The SortOrder property determines the column's sort order. By default, the SortOrder property is SortNone. Use the SortOrder property to sort a column at runtime. Use the SortType property to determine the way how the column is sorted. Use the AllowSort property to avoid sorting a column when the user clicks the column. Use the SingleSort property to specify whether the control supports sorting by single or multiple columns. If the control supports sorting by multiple columns, the SortOrder property adds or removes the column to the sorting columns collection. For instance, if the SortOrder property is set to SortAscending or SortDescending the column is added to the sorting columns collection. If the SortOrder property is set to SortNone the control removes the column from its sorting columns collection. The Sort event is fired when the user sorts a column. The SortPosition property changes the position of the column in the control's sort bar. Use the DefaultSortOrder property to specify the column's default sort order, when the user first clicks the column's header. The EnsureOnSort property prevents scrolling the control's content when the user sorts items. The SortableItem property specifies whether the item keeps its position after sorting.

The control automatically sorts a column when the user clicks the column's header, if the SortOnClick property is exDefaultSort. If the SortOnClick property is exNoSort, the control disables sorting the items when the user clicks the column's header.

There are two methods to get the items sorted like follows:

• Using the SortOrder property of the Column object. The following VB snippet of code sorts the column "Column 1" ascending:

  Grid1.Columns("Column 1").SortOrder = SortAscending

  The SortOrder property adds the sorting icon to the column's header, if the DisplaySortIcon property is True.

• Using the SortChildren method of the Items collection. The SortChildren sorts the items. The SortChildren method sorts the child items of the given parent item in the control. SortChildren will not recourse through the tree, only the immediate children of the item will be sorted. The following VB sample sort descending the list of root items on the "Column 1" (if your control displays a list, all items are considered being root items):

  Grid1.Items.SortChildren 0, "Column 1", False

The SortType property of the Column object specifies the way how a column gets sorted. By default, a column gets sorted as string.

The following VB sample sorts the first column by dates:

With Grid1
        With .Columns(0)
            .SortType = SortDate
        End With
End With

If you need to sort a column using your special way you may want to use the SortType = SortUserData, or SortType = SortCellData that sorts the column using CellData / CellSortData property for each cell in the column. In this case, the CellData or CellSortData property holds numeric values only.