filename sorting is wrong

[n00b]

Sorting by filename ignores periods. This is horrible for me because of my file naming scheme. Filenames should be sorted just like they would in an ‘ls’ listing. I won’t go so far as to say in the OS GUI because on Mac OS it does “smart” (aka terrible) things if it detects dates or numeric sequences.

It probably ignores spaces as well, but I haven’t tested. If spaces and periods are ignored it allows mixing of space and periods which is often how sloppy season packs get created. So if that’s true I understand the reasoning.

But it’s wrong. In the folder view, sorted by filename, you should get everything in filename order.

[NC_Bullseye]

Welcome to the forum!

There’s a good users guide here Metadata 101 – Firecore that explains the file naming preferences and requirements for Infuse as well as other good info.

[n00b]

Thanks but that’s wrong. The article you listed says nothing about sort order of filenames (nor of shows). I noted that I am specifically talking about the ‘folder view’ (where you click through the SMB share, not a category view like ‘tv shows’).

[n00b]

Now that I turn on ‘list view’ I see that the sort order works correctly in that view and only that view.

In the non-list view, it’s just some apparently haphazard ordering.

[NC_Bullseye]

@n00b

Thanks but that’s wrong. The article you listed says nothing about sort order of filenames (nor of shows). I noted that I am specifically talking about the ‘folder view’ (where you click through the SMB share, not a category view like ‘tv shows’).

Nope, not wrong. In your original post you were asking about periods and spaces. In the users guide I linked you to had this

@Metadata 101

Note: Period, space, underscore and dash can all be used interchangeably as separator characters.

Also in the Settings menu there is an option “Sort Order” that gives you the choice of Title, Filename, Date, or Release Date.

[NC_Bullseye]

@n00b

Now that I turn on ‘list view’ I see that the sort order works correctly in that view and only that view.

In the non-list view, it’s just some apparently haphazard ordering.

They are listed alphabetically left to right and then top to bottom.

[n00b]

@NC Bullseye

Nope, not wrong.

yes, wrong.

“Period, space, underscore and dash can all be used interchangeably as separator characters.” says nothing about filename sort order. That article does not consider sorting at all.

@NC Bullseye

Also in the Settings menu there is an option “Sort Order” that gives you the choice of Title, Filename, Date, or Release Date.

Yes. Maybe I wasn’t crystal clear. I am using ‘Filename’ sort order. That is why I was concerned that filename sort order does not sort by filename.

@NC Bullseye

They are listed alphabetically left to right and then top to bottom.

I’m very confused by that comment.

Again, in the folder view only – not the category view like ‘TV Shows’ but where you descend into the SMB share, there are two different ways to navigate – list view or normal view.

In the list view, sorting works but there is no left-to-right at all. It’s a vertical list, top to bottom.

In the normal view, it goes strictly left-to-right, there is no top to bottom vertical view.

So the view is either left to right, or top to bottom. There’s no left to right and then top to bottom.

I’m using infuse pro 6.2.7 on ATV4K tvOS 13.3.

Please find attached the normal view, filename sort order. Note that the filenames are shown, and they are not in sorted order. I got to this screen by descending the SMB share in the folder view, not via ‘TV Shows’ category – although the result is the same no matter how I get there.

[NC_Bullseye]

@n00b

I’m very confused by that comment.

Again, in the folder view only – not the category view like ‘TV Shows’ but where you descend into the SMB share, there are two different ways to navigate – list view or normal view.

In the list view, sorting works but there is no left-to-right at all. It’s a vertical list, top to bottom.

In the normal view, it goes strictly left-to-right, there is no top to bottom vertical view.

So the view is either left to right, or top to bottom. There’s no left to right and then top to bottom.

I’m using infuse pro 6.2.7 on ATV4K tvOS 13.3.

Please find attached the normal view, filename sort order. Note that the filenames are shown, and they are not in sorted order. I got to this screen by descending the SMB share in the folder view, not via ‘TV Shows’ category – although the result is the same no matter how I get there.

Looking at your attached pic it looks like you don’t have the file names as recommended in the Users Guide. It appears that you have then named like "S01E01X01 Theme Music .MKV when it should be Doctor Who S01E01 Theme Music.mkv

When you have S01E01X01 Infuse thinks all the files are episode one since it looks at the “S01E01” segment for the season and episode info. Also it’s more reliable to include the series name in the file name. The addition of the X01 isn’t recognized by infuse.

As to the confusion on the list view being horizontal and the poster view being left to right I was talking about a few levels back before you get to a specific series and season. Now that I see your pic I know where your talking about. Sorry bout that!

Here’s a screen cap for the newer Dr W that shows how it looks when the file names are what Infuse is looking for. This is also using sort by Title, not file name if that makes any difference.

The file name for the first episode that I am using is "Doctor Who 2005 S01E01.mkv (This is one of the rare cases where a year is needed on a tv show due to multiple series with the same name but different years. It’s not normally seen in TV shows)

[NC_Bullseye]

I created a test series using the Doctor Who 1963 like you have.

The first pic is of the file & folder name along with the folder and sub folder structure.

The second pic is of the screen you had shown with the new display with the provided names and structure.

[n00b]

Thanks but you have used the proper naming format. I don’t, for reasons I don’t want to get into on this thread (but will, later). I’ll note that your filename order is the show order (as it should be), and you don’t have sort-conflicting locations of ‘.’ (dot) like I do. Your simplified example works because, well it has to work.

I think I have isolated this problem. I couldn’t have gotten here without your help.

In the normal (not list) view, if I set the parent folder (S02) to use local metadata, then I see the left-to-right and then top-to-bottom that you mentioned, and it’s in filename order. This is actually ideal, it works exactly like one would expect. See attachment – it annoyingly doesn’t show filenames until you hover, unlike the carousel views but they are all in correct filename order. With this, I can keep my naming strategy and not have to use the weaker XBMC strategy. In the attachment, only the 2 files with the icon that looks like a DVD cover have local metadata. The ‘Local Metadata’ indicator at the top right is for the entire folder, not that one file it is hovering on top of.

But if I then disable local metadata (ie, normal setting of online metadata) on that folder, I no longer get the left-to-right and then top-to-bottom. I get either/or like I noted earlier. IOW when I click into a folder instead of getting the multiple rows, I get a single carousel row at the bottom with the first file selected and (wrong) metadata displayed for it. I understand the reason for the wrong metadata – my organization and naming is not following the XBMC standard – that’s another story – but the problem I am noting here is that the sort order is haphazard when it should honor ‘filename sort’.

Now if I still have the folder set normally, ie online metadata, and set the global ‘embedded metadata’ setting on, which to me means the same as the folder setting ‘use local metadata’ (but “everywhere”), I also get this bad sorting. If I further turn off the global ‘metadata fetching’, then I get back to correct filename sorting, like when the folder is set to use local metadata.

So, in conclusion:

• folder setting of ‘local metadata’ really means ‘local metadata only’.
• global setting of ‘embedded metadata’ means 'local, augmented by online if ‘fetching’ is enabled

The difference between these is confusing and deserves some developer attention.

And then, to my particular problem here:

• if any online metadata is retrieved, sort by filename is ignored in normal (non-list, carousel) views.
• with only local metadata, sort by filename is honored in all views – because the carousel view is disabled.

So I think what is going on is that the carousel view is not honoring ‘sort by filename’ at all. Sort by filename is only for list views and local metadata views. Or something like that.