Sorting a combobox purely in XAML - wpf

Question

I'm surprised that no one has asked this before here... well, at least I haven't found an answer here or anywhere else, actually.
I have a ComboBox that is databound to an ObservableCollection. Everything worked great until the guys wanted the contents sorted. No problem -- I end up changing the simple property out:
public ObservableCollection<string> CandyNames { get; set; } // instantiated in constructor
for something like this:
private ObservableCollection<string> _candy_names; // instantiated in constructor
public ObservableCollection<string> CandyNames
{
get {
_candy_names = new ObservableCollection<string>(_candy_names.OrderBy( i => i));
return _candy_names;
}
set {
_candy_names = value;
}
}
This post is really two questions in one:
How can I sort a simple ComboBox of strings in XAML only. I have researched this and can only find info about a SortDescription class, and this is the closest implementation I could find, but it wasn't for a ComboBox.
Once I implemented the sorting in code-behind, it my databinding was broken; when I added new items to the ObservableCollection, the ComboBox items didn't update! I don't see how that happened, because I didn't assign a name to my ComboBox and manipulate it directly, which is what typically breaks the binding.
Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

You can use a CollectionViewSource to do the sorting in XAML, however you need to refresh it's view if the underlying collection changes.
XAML:
<Window x:Class="CBSortTest.Window1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:scm="clr-namespace:System.ComponentModel;assembly=WindowsBase"
Height="300" Width="300">
<Window.Resources>
<CollectionViewSource Source="{Binding Path=CandyNames}" x:Key="cvs">
<CollectionViewSource.SortDescriptions>
<scm:SortDescription />
</CollectionViewSource.SortDescriptions>
</CollectionViewSource>
</Window.Resources>
<StackPanel>
<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource cvs}}" />
<Button Content="Add" Click="OnAdd" />
</StackPanel>
</Window>
Code behind:
using System;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Data;
namespace CBSortTest
{
public partial class Window1 : Window
{
public Window1()
{
InitializeComponent();
CandyNames = new ObservableCollection<string>();
OnAdd(this, null);
OnAdd(this, null);
OnAdd(this, null);
OnAdd(this, null);
DataContext = this;
CandyNames.CollectionChanged +=
(sender, e) =>
{
CollectionViewSource viewSource =
FindResource("cvs") as CollectionViewSource;
viewSource.View.Refresh();
};
}
public ObservableCollection<string> CandyNames { get; set; }
private void OnAdd(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
CandyNames.Add("Candy " + _random.Next(100));
}
private Random _random = new Random();
}
}