
};

TableViewClearSortingEventArgs properties:

Property	Description
`Column`	The column whose sort was cleared

Multi-column sort

Ctrl+Click a column header to add it as a secondary sort. The sort indicators show numbers when multiple columns are sorted.

Checking sort state

bool isSorted = tableView.IsSorted; // true if any column has a sort direction
var descriptions = tableView.SortDescriptions; // the active SortDescription list

Common options

Property / Event	Description
`CanSortColumns`	Enables or disables sorting for all columns
`CanSort`	Per-column sort toggle
`SortMemberPath`	Property path used for sorting, overriding the display binding
`SortDirection`	Current sort direction (`Ascending`, `Descending`, or `null`)
`SortDescriptions`	Collection of active sort descriptions
`IsSorted`	`true` if any sort is applied
`ClearAllSorting()`	Removes all sort descriptions and resets column indicators
`RefreshSorting()`	Re-applies current sort descriptions without user interaction
`Sorting`	Fires before the default sort runs; can be cancelled
`ClearSorting`	Fires when a column's sort is cleared

Notes and limitations

TableViewTemplateColumn has CanSort = false by default because there is no bound property path. Set SortMemberPath (and CanSort="True") to enable sorting on template columns, or set OperationContentBinding as an alternative.
Sorting is applied to the internal AdvancedCollectionView. It does not mutate the original collection.

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