ShortGuid and SQL Server GUID ordering

Pineapple.Common.ShortGuid is a struct that represents a Guid as a 22-character, URL-safe string — 14 characters shorter than the standard 36-character format — and converts implicitly to and from both Guid and string.

using Pineapple.Common;

ShortGuid id = ShortGuid.NewGuid();
string text = id;                     // "xnS5yWvbWE2Ky1Ue7PZkZw"
Guid guid = id;                       // implicit Guid conversion

ShortGuid parsed = text;              // implicit from short string
ShortGuid parsed2 = guid.ToString();  // ...or from a standard Guid string

bool same = parsed == id;             // true

Encoding rules

1. Take Guid.ToByteArray() (16 bytes).
2. Base64-encode it (24 characters).
3. Replace / with _ and + with -.
4. Drop the trailing ==.

API

Member	Purpose
ShortGuid.NewGuid()	New random ShortGuid
ShortGuid.Empty	Wraps Guid.Empty ("AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA")
new ShortGuid(Guid) / new ShortGuid(string)	Construct from a Guid, a 22-char short string, or a standard Guid string
.Guid, .Value	The underlying Guid and the 22-char string
ShortGuid.Encode(Guid) / Encode(string)	Guid → short string
ShortGuid.Decode(string)	Short or standard string → Guid
ShortGuid.TryParse(string, out Guid)	Non-throwing parse
Equals(object)	Equal to another ShortGuid, a Guid, or either string form

Sorting GUIDs like SQL Server

Pineapple.Common.GuidExtensions compares GUIDs using SQL Server’s uniqueidentifier byte order, so in-memory sorting matches ORDER BY in the database.

var ordered = rows.OrderByGuid(r => r.Id).ToList();
bool later = a.IsGreaterThan(b);      // also IsLessThan, IsGreaterThanOrEqual, IsLessThanOrEqual
int cmp = a.SqlCompareTo(b);

Questions about ShortGuid

What is a ShortGuid?

A ShortGuid is a 128-bit Guid encoded as 22 URL-safe Base64 characters. Pineapple replaces ‘+’ with ‘-‘ and ‘/’ with ‘_’ and drops the ‘==’ padding, so the value is safe in URLs, file names, and route segments.

How do I convert a Guid to a short string in C#?

Use Pineapple’s ShortGuid: ShortGuid s = guid; string text = s; or call ShortGuid.Encode(guid). Convert back with ShortGuid.Decode(text) or new ShortGuid(text).Guid.

Why do GUIDs sort differently in SQL Server than in .NET?

SQL Server’s uniqueidentifier compares the last six bytes first, then the remaining groups in a specific order. Pineapple’s GuidExtensions.SqlCompareTo and OrderByGuid reproduce SQL Server’s order in .NET.