Feature request: Sorting by fields

[Tristian Blake]

I've been using yWriter for a long time, and don't know how I ever lived without it.

However, I really wish that some parts of the program (eg character list, project notes) would allow automatic sorting. I'm aware that I can click and drag to sort, but if I could click the column title to sort by different fields, it would be incredibly useful (eg, to see if I have too many characters whose name starts with M.)

Any hope of the feature being included in a future version?

[Simon Haynes]

I've added an explanation here (item 12):

https://sites.google.com/site/ywritersj/feature-requests/rejected-features

Regards
Simon Haynes
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Freelance software engineer: http://www.spacejock.com
Author & freelance writer: http://www.spacejock.com.au

Tristian Blake wrote:

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[Henry Boleszny]

Hi Tristian,

Before Simon added the Character sort feature, I exported my character list into a spreadsheet.  Like you, I had to watch a problem with too many characters having similar names.  

That idea proved a life-saver when I needed to create new characters (ye gads!) and found a 'gap' amongst the Ps, Xs and Zs.  

The character sort saves a lot of time, but there's a darn good reason for keeping Major separated from Minor.  Unfortunately, I've had too much alcohol, so I can't remember what it is now.

Happy Easter.

Henry

> Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2012 13:02:43 +0800
> From: spac...@gmail.com
> To: ywr...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: [yWriter] Feature request: Sorting by fields

[Dave Shaw]

There is an alphabetic sort for characters - go into Characters, View/Edit, right click in the character list, and Sort alphabetically.  It doesn't mix major and minor characters, of course, for the reasons that Simon linked to.

Despite multiple requests, Simon hasn't had time to implement all the equivalent functions from characters into locations and items.  Apparently it's a big job.

Dave Shaw

---

From: Tristian Blake <tristia...@gmail.com>
To: ywr...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sun, April 8, 2012 12:49:48 AM
Subject: [yWriter] Feature request: Sorting by fields

[Tristian Blake]

Thanks, sorry I didn't do my research first. ^^;

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[Simon Haynes]

I only just added item 12 - I thought it was already there.

Tristian Blake wrote:

> > ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.

> > > For more options, visit this group at
> > http://groups.google.com/group/ywriter?hl=en.
> > >
> >
> >
>

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[Jake Bajada]

I've been keeping my eyes out for a suitable replacement for Microsoft Word for writing stories for years.  yWriter seems the closest I've stumbled across, and I am in the process of importing the story I've been working on into it to see how it handles.  So far I love the programming analogy and the focus on scenes.  I like the 'character' and 'location' tabs as it saves having separate Word documents full of notes.  I've tried other "writer's software" packages in the past such as Rough Draft, but have always reluctantly returned to Word.  For me, it isn't the stripped down, bare bones approach that is most attractive, it is having tools and capabilities that are actually useful.

That said, is there any way to show relationships between fields?  For example I have several large, extended families with lots of minor characters.  It would be very useful to keep track of them all by having some means of relating them to each other.  Eg. so-and-so is the eldest brother of the main character, and such-and-such is the cousin... A way to have families color-coded, or if clicked upon, sketch a quick family tree?  This would be a very easy way of keeping track of who is who.

Similarly, the same could be applied to locations.  I've been adding all the locations as they occur in my story.  I need to keep the names straight, if nothing else.  I want to keep track of cities, geographical features, river names etc. in a couple of different countries.  The way it sits right now, a river mentioned a couple of times in the story has as much weight as the capital city.  It is not immediately clear what belongs in which region.  If relationships could be applied (or some means of grouping) it would be immediately clear what goes together. 

Maybe there is something like this in the program that I haven't realized yet?  Going back now to keep importing the story and playing around with what looks like it could be a very useful piece of software.

Cheers, - J.

[Henry Boleszny]

Hi,

I've had a similar problem with characters, locations and items.  

For locations and items, I add a category to the Title - Adelaide--Market Square, for example.  Then I drag all of 'Adelaide' together, all of 'Melbourne', and so on.  For Characters, I use the 'aka' field and description boxes.  

It's the only approach I've found that works.  

HTH

Henry

---

Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:46:28 -0700
From: astra...@gmail.com
To: ywr...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [yWriter] Re: Feature request: Sorting by fields

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[Carl Maniglia]

Alternatively you could abandon the "One Stop Shop" approach and use
yWriter in conjunction with applications such as MindMap or StoryBook.
If you use multiple monitors or Win 7, it's very easy to have both
yWriter and one of the other applications open simultaneously.

Carl

On 17/04/2012, Henry Boleszny <ozh...@live.com.au> wrote:
>
> Hi,
> I've had a similar problem with characters, locations and items.
> For locations and items, I add a category to the Title - Adelaide--Market
> Square, for example. Then I drag all of 'Adelaide' together, all of
> 'Melbourne', and so on. For Characters, I use the 'aka' field and
> description boxes.
> It's the only approach I've found that works.
> HTH
> Henry

--

Regards

Carl

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15 WATERLOO ROAD, EXETER EX2 9DT*****
Mobile:** 07411 163618** Website:** *www.carlmaniglia.com

[Henry Boleszny]

I agree that two monitors is the way to go.   The dream isn't a reality yet.  All I need is for my debtors to pay up.

