Topic: Sorting albums by date (Read 34897 times)

joelha · « **on:** October 05, 2012, 02:44:14 pm »

I'm a little embarrassed to be asking this question but I just can't seem to get this worked out on my own.

At times, I want to sort my albums by date modified.

Here's the script that I'm using: [Media Type]=[Audio] ~sort=[Date Modified]

But all I end up with is an alphabetical listing of my albums.

I want my albums sorted first by date modified, then by artist, and then by album.

What am I missing?

Thanks to anyone who tries to help me with this.

Joel

MrC · « **Reply #1 on:** October 05, 2012, 02:50:52 pm »

In what location do you want the sorting?

  - the File list (typically at the bottom of the screen)
  - within Groups in the File list
  - a pane in a panes view
  - the order of items in a Category view?

joelha · « **Reply #2 on:** October 05, 2012, 02:54:04 pm »

Wow,

Was that reply ever fast.

I'd love groups within a file list (I hope I'm answering this correctly).

Thanks very much.

Joel

MrC · « **Reply #3 on:** October 05, 2012, 03:01:16 pm »

You can use the pull down at the upper left of the File's list, and in the Group By, select Album. Album has a special meaning when used as a group header - it is defined as [Album] by [Artist] [Date] and does sorting based on Date.

Otherwise, you can use the Year - Album method, as described here:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=74229.0

joelha · « **Reply #4 on:** October 05, 2012, 03:04:19 pm »

Thanks a lot for another quick reply.

Will this method also allow (and I realize I should have mentioned this in my original post) me to have the Date category in JRemote?

If you it will, I'll take some time to work with your suggestions.

Thanks again.

Joel

joelha · « **Reply #5 on:** October 07, 2012, 05:47:28 pm »

While I'll be off-line for the next couple of days, I see I didn't explain what I was looking for very well.

Sorry about that.

On the left side of the screen, under Audio, there are other selectable options i.e. artist, genres, albums, etc.

What I'm looking for is a way to have "date modified" as an option.

While I've been able to do this for DSF files, I can't seem to make it work for "date modified".

All I ever get is a just an alpha-sort of artists and albums.

Thanks in advance for whatever help you can offer.

Joel

MrC · « **Reply #6 on:** October 07, 2012, 09:16:31 pm »

I don't know what JRemote will present, so let's start with this caveat.

Nonetheless, it sounds like you want a new view scheme under Audio, called "by Date Modified".

Right click Audio, and select Add Library View.
Select Empty View, change the Location to Audio, and then name it something like "by Date Modified", and click OK.
Set the view type to either Panes or Categories, as desired.
Click the Add button to add the category "Date Modified" from the list. Set the sort order to Ascending or Descending.
Now you'll have a view where the left side (tree) can expand to show the various Date Modified values for all your files, and on the right will be either your panes or categories showing those same Date Modified values.

However, you'll probably find this view not so useful, as the time values may frustrate your viewing and grouping. Probably you're going to want only the Date portion, and that is easy enough to achieve. When you return, ask for more help if I'm on the right track with your needs, or give some course correction if not.

csimon · « **Reply #7 on:** October 08, 2012, 05:22:32 am »

JRemote uses the WebGizmo views, so to set up a view that JRemote will present then create it in Media Netowrk/WebGizmo views rather than the standard desktop view.

I have modified my album within artist views to sort by date of album rather than alphabetically, but I can't remember if Date Modified (as opposed to the album date) is offered as a choice for sorting.

joelha · « **Reply #8 on:** October 17, 2012, 12:06:35 pm »

I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to work with this sooner, however, I'm still not getting the view I want.

In the DSF image, you'll see that I have a custom library on the left side of the screen which allows me to bring up only DSF files grouped by artist and then by album.

I want to do the same thing for Date Created.

However, when I do (what I believe is) the same process, all I ever get is an alpha-sort of all my albums. Please refer to the "Date Created" image to see what I'm trying.

Thanks for any help you can offer. I'm sure I must be missing something simple here, but I just can't figure out what it is.

Joel

MrC · « **Reply #9 on:** October 17, 2012, 02:51:19 pm »

Here's a panes view, first grouped by Date Modified. You can see that browsing in the tree shows all the date modified (categories) available in my library:

A possible problem with this view may be that it includes the time (hour, minutes) - it might be better presented without times. For this, we use an expression to reformat the date:

Now I can see all the tracks modified on any given date.

Note that the file list sorting and grouping is controlled by the Group By setting.

joelha · « **Reply #10 on:** October 17, 2012, 03:08:16 pm »

You're great, MrC.

While this isn't exactly the view I was looking for, I think you've given me enough information that I should (or hope to) be able to work it out from here.

Thanks very much.

