How do we change the order of entries within the database?

[Mark Gauer]

[JohnO]

Open Memento, select Menu >Settings > Sort Libraries

There are symbols to move each entry up and down to change their order in the database.

 

[Amundsf]

He isn't asking about sort of records?

If so take a look at the thread no 2 from the top at this forum...

[Bill Crews]

Or if you mean merely to change the displayed order of entries within a displayed list, then swipe to the left from the right edge of the screen while displaying the list. A menu will open displaying various list display tools, such as sorting & filtering.

[Amundsf]

Bill: Yes, that's what I think he's asking for :)
Just hadn't time to describe it ;)

[JohnO]

The OP didn't ask about sorting a library, he asked about changing the order of entries in his database, which is an entirely different thing.

Unfortunately he hasn't returned to acknowledge which of the responses was the one that answered his query.

[Mark Gauer]

Yes, that's right, I did askabout changing the order of entries in the database. so there are no 'up' and 'down' buttons to move and sort them?

[JohnO]

If you try the steps in my first response you will see the up and down buttons on the right of the screen.

The buttons move the libraries one step at a time to get them in the order you want.

If this isn't what you want, then try Bill Crews' suggestion.

[Mark Gauer]

Yes, I used Bill Crews suggestion, but the software does noticed have a feature to allow for a convenient up and down button arrangement to change the order like it offers in the library window. If we suggested this feature, how easy would it be to implement it and program it in? This is a basic feature that would be of much benefit, as the current sorting feature has limitations as it sorts only by fields in the database at present.

[Bill Crews]

I suggest that we all be careful with the terminology we use while doing this, because otherwise, it can be easy to confuse among the things being ordered or sorted, grouped, or filtered.

Once we have a common understanding of the intent, I expect JohnO out someone will give the proper course of action, probably at uservoice.

"Entries" or "items" can mean anything, and the databases/tables/fields/records terminology of "relational" people. though similar, is overlapping & different from how Memento calls things. I try to go by what Memento itself calls things: _libraries_ containing _fields_ that compose the _records_ contained within the _library_. A _list_ is of records within a library. The libraries themselves are displayed in a certain order within _groups_, and it is all but impossible to alter the order of library groups.

In Memento, we can readily change the order of libraries within a group and of fields within a library; I don't think we need changes there. (I just wish we could change the order of the groups of libraries and more quickly navigate among them, but that's another story.)

We can also readily change the order of records in a library list, and we can group then and filter among them. These are not manually sequenced, but rather are sorted based on field values.

I am now confused as to which of these things you feel is inadequate. Certainly, reordering fields in a library is a teeny bit harder than reordering the libraries within a group, but not much harder - one extra click per field. Is that what you are wanting?

(As you can infer from above, I have many groups of libraries and am suffering from that, so I find myself stuffing libraries into a few groups not based on any meaning or commonality of the group, but based on frequency of use, since it is SO hard to move around among groups. I gather that's not your issue.)

So given this terminology, what is your main issue, and what are you proposing be changed in what way?

[Mark Gauer]

When I click on the database, I see a screen, a list of records.

It is this list of records which I wish to have an up/down button to arrange the order, instead of using the existing sort-by function.

[Bill Crews]

As you describe it, what you are looking at is a list of the records in the library - the contents and not the structure of the library.

The sorting, grouping, & filtering functions I described earlier are the tools to use. Manual positioning is not available.

I doubt you'll like it, but you could supply a field in your library to indicate order, so you would sort by that field. It would almost have to be a Real Number field, but those can be edited only in the card, not in the list. And though there are up & down bumpers in the card edit for a real number, you'll end up having to enter values, and again, I don't think this approach - or any other - will suit you.

If instead of merely tapping the library, you performed a long-hold on it and selected Edit (showing you the structure and not the content of the library), now you are looking at the library's field definitions in order, and _that_ order can be changed by tapping the 3-dot icon on the right and then selecting Up or Down, which is about as easy as changing the library order with its group.

[JohnO]

Mark,

It might help us to give you a better answer if you could provide to some information about the structure of your library.
Perhaps a couple of examples of how you want to sort the records would make it clearer to us.

[Mark Gauer]

I just simply want something that the current version of the program is not providing. The first part of Bill Crews most recent response is exactly what I want to do, but the functionality is just not there, qnd there's no way I'm creating a new numbered field for every one of my entries. I guess I'll just have to wait till they program in this feature... Or don't.

Thanks

[Bill Crews]

So, the desire is to manually and easily adjust the order of the list of records in a library.

The only database programs I know of that allow this are spreadsheet programs, though there may be others (FileMaker or other such?). I would probably go with a spreadsheet program and hope to use something like drag & drop to make the reordering easy.

Of course, Memento libraries may be synced to Google Sheets, so one could sync, reorder with Google Sheets, and sync back, but since I haven't tried it, I'm not sure if the resulting order would be maintained. If it would, that could be a solution for you, assuming your chosen field types sync according to your wishes.

I wish we knew what the library is being used for.