Bookpedia questions

[jenv]

1) Can it sort on multiple columns? If so, how fast must the timing be between clicks on the column headers?
2) Are "firstname lastname" and "lastname, firstname" sorted the same way?
3) Is "firstname lastname" sorted by the whole field, by firstname, or by lastname?

[Conor]

1) The program can sort by multiple columns to a depth of 6 columns. The timing between the clicks does not matter. When you change column it sub-sorts by what was last sorted. You want to click on the columns in reverse order e.i. click title, then author, then my rating; the sorting will now be my rating, and where those are equal author, and where those are equal title.

2) By holding down the option key when clicking on a column you can flip between sorting last name or first name. The default is to sort by the first letter it encounters, but with option it will sort the last word that comes before a separator such as a coma, semi-colon, slash...

regular:
lastname, firstname
firstname lastname
lastname secondlastname, firstname
firstname lastname; firstname lastname

with option:
lastname, firstname
firstname lastname
lastname secondlastname, firstname
firstname lastname; firstname lastname

3) This one also depends if you used the option key when clicking. If your using option and the last names are equal it moves to the first name to differentiate the sort. With the regular sorting it moves along the letters in order until they differ.

I think what your looking for is to hold down option when clicking the author column. By default the author comes sorted with option, but by clicking the field while holding down option it's simple to determine what type of sort it just changed to.

[jenv]

Wonderful! Thanks. Does option change the sorting behavior of any other column? The description of sorting in the manual isn't nearly so comprehensive. It doesn't mention separators or multi-column sorting, nor does it give examples like these.

[Conor]

Option affects any column you would like minus the title column, a few users by mistake would hold option on title and then be confused with the sorting so we disabled it. The documentation is always catching up to the program, but will try to make the sorting section more comprehensive.