Joel

MrC · « **Reply #11 on:** October 17, 2012, 03:09:54 pm »

Thanks. What changes do you need?

joelha · « **Reply #12 on:** October 17, 2012, 03:13:10 pm »

Thanks very much, MrC.

I need the same view you see here (which is sorted by artist and then by album) sorted by date created (not modified), then by artist, and then by album.

The result should give the same format as the attached photo.

Joel

MrC · « **Reply #13 on:** October 17, 2012, 03:36:29 pm »

How does this work for you?

csimon · « **Reply #14 on:** October 17, 2012, 03:47:08 pm »

Do I understand that you want the albums sorted by Date Created rather than having Date Created as a filter category?

If I said to you that I have albums grouped by Artist and then when you drill down into Artist, the albums are listed chronologically, by date of album, rather than alphabetically - is this the same sort of thing you're trying to achieve, except that you want the date of creation to be before you get to the artist level?

If so, what I think you need is a Categories view (not a Panes view) with the following categories:

1. Artist, sorted by Date (oldest or newet first depending on preference), or Date Imported (you don't have a choice as to whether oldest or newest first)
2. Album

But Date Created isn't currently offered as a choice for sorting by. You probably need Date Imported.

This method will not give you folders or categories of individual dates, but it will give you folders of artists sorted not alphabetically by artist name but by the date you have chosen.

For example suppose you have the following albums imported on these dates:

A-ha, Hunting High and Low, 1st Apr 2012
Adam Ant, Strip, 1st Jan 2012
Adam Ant, Wonderful, 1st Aug 2012
Abba, Thank you for the music, 1st Jul 2012

What you will see in your list of artists is:

Adam Ant (which drills down into Wonderful)
Abba
A-ha
Adam Ant (which drill down into Strip)

Is this what you want?

joelha · « **Reply #15 on:** October 17, 2012, 03:56:15 pm »

MrC,

Thanks for hanging in there with me on this.

The attached view is what I now have.

What I'd like is for each song to be grouped by album and I'd like to see the screen split, like my artist view, so that when I click on an album, the list of songs appears on the lower part of the screen.

Is csimon correct about "date created" not being a sorting option?

If so, that's going to be a big crimp in my plans, unfortunately. Date imported is just not going to work for me as I've re-imported my albums many times over the years.

Thanks for chiming in about that, csimon.

Essentially, what I want to be able to do is now which albums I possibly haven't listened to yet after I've purchased them and added them to my music server. By sorting by date created, I can review those purchases.

Thanks very much.

Joel

MrC · « **Reply #16 on:** October 17, 2012, 04:05:01 pm »

The songs you see in the Categories view (top portion) are broken into separate items because each Date Created per track is different (minutes and seconds matter here). That's why I suggested using an expression to only use the year/month/day portion. Try the Date Created view I showed you.

The file list at the bottom of the screen (which I show in the screenshots above) appears after you hover over a thumbnail, and select one of the choices from the menu that appears. Alternatively, set the Always show files setting when you customize the view for the file list to always appear. (see attached).

You can sort by anything. Just use the Sort By > Custom... > Add and add Date Created as the sort criteria.

Keep in mind - some tracks may have been created on a different day, so when you select Album under a Date Created selection, you may only see a portion of any given album.

Make sense?

csimon · « **Reply #17 on:** October 17, 2012, 04:08:40 pm »

Ah, I forgot about Custom!!

csimon · « **Reply #18 on:** October 17, 2012, 04:12:29 pm »

OH....no I didn't! There is no Custom option in the Sorting box. Now I'm confused...

csimon · « **Reply #19 on:** October 17, 2012, 04:14:44 pm »

I think the difference is whether you want the dates to appear as separate categories as shown above, or whether you want them "invisible" and just have the artists sorted by the date.

MrC · « **Reply #20 on:** October 17, 2012, 04:16:21 pm »

If you mean the sort settings under the Customized View > Category > Settings > Sorting area, you create a custom view Preset under any view's Sort By area; that preset will then be available in Customize View > Category > Settings > Sorting.

MrC · « **Reply #21 on:** October 17, 2012, 04:22:19 pm »

Quote from: csimon on October 17, 2012, 04:14:44 pm

I think the difference is whether you want the dates to appear as separate categories as shown above, or whether you want them "invisible" and just have the artists sorted by the date.

They can't be invisible, as the actual string text itself is what is used as the name of the category. So, two tracks, from an Artist named Portishead, each with different Date Created values, cannot be placed in two different categories each named exactly "Portishead". Instead, the date can be added to create distinct categories. For example, Portishead (2009-10-02) and Portishead (2010-01-09).

joelha · « **Reply #22 on:** October 18, 2012, 12:22:31 pm »

Hi MrC,

Well, I continue to struggle to get the view I want.

