INTERACT FORUM

More => Old Versions => Media Center 14 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: datdude on October 03, 2009, 11:02:51 pm

Title: Theater View: Why is Random Not Random?
Post by: datdude on October 03, 2009, 11:02:51 pm

I have a view that just lists Audio Albums.  When I add the 'Albums' field to the view and select it as sorted by 'Random' the albums are not sorted randomly.  In fact I'm not sure what type of sorting is actually applied since some of it appears to be sorted based on Artist name, but some artists are not sorted together so the sorting is not consistent, but it stays the same when switching in and out of the view (refreshing it). 

This has been this way for as long as I can remember using MC.  Is this the interpretation of random?  That the sorting appears to be random (but not really), but is the same no matter when I browse this view?

The only way to get the albums to show up randomized is to go into the 'set rules for file display' and set the sorting to Shuffle.  As soon as I do that the albums are randomized, but so are the songs, so I can't play the album tracks sequentially.

Thanks

Title: Re: Theater View: Why is Random Not Random?
Post by: datdude on October 10, 2009, 04:30:38 pm

Bump

Title: Re: Theater View: Why is Random Not Random?
Post by: datdude on October 25, 2009, 11:44:08 am

bump

Title: Re: Theater View: Why is Random Not Random?
Post by: Matt on October 26, 2009, 01:10:11 pm

I changed the default 'Albums' view to sort by 'Random'.  It seems to work fine.

Are you doing something else tricky, like trying to view albums in a column list or something?

Title: Re: Theater View: Why is Random Not Random?
Post by: rick.ca on October 26, 2009, 02:29:29 pm

I added the default 'Audio' grouping and changed 'Albums' to sort by random. The albums appear to be in a random order—but within artist (and artist within style and genre). What I'm seeing seems to be exactly what datdude describes. I haven't attempted to verify, but I wonder if it's listing albums according to file path (I use \Genre\Style\Artist\Album), and then just sorting albums within artist randomly.

Title: Re: Theater View: Why is Random Not Random?
Post by: Matt on October 26, 2009, 02:41:13 pm

Sorting specified in the Category dialog only applies to Panes views.  If you're looking at a thumbnail view (like Artist Thumbnails), you'll have to use the 'Sort By' drop box.

Sorry, I gave bad information.

Category sorting is used, but it will be overridden by the 'Sort By' selection if it is set to something other than '(Default)'.

A few issues surrounding this will be shored up in a coming build.

Thanks.

Title: Re: Theater View: Why is Random Not Random?
Post by: rick.ca on October 26, 2009, 04:02:37 pm

You seem to be referring to Standard View. The question pertains to Theatre View.

Title: Re: Theater View: Why is Random Not Random?
Post by: Matt on October 26, 2009, 04:14:33 pm

Quote from: rick.ca on October 26, 2009, 04:02:37 pm

You seem to be referring to Standard View. The question pertains to Theatre View.

Oops.

On the bright side, my misunderstanding led to some tightening up of the sorting of complicated Standard View views.

Anyway, the Theater View issue will also be fixed in a coming build.

Thanks everyone.