This example demonstrates how to create a custom group description by deriving from the DataGridGroupDescription class and overriding the GroupNameFromItem method. The custom group description will group items according to the first letter in the value received as a parameter. The example results in the group being present at initial loading; also, when removing and re-adding the group, the custom group description is not triggered. See below for an alternative approach to avoid this. 

The implementation for the custom sort comparer assigned to the group description's SortComparer property is provided below.

VB.NET
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Imports System

Imports System.Collections.Generic

Imports System.Text

Imports Xceed.Wpf.DataGrid

Imports System.Collections

Imports System.Globalization;

Namespace Xceed.Wpf.Documentation

  Public Class AlphabeticalGroupDescription

         Inherits DataGridGroupDescription

    Public Sub New()

      MyBase.New()

    End Sub

    Public Sub New(ByVal propertyName As String)

     MyBase.New(propertyName)

    End Sub

    Public Overrides Function GroupNameFromItem(ByVal item As Object, _

                                                ByVal level As Integer, _

                                                ByVal culture As CultureInfo) As Object

      Dim value As Object = MyBase.GroupNameFromItem(item, level, culture)

      Try

        Dim content As String = Convert.ToString(value)

        value = content.ToUpper().Substring(0, 1)

      Catch e1 As InvalidCastException

      End Try

      Return value

    End Function

  End Class

End Namespace
C#
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using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Text;

using Xceed.Wpf.DataGrid;

using System.Collections;

namespace Xceed.Wpf.Documentation

{

  public class AlphabeticalGroupDescription : DataGridGroupDescription

  {

    public AlphabeticalGroupDescription()

      : base()

    {

    }

    public AlphabeticalGroupDescription( string propertyName )

      : base( propertyName )

    {

    }

  

    public override object GroupNameFromItem( object item, int level,

                                              System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture )

    {

      object value = base.GroupNameFromItem( item, level, culture );

      try

      {

        string content = Convert.ToString( value );

        value = content.ToUpper().Substring( 0, 1 );

      }

      catch( InvalidCastException )

      {

      }

      return value;

    }

  }

}

The following code demonstrates how to use the custom group description by adding it to the DataGridCollectionViewSource's GroupDescriptions property.

XAML
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<Grid xmlns:xcdg="http://schemas.xceed.com/wpf/xaml/datagrid"

     xmlns:local="clr-namespace:Xceed.Wpf.Documentation">

  <Grid.Resources>     

    <local:ConsonantVowelComparer x:Key="consonantVowelComparer"/>

    <xcdg:DataGridCollectionViewSource x:Key="cvs_orders"

                                       Source="{Binding

                                                Source={x:Static Application.Current},

                                                Path=Orders}">

     <xcdg:DataGridCollectionViewSource.GroupDescriptions>

       <local:AlphabeticalGroupDescription PropertyName="ShipCountry"

                                SortComparer="{StaticResource consonantVowelComparer}"/>

     </xcdg:DataGridCollectionViewSource.GroupDescriptions>

    </xcdg:DataGridCollectionViewSource>

  </Grid.Resources>

  <xcdg:DataGridControl x:Name="OrdersGrid"

                        ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource cvs_orders}}"/>

</Grid>
VB.NET
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Dim collectionView As New DataGridCollectionView( Orders )

Dim groupDescription As New AlphabeticalGroupDescription( "ShipCountry" )

groupDescription.SortComparer = New ConsonantVowelComparer()

collectionView.GroupDescriptions.Add( groupDescription )

dataGridControl.ItemsSource = collectionView
C#
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DataGridCollectionView collectionView = new DataGridCollectionView( Orders );

AlphabeticalGroupDescription groupDescription = new AlphabeticalGroupDescription( "ShipCountry" );

groupDescription.SortComparer = new ConsonantVowelComparer();

collectionView.GroupDescriptions.Add( groupDescription );

dataGridControl.ItemsSource = collectionView;

The following code provides the implementation for the custom sort comparer that is used to sort, by vowels then consonants, the group descriptions create above.

VB.NET
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Imports System

Imports System.Collections.Generic

Imports System.Text

Imports System.Collections

Namespace Xceed.Wpf.Documentation

  Public Class ConsonantVowelComparer

     Implements IComparer

    Public Sub New()

    End Sub



    Public Function Compare(ByVal x As Object, _

                            ByVal y As Object) As Integer Implements IComparer.Compare

      If (TypeOf x Is String) AndAlso (TypeOf y Is String) Then

        Dim xString As String = x.ToString().ToLowerInvariant()

        Dim yString As String = y.ToString().ToLowerInvariant()

        Dim isXVowel As Boolean = m_vowels.Contains(xString)

        Dim isYVowel As Boolean = m_vowels.Contains(yString)

        If isXVowel Xor isYVowel Then

          If isXVowel Then

            Return -1

          Else

            Return 1

          End If

        End If

        Return String.Compare(xString, yString)

      End If

      Throw New ArgumentException()

    End Function

    Private Const m_vowels As String = "aeiouy"

  End Class

End Namespace
C#
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using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Text;

using System.Collections;

namespace Xceed.Wpf.Documentation

{

  public class ConsonantVowelComparer : IComparer

  {

    public ConsonantVowelComparer()

    {

    }

    public int Compare( object x, object y )

    {

      if( ( x is string ) && ( y is string ) )

      {

        string xString = x.ToString().ToLowerInvariant();

        string yString = y.ToString().ToLowerInvariant();

        bool isXVowel = m_vowels.Contains( xString );

        bool isYVowel = m_vowels.Contains( yString );

        if( isXVowel ^ isYVowel )

          return isXVowel ? -1 : 1;

        return String.Compare( xString, yString );      

      }

      throw new ArgumentException();

    }

    private const string m_vowels = "aeiouy";

  }

}

The first example results in the group being present at initial loading; also, when removing and re-adding the group, the custom GroupDescription is not triggered. But by adding the custom GroupDescription directly to the Column, data is not grouped until the end-user drags the column to create the group.

<Window.Resources>

    <local:DateGroupDescription x:Key="myDateGroupDescription"

                                PropertyName="DateTimeFieldName" />

</Window.Resources>



[...]



<xcdg:DataGridControl.Columns>

  <xcdg:Column FieldName="DateTimeFieldName"

              GroupDescription="{StaticResource myDateGroupDescription}" />

</xcdg:DataGridControl.Columns>