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[Link]

I had never much played with Theater View in the past, but as I look into how to finish out my whole-house audio system and possibly add a touch-based control, I have been digging into it more - It has some definite perks.

My one request: Customizable Thumbnail Text

I have my Audio views set up to display files sorted just how I want, and for the regular view I can go in and Customize the current view to display the text as I like.  However, when you view the same scheme in theater view, the customized setting is not honored.

It would be perfect if the same settings from when you customized the scheme were honored - It would also get to the same endpoint if you allowed a customization setting in the theater view (although this seems like unneeded clutter)

Thanks for always being responsive to the community - you have made this a great product.

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For anyone curious for more background or reasons why what I see is frustrating, I want all my music sorted by artist last name.  That is the way I grew up seeing it in music stores, it is the way I organized my 1000+ physical CDs, and it surprises me that no music organizers support it as a standard - I assume it is because you can see a name like (Jeff Beck) and know it should be sorted as (Beck, Jeff), but the machine is not smart enough to know that (Pearl Jam) should remain in the P's as opposed to being (Jam, Pearl)

I get around this by organizing my physical disk files in an artist/album directory structure, then using Media Center excellent customization to sort my main audio view using Filename(Path).  This gives my main view the look I want, with full album thumbnails, sorted in the same order you would see them in a record store.... just like flipping thru the bins.  I have the thumbnail text display the Artist over the album name, like:

Jeff Beck
Blow by Blow

Now, when you switch to Theater View, the thumbnails show the path only, like this:

J:\Music\Beck, Jeff\Blow by Blow\

Which often shows up like:

J:\Music\Beck, Jeff\Bl....

...for longer titles.

So, thats my gripe.  Pretty minor, but seems like a worthy cause.

[Matt]

Could you customize Options > Theater View > Advanced > File caption to use the expression that suits you?

[Link]

Could you customize Options > Theater View > Advanced > File caption to use the expression that suits you?

I tried setting it to use [Artist] - [Album] there, but it still shows only [filename(Path)] - It appears not to honor that setting.

Am I missing something?

[EDIT - I see now where this is used.... The album still uses the path for the thumbnail text..... The [Artist] - [Album] you enter in Advanced options is then displayed for each file when you select an album.  So you have a path name for the album title, then the exact same Artist-Album string as the thumbnail text for each song.]

[MrHaugen]

If you want something more advanced, you can try this (if you want to differenciate between Audio, Video etc).
A small guide to set up file caption, how to sort as well as using different levels of depth in video genre:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=44472.0

[Link]

If you want something more advanced, you can try this (if you want to differenciate between Audio, Video etc).
A small guide to set up file caption, how to sort as well as using different levels of depth in video genre:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=44472.0

Thanks for that tutorial - gave me some more ideas for other views... I always forget how flexible things can be when you use expressions.

However, I don't think this will solve my core issue. 

[filename(Path)] still shows up a the Caption for the top level of my view, no matter what I set the file caption to.  So, it appears to me that no matter how elegantly I set up an expression for the lower level views, theater view still displays this path for the top view scheme.

Am I missing something? 

Thanks for the assistance.

[MrHaugen]

I have my Audio views set up to display files sorted just how I want, and for the regular view I can go in and Customize the current view to display the text as I like.  However, when you view the same scheme in theater view, the customized setting is not honored.

It would be perfect if the same settings from when you customized the scheme were honored - It would also get to the same endpoint if you allowed a customization setting in the theater view (although this seems like unneeded clutter)

This really makes me wonder what you are selecting.

You say you get the path UNDER the thumbnails? Not at the bottom of the page? Either way it should not show any path, unless you have path in your pane.
I only have Artist in the pane for an own Theater view Scheme. The only levels I get is Audio -> Artists -> Tracks.
Also got one with Genre, Sub Genre, Artist and Album. If I select this under Views under the Audio menu i get only those levels + the tracks offcourse.
Can't understand where the path comes from if you have not included it in any of your view schemes....

[Link]

My Audio View Scheme has the following items (Using the terms from the 'Edit View Scheme' dialog):

Step 1:
Filename(path)
Album Artist(Auto)
Album

Step 2:
(Unchanged)

Step 3:
Image - Audio
Tree Position - Automatic
'Honor Parent' and 'Show in Theater View' checked

Step 4:
[Media Type]=[Audio] [Complete Album]==1 ~sort=[Filename (path)],[Album Artist (auto)],[Album],[Disc #],[track #],[Name]

Where you see the word 'pane' by default, I select Filename (Path)
Then, under 'Customize Current View', I have list style set to Album Thumbnails, Thumbnail Text set to:

[Album Artist (auto)]
[Album]


This gives me my complete Albums in the "record store alphabetical" order that I desire.

