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[Airfla]

My current view for Artists shows Album Artists in alphabetical order. For each album within that category the album art and all tracks for the album are shown. That is what I want. However, the order of the albums is organized by date. How do I change it so that within each Artist, the album titles are organized in alphabetical order? I have tried unsuccessfully to follow/understand the description of how to organize views.

[MrC]

Are you talking about the Categories up top, or the file list grouping below?

See my reply here if you're talking about the file list and Group By sorting:

   http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=77299.msg523916#msg523916

[Airfla]

MrC

Thanks for the reply.

I am talking about the files at the bottom. I went to the link you provided but, apparently, I'm still at sea. I have "All Files" set to Group By: "Album". This results in the Album Artists being displayed alphabetically, but the albums for each Artist are organized by date rather than album title. It appears as if organization as Group By: "Album (by date)" is being imposed, despite my selection of "Album". What am I doing wrong?

[MrC]

Don't use the stock "Album" grouping.  It is special.

Use another grouping from under More (sort groups a-z) or ... z-a.

[Airfla]

If I use More and select Sort by Album, it puts all the albums in strict alphabetical order and they are no longer grouped by Album Artist. What I want is an alphabetical order of albums within each Album Artist, with Album Artists also ordered alphabetically.

[MrC]

The group sorting is strictly alphabetical, and you can use / construct any "string" you want to group / sort.

There is an Artist - Album (year) sort group already defined under More (sort groups a-z).  This is probably what you want.  If it isn't, you can add a new custom user field, of type Calculated, and add the fields that will create the sort string you want.  Once created, you can use this string as your file list header, group/sort key.

[Airfla]

MrC:

"What we have here is a failure to communicate."  And, it's all my fault. On reflection, I realize that I haven't been describing things clearly. What I want to be able to view in the bottom part are the Albums shown in alphabetical order, but grouped by Album Artist, e.g. "Endless Summer" (with all tracks listed), "Pet Sounds" by Album Artist "Beach Boys, The", followed by: "A Hard Day's Night", "Abbey Road",  "Beatles for Sale", "Help", "Let It Be", "Live at the BBC", etc. by Album Artist "Beatles, The", followed by: "Tanto Tempo", by Bebel Gilberto, the next Album Artist in alphabetical order.

Does this now make sense to you?

[MrC]

In the File List, Grouping == Sorting.  So, however you Group, that's how it Sorts.  Game Over.

[Airfla]

Are you saying that I can't have the files listed in J River as expressed in my last post?

[MrC]

See the following video:

   https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/87189402/Group%20Sort.mp4

[Airfla]

That's exactly what I want, but there's appears to be something amiss in my copy of J River. I don't know if I did something to screw things up but:

1) I don't see the option "Artist-Album" in my drop down list - only Artist-Album (Year), and
2) the list for More (sort groups z-a) is in alphabetical order instead of reverse alphabetical order.

[MrC]

When you don't find the sort / group key you want, create your own calculated user field specifying the values you need.  That's what I mentioned above, and gave a link that indicates what you need to do.

See the attached screenshot for how to setup the field in Tools > Options > Library & Folders > Manage Library Fields...

[Airfla]

I am starting to feel like a complete idiot because I can't even remotely get things to work as you suggest. When I add Album Artist - Album, for some reason it appears twice in the list and it doesn't do anything close to what your video shows. Rather it gives me a title "Unassigned", a single cover art icon, and a detailed list that makes no sense to me. See attachment.

[MrC]

Let's see a screenshot of the field you created, like mine above.

I'm guessing you used Album Artist instead of Album Artist (auto).

[Airfla]

MrC:

Hallelujah! (with all due respect to Leonard Cohen). It now works! I wasn't making an entry in Calculated Data because it was greyed out. I just realized that I had to click on the button to switch from User Data to Calculated Data. Thank you so much for your patience. This exercise has probably been just as frustrating for you, trying to get things through my thick skull, as it has been for me.

There are, however, still two listings of "Album Artist - Album" in the "Group By: More (sort groups a-z)" list. The first one does what shows in the screen shot I posted while the second one works as intended. However, there is only a single listing for "Album Artist - Album"  in the left panel of "Manage Library Fields". Is there a simple way to get rid of the non-functional entry or is it best just to leave well enough alone?

[MrC]

I'm unsure why that entry shows up twice.  I was thinking that MC already creates this field, but don't find it in other installations.  There is, of course, an Album - Artist (year) entry there.

You could create a new field with a different name, but using the same calculation.  Then delete the old one inside Manage Library Fields, and switch your views to Group By your new field with a non-colliding name.

[Airfla]

MrC:

Once again, many thanks. The suggestion to create a new entry with a different name but the same parameters did the trick. I simply left out a space and created "AlbumArtist - Album" and deleted the other entry.