Topic: How is stuff sorted in theater view? (Read 4532 times)

benn600 · « **on:** December 30, 2007, 01:36:57 pm »

I'm still having difficulty figuring out why theater view does not sort as I would expect it to on our kitchen HTPC. I'm using a search list--an example search would be [Genre]="Christmas" or [Genre]="Television" [Name]="Family Guy"

When I view this in the main view, everything is sorted correctly. But in theater view, things are sorted in some unknown way. Some appear to be sorted correctly but it may be sorting them by import date or something else. I added ~sort=[Name] to each search list item but it made no difference.

So it only happens in theater view. Oh, and I'm using the server's database which is always opened as read-only on this HTPC.

bil1010105 · « **Reply #1 on:** December 30, 2007, 05:28:43 pm »

I'm glad it's not just me, and equally I'm glad that it's not only the fact that I'm new at this that means I can't get it to work.

I asked the same question here a week ago and didn't get a definitive response that worked, unfortunately.

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=44080.0

Clearly 'View Schemes' don't follow the same sorting rules in Theatre View as in other views. I wish I knew how to get around that.

benn600 · « **Reply #2 on:** December 30, 2007, 07:37:22 pm »

At least it isn't just my unique setup that has the problem. Maybe we can get a solid answer. It seems logical that it would just sort the same way the main program sorts. Now technically, I should not have to add sort to each search list item I would think, right? The view scheme has the sort in it already so that should cover all search items.

bil1010105 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 06, 2008, 08:22:42 am »

bump.

Still have this issue, anyone have any ideas?

Thanks.

benn600 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 06, 2008, 09:21:17 am »

Funny thing happened. I just re-setup a few of our HTPCs and it almost appears they are sorting as they should?? I guess we need an answer on exactly how theater view gets sorted. Unless it's more like: gimme a list of songs (with no sort specified!) Cause it could give songs in a sorted order (they'd be imported in alphabetical order probably) so they'd be okay to some point.

statious · « **Reply #5 on:** January 06, 2008, 11:18:32 am »

Theaterview seems to be attached to the main panel view. What I did is remove all of the View Schemes except the main panel and then redid it according to the media type.

Audio = Genre, Album, and Artist.
I tend to gravitate towards a genre first depending on mood, which is why I led with this tag, adjust to suit your needs.

Video = Description (I used the tags DVD, Video & Web Media), Genre, & Series
When I click on video, I wanted to see only the above categories. Now I see All, DVD, Video, and Web Media (FLV clips). It keeps everything nice and separate and when I go into DVD, I then see all of my genres of movies. Video has the same thing with an Anime section and then television shows that were recorded. Web Media is broken into where it was downloaded from via the series tag.

Images = Place & Event
This was the most complicated one to decide. It took my wife and I about three hours (we have over 3000 photos) and we finally decided on Place and Event to categorize our photos for viewing.

The main reason I removed all of the other panel views is that when I went into theater view I had those big yellow folders and honestly since this is how we watch all media including tv now (YES IT FINALLY WORKS CLEAR AS DAY--THANKS YAB!) I hated to see those yellow folders. There is probably an easier way to do all of this but it works for me and if I need to add more view schemes in the future it is but a right click away. About the only think I want to remove is the (ALL) category within theaterview or be given the option to hide it from view.

benn600 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 06, 2008, 12:36:55 pm »

I second the ability to remove All. I would use it everywhere--especially (or only) in Theater view.

thurston · « **Reply #7 on:** January 08, 2008, 08:27:08 am »

+1 for the ability to remove the "ALL" button in Theater View.

I would also hope to see a better clarification of how Theater View sorts.

glynor · « **Reply #8 on:** January 08, 2008, 10:40:16 am »

Why cant Theater View, when set to show a specific View Scheme (or all of the schemes - when the "Views" button is set to "Audio" for example) from Standard View just match Standard View's Sorting?!?

