Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[RoderickGI]

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.

[JimH]

Moved here because it's not a minor change.  Discussion?

[RoderickGI]

Okay. While it took a bit of explaining, I wasn't sure how much work it would be.

I think I covered the issues as I see them. There may be a better way to make the sort field visible than I suggested. So everyone else, speak up!

[wer]

I agree that it would be good to have the visibility of the current sorting method cleared up and cleaned up.

Rod, I think the only thing you omitted is that there are certain circumstances where MC will not divulge the sort method at all.  This is very annoying.  This can occur in Theater View, where the sorting method for a particular category/view-level will be displayed as blank, and there is no way to to determine what the actual sort method is.

That sort of thing should never happen.

[RoderickGI]

 :(I hadn't looked at Theatre View because it doesn't have the "Sort By" and "Sort Inside Groups By" functions that Standard View has. I can mostly define the sort order for Theatre View in the View definitions.

But there are certainly "hidden' sorts applied to MC Views even in Standard View, such as whenever a View is sorted by [Disc #] or [Track #], the View is always sorted by [Disc #] then [Track #] combined. I would like visibility of that.

[Matt]

I'm playing with adding the sorting to the column header right-click menu for v27.  Thanks for the suggestion.

[Moe]

Excellent suggestion, I hope Matt can pull it off.

[RoderickGI]

Thanks Matt. 

[Doof]

While we're on this topic, what exactly is the "Default" sort order that shows up in the list? I would assume it's the sort order defined by the view scheme itself, but is that not the case? I haven't played around with views in a while to remember.

[RoderickGI]

That question is exactly why I have asked for visibility of the sort order.

The "Default" sort should be what is defined in the View, but it isn't that simple. Take the default "Albums" View. A Category View, with the only Category listed being [Album], and with that in ascending order. The View is sorted by "Name" in the top pane. Now in this View, "Name" actually means "Album Name", and so it is sorted according to the View definition. But that isn't obvious at all.

However, the "Sort By" dropdown shows the sort is by "Name" and "Date Program Recorded". What?
Then if I change the "Sort By" to "Default", the ascending sort in the View is removed, and the top pane of the View is sorted [Album Artist (auto)], [Album], [Disc #] and [Track #]. Where did that come from?

That is a very simple example. In my Libraries where I have made all sorts of changes over time, it can be quite hard to unravel the sort being used.

[RoderickGI]

We made a lot of progress on the Sort Visibility issue. But we tripped up on the last bit, which was really the driver for my request.

What does the Default sort refer to, and can the fields used in the sort be made visible?

Can the sort always be made visible to users?

And this one, which is currently tripping me up very badly as I analyse EPG data using my custom View.

However, the "Sort By" dropdown shows the sort is by "Name" and "Date Program Recorded". What?

When I sort by [Date Recorded] (1) and [Channel#] (2), the sort reverts to [Name] even if I just look at the "Sort By" menu. Maybe because "Channel#" is an expression column using the expression "TVInfo(ProgramChannelNumber)" rather than a field, but that should work. When I set up a Sort Preset of [Date Recorded] then [Name], and saved it, then selected it, a File List type View just sorts by [Name]. I can't get it to sort by the Preset in the top pane. The only way to sort by [Date Recorded] is to click on the column header, and that sort doesn't stick.

Basically, the sort by [Name] is enforced on everything.

Can this be looked at just a little more?
Do I need to provide videos of what is happening?

[dtc]

Somewhat related - It would be nice to have all the selected fields appear at the top of the list, with all the unselected ones below.  The list is very long and it takes some time to scroll down to Track #, for example, a field which is very commonly included in many views.  This would be particularly useful if sorting were added to the list.  If the selected fields are at the top, then dragging fields to sort could be implemented.