Sort a column which contains date but its data type is string?

[saravanan k]

Hi,

I have a rad gird which is populated using a data set which inturn reads from an XML file. The grid needs to have 'AutoGenerateColumns' as 'true' since the no: of columns cannot be predicted.

One of the columns is 'TIMESTAMP' which contains the date. How do I make the grid understand that the value in the 'TIMESTAMP' is a datetime and not a string?

Currently, the grid understands the 'TIMESTAMP' as a string and hence the sorting/filtering is in-correct. If its a 'datetime' type then I believe, the sorting will appear correctly.

Thanks,
Saravanan 

[Gimmik]

Hi Saravanan,

The AutoGenerateColumns option should be aware of the data type of all the columns in the datasource. It's possible that the grid is getting a string from the XML because it's getting converted in another step. I would try load the data from an XML file into another structure where you have more control over the type (like a Dataset.) Then once the type is explicitly set the column should bind correctly.

[saravanan k]

Thanks Gimmik.

I made the changes in the dataset wherein I explicitly set the datatype for the column as datetime, filled it with data and bound it with the grid. Now the grid reads it correctly.

Cheers,
Saravanan