If you have chosen one of the pre-built Views in Theater View, then those can have their own built-in sorting for simplicity, but if you are using a View Scheme that you chose on your own, assume that you want the sorting to match. This seems so simple and intuitive that I'm baffled that it isn't this way already.

benn600 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 08, 2008, 11:43:42 am »

That's what I automatically assumed MC did. It's the only logical way. Otherwise there needs to be a separate theater view sorta area. But view schemes can be set to show up in theater view or not--so another view scheme can be made with different sorting for theater view.

statious · « **Reply #10 on:** January 08, 2008, 01:10:14 pm »

I think this primarily a features issue. MC12 is boasted (accurately) for its ability to really streamline your cataloging of media and it does an amazing job in doing so but this is ultimately what complicates the issue. For example, with my photos there are about five schemes that I like to use but do avoid an entire page of yellow folders in theater view, I decided on a very efficient format to get right to the photos. The view schemes would be better placed in the playlists area as they are nothing more then smartplaylists of items (very basic analogy).

thurston · « **Reply #11 on:** January 08, 2008, 03:43:53 pm »

Quote from: glynor on January 08, 2008, 10:40:16 am

Why cant Theater View, when set to show a specific View Scheme (or all of the schemes - when the "Views" button is set to "Audio" for example) from Standard View just match Standard View's Sorting....

...This seems so simple and intuitive that I'm baffled that it isn't this way already.

This is what I figured too and thought I was missing something until I read about some others posting the same frustration. If this isn't possible to do for whatever reason, I'd at least like to know what type of hierachy Theater View uses to sort.

gappie · « **Reply #12 on:** January 08, 2008, 04:58:23 pm »

ive been frustrated with Theater View sorting since i started to use mc, with version 11.1. i just use it for some simple schemes with images and videoos. otherwise i use standard view. what glynor says is true, and i also said something like that before: 'Why cant Theater View, when set to show a specific View Scheme (or all of the schemes - when the "Views" button is set to "Audio" for example) from Standard View just match Standard View's Sorting?!?'. now it is try and error to get something that is workable.

Matt · « **Reply #13 on:** January 09, 2008, 10:24:18 am »

Help me understand the issue better.

If I go to Audio in Standard View and sort my files by Name (Z-A), when I view this view scheme in Theater View, the file level will be sorted this way.

If I switch the Genre pane to sort Z-A, my genre list in Theater View sorts the same way.

So it seems like it is honoring the sorting. Is there more to it than this?

bil1010105 · « **Reply #14 on:** January 09, 2008, 10:35:44 am »

Try switching to Video view, and sort your files by [track #] (e.g. for episodes of a TV series).

In Standard View this works.

Switch to Theatre View, and it reverts to Name sorting (or whatever it feels like at the time).

benn600 · « **Reply #15 on:** January 09, 2008, 10:37:55 am »

Something is not working correctly. Hopefully bil1010105's example helps pinpoint it. I was using a search list. Having sort in the main view scheme and right in the search term did not sort correctly. A movie that started with "L" always showed up first when it should have been at the bottom.

Matt · « **Reply #16 on:** January 09, 2008, 10:53:52 am »

Quote from: bil1010105 on January 09, 2008, 10:35:44 am

Try switching to Video view, and sort your files by [track #] (e.g. for episodes of a TV series).

In Standard View this works.

Switch to Theatre View, and it reverts to Name sorting (or whatever it feels like at the time).

I'm guessing you're not looking at the same view scheme in Theater View.

Click Views > Video (or whatever the view scheme name is) in Theater View.

bil1010105 · « **Reply #17 on:** January 09, 2008, 11:08:20 am »

Quote from: Matt on January 09, 2008, 10:53:52 am

I'm guessing you're not looking at the same view scheme in Theater View.

Click Views > Video (or whatever the view scheme name is) in Theater View.

Sorry no, that's not it. I'm using the correct view name. It's just ignoring my sort order.

