LINQ sorting on List Object - Various Object Type

Question

I try to sort a List<Object> where the Object are different classes but all share the same Property Name for instance.
I got a Base Class where Class A and Class B inherit from the Base Class.
So during the Linq query I cannot specify with object type this is.
Problem here "from ?????Entry_Global?????? list in Entries"
Thanks for helping.
////Entries is a List<Object> which consist of class object as following\\\\\
public abstract class EntryBase<T>
private string _Name;
public string Name
get { return this._Name; }
set { this.SetProperty(ref this._Name, value); }
public class Entry_Global : EntryBase<Entry_Global>
public class Entry_CC : EntryBase<Entry_CC>
private string _url; //Web url
public string Url
get { return this._url; }
set { this.SetProperty(ref this._url, value.Contains("http") ? value : "http://" + value); }
public List<Object> SortBy()
IEnumerable<KeyedList<string, object>> groupedEntryList = null;
//The proble reside in the fact that list is not only one type
//so when comes in the orderby "Name" it doesn't know Name
//or any other properties which are all common to all those class
//It does not want to convert Entry_CC or Entry_Global to EntryBase
groupedEntryList =
from ?????Entry_Global?????? list in Entries
orderby list.Name
orderby list.CategoryRef.Name
group list by list.CategoryRef.Name into listByGroup
select new KeyedList<string, object>(listByGroup);
return groupedEntryList.ToList<object>();

Answer 1

Entry_Global and Entry_CC don't share the same base class since EntryBase<Entry_Global> and EntryBase<Entry_CC> are two totally different types so you cannot cast the objects in the List<object> to a common base class in this case.
You could cast from object to dynamic though:
public List<Object> SortBy()
List<object> objects = new List<object>();
objects.Add(new Entry_Global { Name = "K" });
objects.Add(new Entry_CC { Name = "A" });
objects.Add(new Entry_Global { Name = "I" });
objects.Add(new Entry_CC { Name = "C" });
var sortedObjectsByName = (from o in objects
let t = (dynamic)o
orderby t.Name
select o).ToList();
return sortedObjectsByName;
The dynamic keyword makes a type bypass static type checking at compile-time:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd264736.aspx. This basically means that a dynamic type is considered to have any property of any name at compile time. Of course you will get an exception at runtime if the type doesn't have a Name property but
providied that all objects in the List<T> to be sorted are of type EntryBase<T> you will be safe as long as the EntryBase<T> type defines the Name property that you sort by.
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