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[snuffy]

I can't seem to figure out how to get MC to ignore the album date when sorting.
It sorts them properly in the left navigation pane. But in the right pane it sorts albums from a particular artist by date.

How do I get MC to ignore the album date in it's sorting?

[Matt]

Sorting should be fully customizable.

Investigate the view header menu (hover over the text in view's tab) for 'Sort By' or 'Group By'.

[snuffy]

I've done that and I just can't get it to display the way I want it.
In the left navigation pane everything is fine. sorted by Artist, album name.
In the right pane it is sorting by Artist, Album date, even though I haven't told it to use the date at all.
I'd add a screen shot but this system won't let me.

I also have a mystery column sort.
Album has a 1 to the right of the column header, Track # is 2, and Disk # is 4, all ascending.
I have no idea what 3 is and can't find where I can remove the column sort designation. I can switch the order, change if from ascending to descending, and add sorting to a column but can't seem to find where to remove sorting.

[rick.ca]

What have you selected for "Group by" and "Sort by"? If you select Sort by Default the sort order will be:

• Album Artist (auto)
• Album
• Disc #
• Track #

If you display those columns, you'll see if it's data in those fields that's causing an unexpected result. You will find, however, that is how it's being sorted.

You'll still be able to modify the sort order by clicking on any column headers. If applicable, you'll be given the choice to remove grouping. If you do so, a Refresh will reapply it. The sort order indicators will simply indicate the order in which the columns have been clicked. The program will continue to apply this in the context of whatever Grouping is being used. If it becomes unclear how to change the order to the way you want it, use the menu to return to the default—or any preset you care to use. You can use "Custom" to create any preset you wish.

[snuffy]

I believe I've figured something out.
I'm grouping my library by album, which is what I want. What's happening is it's not sorting the groups properly.
If I group by artist, it sorts correctly but doesn't divide the list by album and stacks all the large album thumbnails at the Top of the group. That's not what I want.

Every time I group by album, the groups are sorted by the date the album, by that artist, the album was released. Date is not selected, anywhere that I can find, in the sort criteria.

For example;
Aerosmith albums are sorted in this order
Aerosmith
Get Your Wings
Toys in the Attic
Draw the Line
Classics Live
Big Ones
Pump
Get a grip
Nine Lives

(This is the order in which they were released)

What I'm trying to achieve is a heading for each artist. Under each heading I want the albums sorted in alphabetical order, with the album cover thumbnail to the left and album info next to it.

I just haven't been able to figure out how to accomplish this.

It seems as though when I group by album it considers the date before the album name.

[rick.ca]

Okay, now I understand. Yes, the default "Group by Album" setting presents the Albums by Year within Artist (actually, by average Year—so compilation albums are sorted correctly). If you'd rather be different and have albums sorted alphabetically, you'll have to work for it...

Create an "expression field" named Artist - Album using the expression [Artist] [Album] or [Album Artist (auto)] [Album] and choose this as the field to sort by.

[snuffy]

That did the trick.
Thank you very much.

[snuffy]

One more question about sorting and displaying.

I sort artists like, Brian Adams, Peter Frampton, Billy Joel, etc. by last name.
This is set up and all working as it should. They are sorted and displayed as;
Adams, Brian
Frampton, Peter
Joel, Billy

What I was wondering is. Even though I'm sorting by last name can I display the artist name normally, in the group heading?

ie
Brian Adams
Peter Frampton
Billy Joel

Everything I've tried so far ends up with an undesirable re-sort.

[rick.ca]

Even though I'm sorting by last name can I display the artist name normally, in the group heading?

You can't have it both ways. The program is going to display as a group heading whatever it is you're grouping by. So you could change your Artist - Album expression to use "FirstName LastName"—but it will be sorted that way too. Maybe that would still work for you, as you would be able to use your [Artist] in a pane for selection, and would be able to re-sort by [Artists]. If so, change your [Artist - Album] expression to Clean(ListItem([Artist], 1, /,) ListItem([Artist], 0, /,)) • [Album]. That will work as long [Artist] is a single artist in the form "LastName, FirstName." The Clean() function will strip the leading space that would otherwise result from a single-name artist (e.g., Sting, Prince), or if for some reason you do use "FirstName LastName."

Changing "Brian Adams" to "Bryan Adams" is up to you.

[snuffy]

When I group by the preset Album, it sorts the albums within an artist by average year, it also sorts artists themselves by Album Artist (auto). The group headings are displayed as (album name) by (artist). The solo artists are displayed as First name Last name.

If it wasn't for the year being involved in the sorting, it would do exactly what I want.

How can I recreate that behavior with out the date being involved in the sorting?

[rick.ca]

How can I recreate that behavior with out the date being involved in the sorting?

I've already answered that question.