As Benn600 says, something is not quite working correctly. Or there's a lack of understanding on how it DOES work, as some people seem to have it working OK.

glynor · « **Reply #18 on:** January 09, 2008, 11:12:02 am »

Quote from: Matt on January 09, 2008, 10:53:52 am

I'm guessing you're not looking at the same view scheme in Theater View.

Click Views > Video (or whatever the view scheme name is) in Theater View.

Yeah, Matt... I don't think it obeys the sort order like it "should". It looks to me like it is just always sorting by [Filename] or [Name]. I'm not sure which and I'm way too busy to take the time to figure it out.

I also noticed that the "Show In Theater View" checkbox for View Schemes doesn't seem to be working right. For example, if you are in a "Video" View Scheme, and the Image item is set to Video in the Edit View Scheme dialog, the view scheme will ALWAYS show in Theater View even if the "Show in Theater View" checkbox is unchecked. If the Image item is set to anything else (Scheme, Folder, or whatever) then the checkbox appears to work properly.

Matt · « **Reply #19 on:** January 09, 2008, 11:15:24 am »

Quote from: bil1010105 on January 09, 2008, 10:35:44 am

Switch to Theatre View, and it reverts to Name sorting (or whatever it feels like at the time).

I still can't reproduce this. Are you using the newest build from the top of this board?

Also, how are you viewing the list of files (to check sorting) in Theater View? Theater View will first show the groupings from the view scheme, so Genre, Year, Rating by default. Those are sorted according to the pane sorting.

Doing a "Show Files" on one of the groupings should sort like the same view scheme in Standard View.

What if you make a new view scheme "Sort Tester" and view it in Theater View?

Thanks.

glynor · « **Reply #20 on:** January 09, 2008, 11:17:16 am »

I'll try to test it thoroughly right now and post back shortly.

glynor · « **Reply #21 on:** January 09, 2008, 11:24:00 am »

Okay. I've tested with 12.0.408 (beta) and I apologize... It does seem to be working properly. It didn't before last time I tested, but it does seem to be working now. To be clear, you cannot use the pre-built Theater View Views (which have their own built-in sorting), but must instead select the Views button in Theater View and pick your View Scheme. This could conceivably be a bit confusing if you have a View Scheme named the same thing as one of the pre-built Views, so be careful that there aren't two of the same choice in the Views listing.

As far as this...

Quote from: glynor on January 09, 2008, 11:12:02 am

I also noticed that the "Show In Theater View" checkbox for View Schemes doesn't seem to be working right. For example, if you are in a "Video" View Scheme, and the Image item is set to Video in the Edit View Scheme dialog, the view scheme will ALWAYS show in Theater View even if the "Show in Theater View" checkbox is unchecked. If the Image item is set to anything else (Scheme, Folder, or whatever) then the checkbox appears to work properly.

This is also confirmed on multiple systems using the current build.

benn600 · « **Reply #22 on:** January 09, 2008, 01:15:48 pm »

That could have been part of the problem though I'm not 100% positive what you mean when you say built in theater view schemes.

Right now it seems to be sorting correctly...I'm now running a fresh install and something different I did may have change behavior.

Can anyone else find a reproducible issue? I may look into this at some point to see if I can find what the problem was.

gappie · « **Reply #23 on:** January 09, 2008, 02:15:10 pm »

i also apologise. guess i missed something in the logs from the updates. works nice now.

fitbrit · « **Reply #24 on:** January 09, 2008, 02:24:50 pm »

This used to be a huge frustration for me as well. Then I thought I was being very clever as I had figured it out by myself; turns out it must just have been fixed in a recent build!

benn600 · « **Reply #25 on:** January 09, 2008, 02:40:07 pm »

I do wonder if they made modifications to fix it because I remember having this problem all the time before but I don't notice it anymore. And this time around I'm running 404 (lol) on all my HTPCs and workstations.

But I will try my previous setup when I get home and see if the problem still exists. Luckily it seems to be working for the most part on my main systems now.

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Author Topic: How is stuff sorted in theater view? (Read 4532 times)