INTERACT FORUM

More => Old Versions => Media Center 11 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: willrmc on November 03, 2003, 10:24:34 pm

Title: any way to sort without "the"
Post by: willrmc on November 03, 2003, 10:24:34 pm: I am looking for a way in MC9 to sort my artists disregarding "the" in the name as in "The Beatles" is sorted under "B" instead of "T" is there a way to do this in MC? i have searched around but found nothing. thanks for any help.
Title: Re:any way to sort without "the"
Post by: jleerigby on November 03, 2003, 10:33:44 pm: MC doesn't include that functionality at present. However, it does allow you to quickly change all artists beginning with 'the' in the way you describe.

You'll see the option under Library Tools> Clean File Properties. Just select all you artists beginning with 'The' and run this.

CARE: Only apply the changes to the artist field, otherwise track names beginning with 'the' will also be changed and there is no easy way to change it back.
Title: Re:any way to sort without "the"
Post by: willrmc on November 03, 2003, 10:47:51 pm: You're all about answering my questions JLee, thanks again. ;D
and i think i'll just stick with the "T" sorting for now, it displays them in the right order on my iPod still, so i'll just cross my fingers that it will soon be an MC9 function too.
Title: Re:any way to sort without "the"
Post by: jleerigby on November 03, 2003, 10:52:26 pm: Quote from: willrmc on November 03, 2003, 10:47:51 pm
You're all about answering my questions JLee, thanks again. ;D
and i think i'll just stick with the "T" sorting for now, it displays them in the right order on my iPod still, so i'll just cross my fingers that it will soon be an MC9 function too.

That's a wise choice. I made the mistake of deleting the 'the' from all artist names before the Clean File Properties option was implemented, so there's no going back for me.
Title: Re:any way to sort without "the"
Post by: Deivit on November 04, 2003, 05:26:48 am: How about creating a new field in the database named "Artist Sort Order"?

Populate it first with the same contents as the "Artist" field using the copy/move fields feature. Once you have all the tracks filled, you can use the other tools to delete or move "The" or "A" at the end (for instance "The Beatles" to become "Beatles, The") or whatever other changes you want to apply to your preferred sorting method.

One it is "fine tuned", you can use your new "Artist Sort Field" instead of the standard "Artist" field in your view schemes... and your "Artist" field will remain intact.
Title: Re:any way to sort without "the"
Post by: NoCodeUK on November 04, 2003, 12:37:15 pm: Cheers Matt! Will it be an option or will it be the default?? I have kinda got used to having a lot of things in under The ;D

Adam
Title: Re:any way to sort without "the"
Post by: RhinoBanga on November 04, 2003, 12:38:35 pm: Better be an option as I prefer it with the "The"
Title: Re:any way to sort without "the"
Post by: willrmc on November 04, 2003, 10:04:03 pm: hey, what happened to matts message? hopefully this will be a check-box in tree sort options. i can't wait.
Title: Re:any way to sort without "the"
Post by: Matt on November 04, 2003, 10:15:08 pm: Quote
hey, what happened to matts message?

I deleted it when I realized it's more complicated than I was hoping. It looks like we'll need to make it optional and maybe also allow a customizable article list.

Can't say for sure when it'll happen now. Hopefully we'll have some spare time before long to hammer it out.
Title: Re:any way to sort without "the"
Post by: willrmc on November 04, 2003, 10:19:54 pm: no problem, I'll wait patiently. ;)
Title: Re:any way to sort without "the"
Post by: jeffh on November 04, 2003, 11:39:22 pm: I think this would be great. I like the way the ipod does it, but do not want to remove the "the" from the names. Thanks for putting it on the list!