Tracknum sort order in Database

[TheEther]

I've searched and read all of the posts I could identify so far concerning the Track/Tracknum ID3 tag value when using the Database.  I have todays build on an IPOD 5.5 30G.

The Database does correctly sort my tracks using the Tracknum value when viewing tracks by artist>album.  The problem I have is that I have albums that have more than 200 tracks that require that specific order (it works correctly on IPOD OS).  The Rockbox database only sorts by tracknum correctly when there are less than 99 tracks in an album .  Let me demonstrate the issue:

Under normal curcumstacnes when one has 99 tracks or less in an album it looks like this on sort by tracknum:

01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
......and so on up to 99, exactly as it should be.....

However, when there are more than 99 tracks it does the following on sort by tracknum:

01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
11
110
111
...and so on.


Is this a bug or is there something I can adjust to properly handle the files?

Thanks

TheEther

[bascule]

It's because the sorting is done using the tracknum as a string, not as an integer and is formatted to two digits.

Do this:
Go into .rockbox/tagnavi.config

Change this line:
%format "fmt_title"       "%02d. %s" tracknum title ? tracknum > "0"
to
%format "fmt_title"       "%03d. %s" tracknum title ? tracknum > "0"

And any others where the tracknum format is %02d

Bear in mind that unless you change to a custom tagnavi file (see my sig), this change will be lost every time you update your build.

[TheEther]

Much appreciated, I changed it and it works correctly now!

Thanks

The Ether..

[Lars]

If I try to change those format values in the "tagnavi_custom.config" they seem to have no efcect. Could it be that format values can't be changed in that navi files after they have been defined?

Regards, Lars

[bascule]

If I try to change those format values in the "tagnavi_custom.config" they seem to have no effect. Could it be that format values can't be changed in that navi files after they have been defined?

Regards, Lars

If you are using the same format name, then yes. Rockbox uses the first instance of the format that meet the criteria.

%format "fmt_title"       "%02d. %s" tracknum title ? tracknum > "0"
%format "fmt_title"       "%s" title
It is possible to use the same fmt_identifier with different definitions.
The first line where the condition is true is applied, so it is suggested to use an unconditional line as a "catch all" at the end.

So if you have a third definition of "fmt_title" in your tagnavi_custom.config, it will be third on that list and never get triggered.

As you use a custom file, it would be better to define your own formats
e.g., "custom_title"       "%03d. %s" tracknum title ? tracknum > "0"

[adam917]

Even though this may be a bit off-topic, is it possible for an application to scan all track number tags in someone's music collection and prefix the tags with the desired number of digits as needed by each album (like prefix three zeroes on tracks 1 to 9, two zeroes on tracks 10 to 99, and one zero on tracks 100 to 999, for instance)?

Besides something like that, are there any true benefits with the DB scanning the track number tags (but still outputing them in WPS & tag info screens as strings) as textual strings as opposed to (cardinal) numeric values? If so, can anyone who knows indicate? Would it have to do with track 'numbers' like 1a, 1b, etc?

[bascule]

MP3Tag is your friend (link)

And, of course, the database formatting described above does exactly that, but only within the database itself.

[roolku]

Besides something like that, are there any true benefits with the DB scanning the track number tags (but still outputing them in WPS & tag info screens as strings) as textual strings as opposed to (cardinal) numeric values? If so, can anyone who knows indicate? Would it have to do with track 'numbers' like 1a, 1b, etc?

Personally I would like to treat track numbers (and year) consistently in database and WPS/info screen and cardinal numbers would be fine with me (that's what my tags are). But some people like the flexibility of having free text to store things like 1/10  or even more obscure things with classical music (there is even a comment in id3.c to that effect).

Now one could make the database use the string representation as well, but numbers are a lot more efficient to deal with and using strings would cause even more sorting problems (i.e. is 02 < 1 ?).

So I think the current compromise is as good as it gets.

[adam917]

Exact what is the current compromise? String in WPS & integer in DB?

Posted by: roolku -

So I think the current compromise is as good as it gets.

[roolku]

Exact what is the current compromise? String in WPS & integer in DB?

Nearly. WPS uses whatever the Tag (depending on filetype) holds (number or string) and database uses numbers.