asp.net mvc - Linq Select OrderBy ThenBy Kendo Dropdownlist

Question

My application is MVC5. I am populating Countries Kendo Dropdownlist, trying to place Canada and United States at the top of the list using:

     public JsonResult GetCountries()
            {
                return Json(db.Country.OrderBy(x => x.TwoCharCountryCode == "CA")
                .ThenBy(x => x.TwoCharCountryCode == "US").ThenBy(x => x.CountryName)
             .Select(c => new { CountryId = c.CountryId, CountryName = c.CountryName }), JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
            }



              @(Html.Kendo().DropDownList()
                  .Name("Country")
                  .HtmlAttributes(new { style = "width:300px;", id="Country", value = ViewBag.CountryId })
                 .OptionLabel("Select country...")
                  .DataTextField("CountryName")
                  .DataValueField("CountryId")
                  .DataSource(source =>
                  {
                      source.Read(read =>
                      {
                          read.Action("GetCountries", "Home");
                      }).ServerFiltering(true);
                  })
                  .Events(e => {e.Select("onSelect");
                  }))

I get Canada and the USA at the bottom!

Can I use two ThenBy? or what am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Just force LINQ translator to create correct query:

var query = db.Country
   .OrderBy(x => x.TwoCharCountryCode == "CA" 
      ? 0 
      : x.TwoCharCountryCode == "US"
      ? 1 : 2)
   .ThenBy(x => x.CountryName)
   .Select(c => new { CountryId = c.CountryId, CountryName = c.CountryName });