Unsorted tracks after drag & drop from network

[giles]

Hi,

Reposting in the right forum this time, I hope.

I have some audio files in FLAC format accessible via NFS. When I drag one of those folders (directories) and drop it into Play's queue, the tracks are ordered in whatever order they happen to be in the directory. I'd prefer that in the absence of any metadata that they be sorted in alphabetical order:

track01.flac
track02.flac
...

I have looked at the Play source; it's not clear to me what language it's in, so I'm unlikely to figure out what code changes are needed to add a sort in the right place.

As a workaround before I look into Play's use of metadata, I have sorted the files within the relevant directories on the NFS server. Ugly but it works.

BTW this lack of ordering is typical for OS/X applications; OS/X seems always to sort filenames when directories are read. Useful perhaps but not all operating systems do it!

Regards,

Giles

P.S. I really like that Play allows specification of which audio output to use. Key feature I've not found in anything else.

I'm bemused about the library: without meta data, it seems rather pointless to ever add tracks to the library.

[RonaldPR]

I'd prefer that in the absence of any metadata that they be sorted in alphabetical order:

track01.flac
track02.flac
...

Right-click (or control-click) on the column headers and in the contextual menu add the column "File name". You can sort according to file name in that column.

[giles]

Right-click (or control-click) on the column headers and in the contextual menu add the column "File name". You can sort according to file name in that column.

Thanks ... helps, a bit. No sorting in the queue; the sorting is only done in the library.

I added the filename to both the queue and library panes, and can now drag and drop to the library (which sorts); select everything and drag it up to the queue. I just have to delete everything in the library before doing this.

I'd still like to see the queue sort when a folder is dropped into it. Maybe I'll have to find out what language Play is written in and work on it.

Cheers,

Giles

[RonaldPR]

Thanks ... helps, a bit. No sorting in the queue; the sorting is only done in the library.

I added the filename to both the queue and library panes, and can now drag and drop to the library (which sorts); select everything and drag it up to the queue. I just have to delete everything in the library before doing this.

Why do you need to delete everything in the library? You can simply sort the existing library by selecting the "File name" header. A selection that is dragged to the queue will appear there in the same order as it was sorted in the library. You do not even need to add the "File name" column for the queue.

In the queue the initial order is the order in which (groups of) files are dragged. You can change the order by dragging a selection of one or more tracks within the queue.

[giles]

Why do you need to delete everything in the library?

Because I have trouble remembering what each "track01.flac" is!

I need to look into associating meta data with these files, but the files' arrangement dates back to prior to my using Play, or a Mac, or even FLAC format.

Cheers,

Giles

[RonaldPR]

Which other data do you need to sort? You can sort by combinations of different data. For instance sorting first by track number and then by album will sort by track number per album. Likewise, sorting first by file name and then by date added will sort by file name per date added. Isn't there any combination of sorting orders that you can use?

[giles]

Isn't there any combination of sorting orders that you can use?

Not when there's no meta data (so no album names) and the track names are not unique after Play throws away the folder name that the files came from.

So the short answer is "no"!

Long answer: I need to add meta data.

Cheers,

Giles