H

> Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:32:37 +0100
> Subject: Re: [yWriter] Re: Feature request: Sorting by fields
> From: carlma...@gmail.com
> To: ywr...@googlegroups.com

[Dave Shaw]

There are various things you can do to implement your own organization schemes for characters, locations and items, using things like the Tags and Description fields.  However, there isn't a lot implemented in yWriter for doing that.  Simon hasn't exactly been eager to bulk up the software with such things in the past, although that's no indication of what he might do in the future.  I would be very surprised if he implemented something like a family tree capability directly, though.  Perhaps a way to link to some other program in such cases might eventually appear, but I think that would be more a matter of if such a thing becomes available in his programming tools than him spending a lot of time developing it.  Just my opinion, of course.

Dave Shaw

---

From: Jake Bajada <astra...@gmail.com>
To: ywr...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tue, April 17, 2012 8:36:01 AM

Subject: [yWriter] Re: Feature request: Sorting by fields

[Dick Keaton]

As suggested above, I'd recommend taking a serious look at StoryBook
Pro. I use it in concert with yWriter and it is extremely valuable for
tracking the appearances and frequencies of characters and scenes, as
well as their relationships. It will produce a variety of reports,
charts, and tree structure diagrams. I won't kid you; it's a bit of
work to set it up and you have to keep it updated in parallel with
yWriter. However, if your novel is infused with complex relationships
or POVs, you might find it useful. I know I do.

Good luck.

Dick

On Apr 17, 8:38 am, Dave Shaw <daves...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
> There are various things you can do to implement your own organization schemes
> for characters, locations and items, using things like the Tags and Description
> fields.  However, there isn't a lot implemented in yWriter for doing that.
> Simon hasn't exactly been eager to bulk up the software with such things in the
> past, although that's no indication of what he might do in the future.  I would
> be very surprised if he implemented something like a family tree capability
> directly, though.  Perhaps a way to link to some other program in such cases
> might eventually appear, but I think that would be more a matter of if such a
> thing becomes available in his programming tools than him spending a lot of time
> developing it.  Just my opinion, of course.
>
> Dave Shaw
>
> ________________________________

> From: Jake Bajada <astrayto...@gmail.com>

[Sara]

I use yWriter in conjunction with MindMap and Evernote. You can
create notebooks for each project, then sketch out family trees, maps,
or what all else as notes in your notebook. You can't go more than
one layer deep, but you can tag. Then, the pertinent sections can be
linked to in the Character section of your yWriter project,or a line
to reference it. It's a little clunky, but I've found that sometimes,
it takes two or three programs to fill one need completely, unless
you want to pay some serious money for a specific program.

SARA

[Peter Barns]

I've found AutoRealm a handy little free program for keeping track of family trees. Put a link to it in the Project Notes section of yWriter and it becomes part of the program. I also put a link to Freeplane as well. Using Project Notes this way you can slot any other program into yWriter and have it only a couple of clicks away. 

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[Pete]

Sorry guys that should have been Simple Family Tree not AutoREALM -
doh!

On Apr 18, 10:07 am, Peter Barns <pe...@boddaert.co.uk> wrote:
> I've found AutoRealm a handy little free program for keeping track of
> family trees. Put a link to it in the Project Notes section of yWriter and
> it becomes part of the program. I also put a link to Freeplane as well.
> Using Project Notes this way you can slot any other program into yWriter
> and have it only a couple of clicks away.
>

> *Author, poet and versifier*

[William Seward]

I'm writing a series of mysteries set in a small Texas town. There is a truism that everyone in small towns is related. Almost true. As I populated the town with characters I ran into the problem you are talking about. I finally stopped and used a genealogy program, Personal Ancestral File, to work up family relationships of all my characters. It's free and easy to use. (I already had it for my own genealogy work.) A bit redundant, perhaps, but for one major family in the town I also set up a file in another free program called FreeMind. It sets up bubble charts of all sorts to set up a relationship structure. Not much different from a flow chart. The diagram for that family is on my wall now.

[Henry Boleszny]

Genealogy programs are great but don't cover every situation.

I had to use a spreadsheet to sort out my characters because the standard binary 'nuclear' family structure didn't work... excluding the relationship dynamics of course.  Talk about nuclear!

H

---

Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:30:41 -0700
From: lastrom...@yahoo.com
To: ywr...@googlegroups.com

Subject: [yWriter] Re: Feature request: Sorting by fields

I'm writing a series of mysteries set in a small Texas town. There is a truism that everyone in small towns is related. Almost true. As I populated the town with characters I ran into the problem you are talking about. I finally stopped and used a genealogy program, Personal Ancestral File, to work up family relationships of all my characters. It's free and easy to use. (I already had it for my own genealogy work.) A bit redundant, perhaps, but for one major family in the town I also set up a file in another free program called FreeMind. It sets up bubble charts of all sorts to set up a relationship structure. Not much different from a flow chart. The diagram for that family is on my wall now.

On Friday, April 13, 2012 3:46:28 PM UTC-5, Jake Bajada wrote:

That said, is there any way to show relationships between fields?  For example I have several large, extended families with lots of minor characters.  It would be very useful to keep track of them all by having some means of relating them to each other.  Eg. so-and-so is the eldest brother of the main character, and such-and-such is the cousin... A way to have families color-coded, or if clicked upon, sketch a quick family tree?  This would be a very easy way of keeping track of who is who.

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