Class CaseInsensitiveComparer
    Implements IComparer(Of String)

    Function Compare(ByVal x As String, ByVal y As String) As Integer _
        Implements IComparer(Of String).Compare

        ' Compare values and ignore case.
        Return String.Compare(x, y, True)
    End Function
End Class

Sub ThenByDescendingEx1()
    Dim fruits() As String = _
        {"apPLe", "baNanA", "apple", "APple", "orange", "BAnana", "ORANGE", "apPLE"}

    ' Sort the strings first ascending by their length and 
    ' then descending by using a custom case insensitive comparer.
    Dim query = fruits.AsQueryable() _
        .OrderBy(Function(fruit) fruit.Length) _
        .ThenByDescending(Function(fruit) fruit, New CaseInsensitiveComparer())

    Dim output As New System.Text.StringBuilder
    For Each fruit As String In query
        output.AppendLine(fruit)
    Next

    ' Display the results.
    MsgBox(output.ToString())
End Sub