However, when I go to Theater View, I click on "Home", then "Audio", I get the same correctly ordered list of album thumbnails, but the caption under each one is the Filename(Path).  If I then click on the album, it shows me all the files in that album with their names as the caption.  Any changes I make under "Options > Theater View > Advanced > File caption" only change what is displayed for the files in the album - Nothing seems to change the path displayed in the Album View.

[MrHaugen]

That explains alot. If you have the following as panes:

Filename(path)
Album Artist(Auto)
Album

Then those things WILL show up for each level. Filename(path) as first level, Album Artist(Auto) as level two and Album as level tree, and finally you drill down to the tracks. The theater view caption expression you enter is just what you see on a FILE level. Nothing else. Not the context on the levels above.

What you want to do is to add another View Scheme. And remember to mark it "show in theater view". Copy the scheme you have now. And then remove the first item: Filename(path).
If you make different Schemes and you try out different items you will understand how this work I think.
You say you want to SORT with filename(path)? That's exactly what you do in step 4. No need what so ever to add filename(path) to step 1.

[Link]

That explains alot. If you have the following as panes:

Filename(path)
Album Artist(Auto)
Album

Then those things WILL show up for each level. Filename(path) as first level, Album Artist(Auto) as level two and Album as level tree, and finally you drill down to the tracks. The theater view caption expression you enter is just what you see on a FILE level. Nothing else. Not the context on the levels above.

What you want to do is to add another View Scheme. And remember to mark it "show in theater view". Copy the scheme you have now. And then remove the first item: Filename(path).
If you make different Schemes and you try out different items you will understand how this work I think.
You say you want to SORT with filename(path)? That's exactly what you do in step 4. No need what so ever to add filename(path) to step 1.

Thanks - you have helped clear away some of my confusion.

With that said, however, I still can't get to what I want.  I create a scheme with only artist and album, tell it to show complete albums and sort by path, and it shows up how I like in normal view (Just like seeing a whole pile of my cds laid out on screen).  I cannot replicate this arrangement in theater view.  This may be by design - but that was what I was looking to find out when I wrote this thread.

What this little experiment has taught me: Media Center offers way too many places to tell it how to sort.  I was never sure which of the 3 different places I needed to set my sorting to get it to show what I expected.

[gappie]

just out of curousity? why you want to sort by filename?

[Link]

just out of curousity? why you want to sort by filename?

I don't want to sort by filename..... I want to sort my complete albums by Filename(Path).  By having my directories set up like I explained in the first post, this gives me what I really want, which could be called:

FEATURE: Sort by Album Artist(Record Store order)

[MrHaugen]

With that said, however, I still can't get to what I want.  I create a scheme with only artist and album, tell it to show complete albums and sort by path, and it shows up how I like in normal view (Just like seeing a whole pile of my cds laid out on screen).  I cannot replicate this arrangement in theater view.  This may be by design - but that was what I was looking to find out when I wrote this thread.

I have never tried to sort by filename(path), so I can not tell. But I HAVE tried to sort different with name (audio) and series (video). Because my series, seasons etc. would end up in the wrong order.
You say you try: ~sort=[Filename (path)],[Album Artist (auto)],[Album],[Disc #],[track #],[Name]
With that it should sort by filename(path) first. Let's if someone else have more input here.

What this little experiment has taught me: Media Center offers way too many places to tell it how to sort.  I was never sure which of the 3 different places I needed to set my sorting to get it to show what I expected.

It's only step 4 in the View Scheme that descides the sorting in Theater View. As I know of...

[Link]

I have never tried to sort by filename(path), so I can not tell. But I HAVE tried to sort different with name (audio) and series (video). Because my series, seasons etc. would end up in the wrong order.
You say you try: ~sort=[Filename (path)],[Album Artist (auto)],[Album],[Disc #],[track #],[Name]
With that it should sort by filename(path) first. Let's if someone else have more input here.
It's only step 4 in the View Scheme that descides the sorting in Theater View. As I know of...

My confusion came from when I jumped between the same View scheme in Standard View and Theater View, and they were sorted differently.  It seems this is just because of the nature of theater view - I didn't realize quite how it worked, and it seems it can't do what I envisioned.

While The Step 4 Sort parameters may be the only spot where you describe how Theater View things are sorted, this is not intuitive, and it is quite easy to confuse yourself with sorting.  This is especially true for someone like me who has been fiddling around with settings and tweaking things as someone gives me a new idea for a few years now - you can end up with stuff set all over that you don't even remember.

As an example, here is how you can impact the sorting you see in a standard view:

-Customize Current View -> Sorting
-Right Click menu -> Sort
-Options->Tree and View->Sorting that allows list header clicks to alter the above sorting you expect
-Edit View Scheme -> Pick Files to Show allowing ~sort arguments that change the above
(as well as Honor Parent Search Strings, which can do the same)

Makes it pretty easy to confuse yourself and not be able to explain to others how you are shooting yourself in the foot.


Thanks for all the guidance.....