Use generic SortDescriptor

Updated on Sep 15, 2025

This help article will show you how to create generic expression SortDescriptor<T> for a databound RadGridView.

This article will use the viewmodel and model defined in Examples 3 and 4 in the Getting Started article. Before continuing, you should familiarize yourself with it.

Generic SortDescriptor

The RadGridView control allows for ordering the data items by the result of a complex calculation without having to expose it through a read-only property. All you need to do is to use a SortDescriptor<TElement, TKey=>. In order to demonstrate this, we will setup the RadGridView as demonstrated in Example 1.

Example 1: Setting up the RadGridView

XAML

	<Grid>
        <Grid.DataContext>
            <my:MyViewModel />
        </Grid.DataContext>
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition Height="*" />
            <RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>

        <telerik:RadGridView Name="clubsGrid" 
                             ItemsSource="{Binding Clubs}"
                             AutoGenerateColumns="False"
                             GroupRenderMode="Flat">
            <telerik:RadGridView.Columns>
                <telerik:GridViewDataColumn DataMemberBinding="{Binding Name}"  />
                <telerik:GridViewDataColumn DataMemberBinding="{Binding StadiumCapacity}" 
                                            Header="Stadium" 
                                            DataFormatString="{}{0:N0}"/>
            </telerik:RadGridView.Columns>
        </telerik:RadGridView>

        <StackPanel Grid.Row="1">
            <Button Content="Add Generic SortDescriptor" Click="Button_Click" />
        </StackPanel>
    </Grid>

After that, when the button is clicked we will create a generic SortDescriptor and add it to the SortDescriptors collection of the RadGridView. Note, that in Example 2 we are simply returning a property of the bound object, however we have the option of working with all of its properties in order to construct a SortingExpression.

Example 2: Create a generic SortDescriptor

C#

	private void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
	{
		var descriptor = new SortDescriptor<Club, int>
		{
			SortingExpression = c => c.StadiumCapacity,
			SortDirection = ListSortDirection.Descending
		};

		this.clubsGrid.SortDescriptors.Add(descriptor);
	}

For more information you can check the Sorting section.

See Also

• Use expression descriptors