Dynamic Comparers

Dynamic Comparer Definitions

Sometimes you need to define a comparer at run-time; for example, applying a user-selected multi-column sort. The comparer extension methods work on any type of comparer, so you can construct a comparer starting from the Null comparer like this:

var compareColumns = new[] { "LastName", "FirstName" };

IComparer<Person> comparer = Compare<Person>.Null();
foreach (var column in compareColumns)
{
  var localColumn = column;
  Func<Person, string> selector = p => p.GetType().GetProperty(localColumn).GetValue(p, null) as string;
  comparer = comparer.ThenBy(selector);
}

Equality comparers also support a Null comparer.

Comparers for Dynamic Types

You can specify dynamic as the compared type, which allows you to define a comparer that can be applied to multiple, unrelated types:

var comparer = Compare<dynamic>.OrderByDescending(x => x.Priority);

The comparer defined above can be used with any type that has a Priority property.