linq orderby using property name string

You can get Dynamic Linq through Nuget. Then you can use .OrderBy(sortby + " " + sortdirection). Here is the link: Dynamic Linq.

Here is one solution that does not use Dynamic Linq:

public class Helper
{
    public static IEnumerable<T> OrderByDynamic<T>(IEnumerable<T> items, string sortby, string sort_direction)
    {
        var property = typeof (T).GetProperty(sortby);

        var result = typeof(Helper)
            .GetMethod("OrderByDynamic_Private", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Static)
            .MakeGenericMethod(typeof (T), property.PropertyType)
            .Invoke(null, new object[]{ items, sortby, sort_direction});

        return (IEnumerable<T>)result;
    }

    private static IEnumerable<T> OrderByDynamic_Private<T,TKey>(IEnumerable<T> items, string sortby, string sort_direction)
    {
        var parameter = Expression.Parameter(typeof (T), "x");

        Expression<Func<T, TKey>> property_access_expression =
            Expression.Lambda<Func<T, TKey>>(
                Expression.Property(parameter, sortby),
                parameter);

        if (sort_direction == "asc")
        {
            return items.OrderBy(property_access_expression.Compile());
        }

        if (sort_direction == "desc")
        {
            return items.OrderByDescending(property_access_expression.Compile());
        }

        throw new Exception("Invalid Sort Direction");
    }
}

You can use it like this:

var result = Helper.OrderByDynamic(list, "Name", "desc").ToList();