As you'll see from the attached files, at the top of the screen, I'm getting all of albums grouped into one group.

And below, the same alpha listing of albums.

I've tried to show you how I'm using your custom script (and what I believe) is your sort view.

Sorry for being slow to figure out the process, but I'll appreciate your help in telling me where I need to go from here.

Thanks very much for your ongoing help.

Joel

MrC · « **Reply #23 on:** October 18, 2012, 12:32:14 pm »

A quick reply, as I see one problem.

Your expression is using the (non-existent) field [datecreated] and you want [date created] (space matters in field names, case does not).

I'm a bit confused as to which field you actually want: [date created] or [date modified]. Your original post indicated one, subsequent posts indicated the other. We've now come full circle.

btw. fields are described here.

joelha · « **Reply #24 on:** October 18, 2012, 01:15:06 pm »

MrC,

I believe that did it.

Yes, that tiny space did matter and I flat missed it.

You're the best and this has been a huge help in getting me to enjoy MC even more (and I already love it).

Thanks very very much for continuing to work on this with me.

There's no way I would have figured this out on my own.

Joel

joelha · « **Reply #25 on:** October 18, 2012, 01:20:14 pm »

MrC,

Last question (I think).

Is there an easy way to export all of the settings to another server for this view or do I need to replicate the processes I want through on this server to another server?

Joel

P.S. Yes, I did change from Date Modified to Date Created in mid-thread. I realized that Date modified wouldn't always accurately indicate when I first purchased the album as I might have made modifications to the files well after the purchase date. Sorry for the confusion on that.

MrC · « **Reply #26 on:** October 18, 2012, 03:14:03 pm »

You can save views via the Customize view dialog. Just save it to some location you can find easily, or take note of the default location. So long as the fields are the same on the other MC library, you can Load this view the same way.

joelha · « **Reply #27 on:** October 18, 2012, 04:08:10 pm »

Great answer, MrC.

Well, only a couple of dozen plus messages and my issue is solved.

Thanks one more time for the excellent, persistent, and remarkably quick help.

Joel

joelha · « **Reply #28 on:** July 12, 2016, 02:10:21 am »

Well, I'm not sure a thread like this one has ever been resurrected after over three years, but I suppose that's a tribute to how well the previously arrived at solution worked for me.

I'd like to take the current view shown in the photo and ungroup the albums wherever they appear and show them individually.

That way I can see every album rather than having to click on each group to see what that group contains.

Everything else should remain exactly as is.

I've also attached the script I've been using.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Joel

blgentry · « **Reply #29 on:** July 12, 2016, 06:38:41 am »

^ There's not picture, so we can't see what you mean.

Brian.

joelha · « **Reply #30 on:** July 12, 2016, 07:46:32 am »

Now that's embarrassing.

Let me try that again.

Thanks,

Joel

blgentry · « **Reply #31 on:** July 12, 2016, 08:36:22 am »

I'm unsure what you want. The view you have shown and attached has 3 levels: Date Created, Artist, and Album. Each level groups albums together.

Do you want no grouping at all? Just albums, sorted by Date Created?

That's dead simple: Just remove all of the categories except for Album. Then, in the menu at the top of the view, select Sort By > Date Created .

That's actually very similar to my default albums view. I sort by Date Imported, which is almost identical to date created on my system.

Brian.

joelha · « **Reply #32 on:** July 12, 2016, 08:44:04 am »

Thanks very much for the quick replies, Brian.

Joel

joelha · « **Reply #33 on:** July 20, 2016, 12:55:45 am »

Well, I'm publicly acknowledging my inability to accomplish something which is dead simple.

When I delete everything but "album", I lose the dates which identify each album (which I'd like to keep) and the sort is oldest to newest rather than the reverse.

The sort by "newest first" at the top of the screen does nothing to resolve this issue for me.

What obvious point(s) am I missing?

Thanks,

Joel

blgentry · « **Reply #34 on:** July 21, 2016, 07:25:51 am »

Quote from: joelha on July 20, 2016, 12:55:45 am

When I delete everything but "album", I lose the dates which identify each album (which I'd like to keep)

Do you want additional thumbnail next that shows the creation date? You can add that to the thumbnail text if you want. Pull down the menu at the top of the view and select Thumbnails > Thumbnail text . In the dialog that appears you can type field names as you like.

Quote

and the sort is oldest to newest rather than the reverse.

Again, use the menu at the top of the view to select your sort field. See attached image. Notice that I have selected Date Imported but have used "z-a", which sorts in reverse. You can do the same thing, but use Date Created.

Good luck.

Brian.

joelha · « **Reply #35 on:** August 12, 2016, 03:33:10 pm »

So I think I'm just about there.

