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[wer]

I'd like to build a theater-mode view based on an expression.  It should show all MediaSubType=Movie, listed by [Name] but sorted by a new field I created, [NameSorting], instead of just being sorted by Name.  I want [Name] displayed; [NameSorting] should not be seen on-screen.

Is this possible?

It has to be built on an expression (and not using "set rules for file display" subtype=movie) because I don't want MC to insert the file info panel, as it will for a normal movie view.

If one of you expression wizards could help me out, I'd be much obliged...

[rick.ca]

Is this possible?

Yes. Just sort by [NameSorting]. That's set as a "modifier" in Rules for file display.

It has to be built on an expression (and not using "set rules for file display" subtype=movie) because I don't want MC to insert the file info panel, as it will for a normal movie view.

I don't understand what you might mean by this. In any file list (the final level of a view), there's a file info panel. If you want something different than the default panel for video, you would define a custom template for that purpose (e.g., another template that's used when [Media Sub Type]=[Movie]). How the list is sorted has no bearing on that.

[wer]

This doesn't work for what I'm trying to do.

When you build a view that contains nothing but Movies, MC insists on displaying them with the file info panel.  I don't want the file info panel displayed while all the movie covers are on the screen.  I want a plain wall of movies (like album view in Audio), and to only get the file info panel once you drill down into an individual movie.

I can achieve this by creating a view inside the Movies hierarchy based simply on the expression [Name]. 

The problem is, if I do that, I can't sort by [NameSorting].  In this case, when the [Name] view is created, the dialog has that "Settings" section at the bottom, with the "Sorting" and "Matching" selections.  There are limited options for sorting there -- I can't sort by an arbitrary field of my choice, only the standard ascending/descending/date/etc options MC gives me.

For your suggestion, the Modifier in "Rules for file display" does not seem to be respected if the category search is based on a library field or expression.  In either of those cases when you click the edit button to build the category, That Settings/Sorting section is active, and overrides any sorting I put in the "Rules for file display" box.

My personal taste is that the file info panel is visual clutter when viewing a wall of movie covers.  I only want the detail when I drill down.  So I'm seeking a way to do that, while ALSO being able to sort by my [NameSorting] field.

So far all the attempts yield either an info-panel-less view but sorted by [Name], or a view with the info-panel but sorted by [NameSorting]

Am I explaining this well enough?  Thanks for helping me with this Rick.

[rick.ca]

This would be easier to follow if we respect the simple structure of the Theatre View views, and use consistent terminology to refer to the parts of that structure. Any one view may have any number of Categories used in sequence for selecting files. After making those selections, the result is a File List. Information about the currently selected file is presented in the File Info Panels. The form in which Categories and File Lists are presented may independently be changed using the Toggle List Style menu item. This may be confusing if it suggests Categories and Files are similar objects (i.e., because they can both be represented by thumbnails)—they are not.

What you are doing is specifying [Name] as a Category. That's fine, but it's still a category. When you select a value in that category, you are selecting a Category that results in a File List of one movie (assuming your movie names are unique). The point of all this is that you need to specify the sort order of your [Name] Category, not the File List. That's done in the settings for that category, not in the Rules for file display.

To set the sort order, select the category in the configuration, then Edit... You'll see a Sorting dropdown from which sorting keys are selected. That won't help unless your [NameSorting] key is listed. It won't be unless you've previously saved it as a Preset in Standard View. To do that, select Sort inside groups by... from the tab menu and then Custom (at the bottom of the list). Add [NameSorting], then select Preset, then Save...

Although it doesn't seem to be an issue for you yet, understanding this should also suggest how the captions of your movie thumbnails can be changed. Again, these are categories, not files. So to change the caption, change the category itself—using an expression instead of a field. If you wanted the captions to be Title (Year), for example, you would simply change the category from [Name] to the expression [Name] ([Year]).

[wer]

Rick, thank you very much!

Everything through paragraph 2 of your reply I knew and was doing, although perhaps I wasn't communicating clearly.

Where I was failing was in paragraph 3.  I had made attempts before to define new sorting presets, but no matter what I did, I could not get them to show up in the bottom section of the Edit screen of the theater view Category.  This was causing me to believe that list of sorting options (ascending/descending/etc) couldn't actually be extended.

There seems to be more than one "place" in standard view where you can define sorting presets.  For example, in Std view right click on a column header, Presets->Save allows the creation of a preset that shows up on the list of selectable presets in standard view, but a preset so defined does NOT show up in the category edit screen of theater view.  Only by following your instructions exactly and defining them inside "Sort inside groups by" off the tab menu was I able to define one that showed up in the Edit screen.

I suppose I'm not surprised that MC was able to do this; it seems to be able to do just about everything in terms of sorting and organizing... I just wish it were better documented and a little less confusing for those of us without years of experience.  Of course, if it gave the option to not show the file info panel in the file list, I wouldn't have had to torture you with all these questions!  

Thanks a lot!  I appreciate it.

[rick.ca]

For example, in Std view right click on a column header, Presets->Save allows the creation of a preset that shows up on the list of selectable presets in standard view

There are different kinds of Presets, depending on the context. That one saves column settings, not sort keys. Another (from the Customize View dialog) saves Category sets.

[wer]

I'm not sure how one would tell them apart.  Once created, they both appear in the same dropdown menu in standard view, right next to each other.  But only the one "kind" shows up in Theater view.

I did not see any warnings/characterizations/limits when creating them.  It's just saving a preset.  I also didn't find anything at all in the Wiki on this.

Thanks for the info...

[rick.ca]

I'm not sure how one would tell them apart.  Once created, they both appear in the same dropdown menu in standard view, right next to each other.  But only the one "kind" shows up in Theater view.

Sorry, I'm not following you. There are three kinds of presets I'm aware of: sort, column and category. They're all completely different things—you won't see them listed anywhere together. What we're talking about here are sort presets. Those can be created and used in a number of different places. They just can't be created in the Theatre View category edit dialog.