I'm afraid XPath 1.0 can't sort nodesets on its own, it always provides nodesets in document order.

Alternatives would be to use XPath 2.0  (Requires Saxon.NET), Linq to XML (requires .NET 3.5) or XSLT 1.0/2.0.

Another choice would be to iterate through the returned nodeset using the XPathNodeIterator and perform the sort then.

Phil Fearon

http://www.sketchpath.com 

Refer to this forum

http://forums.asp.net/p/1144003/1847577.aspx#1847577

Is there a demo or example of the Linq to XML for supporting XML node sorting? Also, are there any special considerations I should be aware of when installing the .Net 3.5 framework - will it impact any of my .Net 2.0 code?

thanks

Note the following site. You can use Order By to re-arrange your xml file.

http://www.hookedonlinq.com/LINQtoXML5MinuteOverview.ashx

 Code:

XElement xml = new XElement("contacts",
                    from c in db.Contacts
                    orderby c.ContactId
                    select new XElement("contact",
                              new XAttribute("contactId", c.ContactId),
                              new XElement("firstName", c.FirstName),
                              new XElement("lastName", c.LastName))
                    );


Output:
<contacts>
  <contact contactId="2">
    <firstName>Barney</firstName>
    <lastName>Gottshall</lastName>
  </contact>
  <contact contactId="3">
    <firstName>Armando</firstName>
    <lastName>Valdes</lastName>
  </contact>
  <contact contactId="4">
    <firstName>Adam</firstName>
    <lastName>Gauwain</lastName>
  </contact>
  ...
</contacts>

Thanks. 2 more questions. 1) I need to install .Net 3.5 Framework to run Linq queries correct? If so, will .Net Framework have any adverse effect on my apps currently running .Net 2.0? 2) I also want to perform a Top 5 clause to return only a small portion of the dataset. Do you know if I would simply stick the TOP 5 Clause in the statment:

 new XElement("contacts",
                   TOP 5 from c in db.Contacts
                    orderby c.ContactId
?

 Thanks

Even using Xpath 2.0 I dont see any documentation on how an Xpath query with an order by clause is possible. Is this Xpath 2.0 query possible?

//Collection/Content[(Html/root/DocInfo/Type = 'Case Study') ORDER BY PUBLISHDATE]

Hi ljp007,

Another way is to use XPathExpression to sort your data. I think it is easier. You can loop through the nodes set to retrieve top 2 or 5 nodes.

Have a look at my sample.

<catalog>
  <faq id="12" type="3" name="bla">12</faq>
  <faq id="10" type="3" name="bla">10</faq>
  <faq id="11" type="1" name="bla">11</faq>
  <faq id="13" type="3" name="bla">13</faq>
</catalog>

            XPathDocument doc = new XPathDocument(Server.MapPath("doc.xml"));
            XPathNavigator nav = doc.CreateNavigator();
            XPathExpression exp = nav.Compile("/catalog/faq");
            exp.AddSort("@id", XmlSortOrder.Ascending, XmlCaseOrder.None, "", XmlDataType.Number);
            XPathNodeIterator iter = nav.Select(exp);
            while (iter.MoveNext())
            {
                string res = iter.Current.Value;
            }