The Date Created text is also showing not only the date but also the time of the day the file was created.

How do I show only the date without the time notation?

Thanks for the excellent help you've given me.

Joel

blgentry · « **Reply #36 on:** August 12, 2016, 07:12:06 pm »

Dates can be a little tricky. I just did some experiments and came up with this expression, which should get you a date that is Month/Day/Year:

Code: [Select]

formatdate([Date Created,0],M//d//yy)
Brian.

joelha · « **Reply #37 on:** August 12, 2016, 07:52:43 pm »

You're fantastic, Brian.

Looking forward to trying this.

Thanks very much for the very quick response.

Joel

joelha · « **Reply #38 on:** August 14, 2016, 01:47:34 pm »

You're solution works beautifully, Brian.

Thanks very much for that.

But for some reason I'm unable to get the same view in JRemote.

I'm connected to the server and have customized the view to album view, but I don't have the same view or even the same view options that I'm showing in MC.

Obviously I'm missing something.

Would you be good enough to tell me what it is?

Thanks again.

Joel

blgentry · « **Reply #39 on:** August 14, 2016, 03:33:53 pm »

It sounds like you probably found the option to change/add/remove JRemote views. Just in case you didn't:

Tools > Options > Media Network > Advanced > configure views for JRemote

I get a little confused on the exact details here. I know you can copy views from standard view and put them here for JRemote to use. But it doesn't seem to bring everything over. Thumbnail text in particular does not seem to get copied. There might be some way to customize the displayed thumbnail text, but I don't know what it is, *if* it's possible.

Theater View is a whole different story.

Brian.

joelha · « **Reply #40 on:** August 14, 2016, 05:16:33 pm »

I did find it, Brian.

Thanks.

But for some bizarre reason, the changes I'm making there don't seem to be transferring to JRemote.

Any reason you can think of why that would be the case?

Joel

blgentry · « **Reply #41 on:** August 14, 2016, 05:21:43 pm »

I forgot to mention you have to restart MC *and* JRemote after any changes to the JRemote views.

Brian.

joelha · « **Reply #42 on:** August 14, 2016, 05:33:53 pm »

Got it, Brian.

And I can see where part of my problem was coming from.

I was running two instances of Media Server at the same time. I took care of that.

But now I see that "Date Created" is not an option for customized views in the Album sort.

What's my way around that?

Thanks for the lightning fast replies.

Joel

blgentry · « **Reply #43 on:** August 14, 2016, 05:51:01 pm »

You can set the sorting in a view in Standard View and the sorting *should* follow when you copy this view to JRemote. Or, in the JRemote views, you can click on the Categories entries (like Name) and Edit. In this edit dialog, you'll see a sorting option that you can change.

Brian.

joelha · « **Reply #44 on:** August 14, 2016, 05:52:28 pm »

I'll play with this, Brian.

Thanks very much . . . again.

Joel

joelha · « **Reply #45 on:** August 14, 2016, 06:56:55 pm »

I'm just about there, Brian.

My issue now is that I don't know how to group the files by album.

In other words, in JRemote, I'm sorting by Date Created.

However, because Date Created seems to be sorting down to the second, just about every track is coming up as a separate thumbnail.

How do I sort by Date Created and leave all tracks grouped by album?

Joel

joelha · « **Reply #46 on:** August 14, 2016, 07:04:40 pm »

Also, the thumbnail text showing date is showing the time of day, which I don't want.

Any way to eliminate that?

Thanks very much.

Joel

blgentry · « **Reply #47 on:** August 14, 2016, 07:11:00 pm »

Where is says "show categories in this order", you probably have Name, which is the song title. Put Album there instead and it will show you the albums at that level. When you click inside the album, it should show you the tracks in that album, which is probably what you expect.

I think the date display will disappear when you do this.

Brian.

joelha · « **Reply #48 on:** August 14, 2016, 07:27:01 pm »

The albums are still divided by time and the times are still showing, Brian.

I'm sorting first by Date Created and then by Album.

Any other ideas?

Thanks for hanging in there with me on this.

Joel

blgentry · « **Reply #49 on:** August 14, 2016, 07:39:29 pm »

You might be confusing the Categories list with sorting. Take a look at the screen shot attached.

The arrow is pointing to a CATEGORY. This is for grouping, not for sorting. If you highlight any category, and click Edit, you can set sorting within that category in the Edit dialog that comes up.

You probably just want one category: Albums. Within that, you want to sort by Date Created. That should give you what you want if I'm reading everything here correctly.

This is similar to how you set up views in Standard View. But JRemote has it's own that are separate from Standard View.

Good luck!

Brian.

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Author Topic: Sorting albums by date (Read 34897 times)