using System;

using System.Linq.Expressions;

using System.Linq;

public class Program

{

    public static void Main()

    {

        var employees = new[] {

            new Employee {

                Name = "gary",

                HireDate = new DateTime(2017, 1, 1)

            },

            new Employee {

                Name = "spencer",

                HireDate = new DateTime(2014, 12, 31)

            },

            new Employee {

                Name = "michael",

                HireDate = new DateTime(2017, 1, 1)

            },

            new Employee {

                Name = "amy",

                HireDate = new DateTime(2017, 1, 1)

            },

        };

        foreach (var emp in employees.AsQueryable().OrderByPropertyOrField("Name")) {

            Console.WriteLine("{0} - {1:d}", emp.Name, emp.HireDate);

        }

    }

}

​

public class Employee

{

    public string Name { get; set; }

    public DateTime HireDate { get; set; }

}

​

public static class EnumerableExtensions

{

    //ripped shamelessly from https://github.com/schneidenbach/AspNetPagingExample

    /// <summary>

    /// Order the IQueryable by the given property or field.

    /// </summary>

    /// <typeparam name="T">The type of the IQueryable being ordered.</typeparam>

    /// <param name="queryable">The IQueryable being ordered.</param>

    /// <param name="propertyOrFieldName">The name of the property or field to order by.</param>

    /// <param name="ascending"></param>

    /// <returns>Returns an IQueryable ordered by the specified field.</returns>

    public static IQueryable<T> OrderByPropertyOrField<T>(this IQueryable<T> queryable, string propertyOrFieldName, bool ascending = true)

    {

        var elementType = typeof (T);

        var orderByMethodName = ascending ? "OrderBy" : "OrderByDescending";

​

        var parameterExpression = Expression.Parameter(elementType);

        var propertyOrFieldExpression = Expression.PropertyOrField(parameterExpression, propertyOrFieldName);

        var selector = Expression.Lambda(propertyOrFieldExpression, parameterExpression);

​

        var orderByExpression = Expression.Call(typeof (Queryable), orderByMethodName,

                                                new[] {elementType, propertyOrFieldExpression.Type}, queryable.Expression, selector);

​

        return queryable.Provider.CreateQuery<T>(orderByExpression);

    }

}