I would like more visibility of the sort order being applied to Views both in the top pane using the "Sort By" function, and in the bottom pane using the "Sort Inside Groups By" function.
Currently, if a Column is displayed, at the right side of the column the sort order is indicated with an up or down arrow and a number. However, many default and custom Views (including Smartlists and Playlists) don't display all sort columns, or they are off-screen and so not visible. For example, in the first attached image the top pane is sorted by [Name], which is indicated in the column header. But the column headers also show the third sort field is [Album]. What is the second sort field? I would have to guess and add columns to the View until I found out, and the next time I wondered, repeat that process.
The bottom pane has similar issues, but in addition, if I select an Album in the top pane or apply a filter using the Search Box, the sort indicators in the bottom pane disappear. That information is lost.
I would like to see the sort order displayed on the right hand side of the drop-down field list when right-clicking on a column header.
I like that the field clicked on is displayed at the top of the list of fields, and think that should stay.
Below that I would like to see any fields included in the sort order, in the sequence they are used for sorting.
Below that the remaining fields should be displayed in alphabetical order, as they are now.
The second image shows a mockup of how that may work.
This sort order visibility should include automatic sorts not selected by the user, but added by MC, including the addition of sorting by [Disc #] automatically whemever [Track #] is included in the sort, and vice versa. That is also shown in the first image, where in the bottom pane tracks are sorted by [Track #], but MC only shows [Disc #] as being the fourth sort field, with no sort on [Track #].
This sort order visibility should include any default sorts applied by selecting from the "Sort By" drop-down list. At present selecting the "Default" or any other pre-defined sort orders gives no visibility of the actual sort order that will be applied. Perhaps hovering over a pre-defined sort order would show a fly-out information panel to the right showing the sort order to be applied. Or a tooltip could display it.
There are also some anomalies in the sort selection when using the dropdown Sort By menu. The third image is an example, where the sort order selected was "Name", but the list shows "Date Program Recorded" is also selected. This is not correct and so is confusing. If that occurs with other pre-defined sorts, the View could show unexpected results.
Sorry. More than 10 lines. It isn't complex, but I wanted to be specific.