Problem with CAML SPQuery ItemChildCount result

Question

I know that this query works fine

SPQuery query = new SPQuery();
query.Query = "<OrderBy><FieldRef Name='ItemChildCount' Ascending='FALSE' /></OrderBy>"; 

But my SPListItemCollection doesn't display what I'm expecting as a result.

Actual Dispaly in C#             Actual Display in CAML Query Builder

ID | Title | ItemChildCount|     ID | Title | ItemChildCount |
---|-------|---------------|     ---|-------|----------------|
11 | Abc   |    11;#5      |     11 | Abc   |       5        |
---|-------|---------------|     ---|-------|----------------|
22 | BBB   |    22;#9      |     22 | BBB   |       9        |
---|-------|---------------|     ---|-------|----------------|
24 | Cbc   |    24;#7      |     24 | Cbc   |       7        |

I wonder why in U2U CAML Query Builder, the sort by ItemChildCount doesn't work. I tried to sort the items by ItemChildCount yet it sorts the ID instead.

But, when I check on the result on C# code immediate window using SPListItem["ItemChildCount"] it displays the concatenated ID and the ItemChildCount resulting to something like this 11;#5.

How will I create a query where I can do some string manipulations on the CAML query. Something like this

Select * from ListCollection Order by ItemChildCount.Replace("11;#","")

If ever this is possible.

Answer 1

I hate to say it, but I'm afraid I don't think this is possible using CAML. Even joining the list to itself and using a GroupBy element wouldn't help because GroupBy isn't equivalent to its SQL counterpart.

My suggestion would be to:

• Query the Item ID and ItemChildCount from the list (unordered)
• Create a dictionary keyed by ItemChildCount (stripped), with the value being an array of item IDs that have that ItemChildCount
• Populate the dictionary with the queried data
• Work through the dictionary's keys in descending order, querying the Items in batches using the In CAML operator

Example of batch query:

<Where><In><FieldRef Name="ID" /><Values><Value Type="Number">1</Value><Value Type="Number">3</Value></Values></In></Where>

P.S. Trying to turn SQL into C# and CAML makes two very disconnected parts of my brain try to work together in a particularly nauseating way. Bleurgh.

Answer 2

try this :

 var field = ItemChildCount.Fields.GetFieldByInternalName("ItemChildCount");     
 var actualCount = field.GetValueAsHtml(ItemChildCount[field.Id]);