IComparable required to sort column

Question

One of the columns in my DevExpress xtragrid is not sorting, grouping or filtering. Answers to similar questions suggest I need to implement IComparable, but when I did that it no longer displays in the column at all.

public class Flow : System.IComparable<Flow>
{
  public Flow(int id, string name, string description)
  {
    this.ID = id;
    this.Name = name;
    this.Description = description;
  }

  public int ID { get; private set; }

  public string Name { get; private set; }

  public string Description { get; private set; }

  public override string ToString()
  {
    return Name;
  }

  public override bool Equals(object obj)
  {
    Flow flow = obj as Flow;
    if (flow == null) return false;
    return this.ID == flow.ID;
  }

  public static bool operator ==(Flow flow1, Flow flow2)
  {
    if (object.ReferenceEquals(null, flow1))
      return object.ReferenceEquals(null, flow2);
    return flow1.Equals(flow2);
  }

  public static bool operator !=(Flow flow1, Flow flow2)
  {
    return !(flow1 == flow2);
  }

  public override int GetHashCode()
  {
    return ID;
  }

  public int CompareTo(Flow other)
  {
    return this.Name.CompareTo(other.Name);
  }
}

What have I done wrong?

UPDATE:

Asked on DevExpress...

Answer 1

The disappearing content was an unrelated issue - a red herring. The column allowed sorting once I had implemented IComparable rather than IComparable<Flow>

public int CompareTo(object obj)
{
  if (object.ReferenceEquals(null, obj))
    return 1;
  Flow flow = obj as Flow;
  if (flow == null)
    throw new ArgumentException("Object is not of type Flow");
  return this.Name.CompareTo(flow.Name);
}

Sourced from MSDN documentation for IComparable.CompareTo Method

Answer 2

It looks like your CompareTo Method is wrong. Try adding the following to the CompareTo() Method and see if it's working:

    public int CompareTo(Flow other)
    {
      // Alphabetic sort if name is equal.
      if this.Name == other.Name
      {
        return this.Name.CompareTo(other.Name);
      }
     //Default sort.
     return other.Name.CompareTo(this.Name);
    }

Let me know if it sorted out your problem.