Bug 79509

Sorry, I see what you're getting at, but, well, no.  :-)

This is just more complicated than I believe things should be in the JuK interface.  SQL like power just doesn't belong there...

JuK's implicit secondary column sorting actually goes something like artist, album, track number, genre, track name...

Why not a simple list dialog that lets you move a criterion up or down, ala the konqueror file association 'Application Preference Order'?

I know it sounds simple -- but it's yet another configuration item.  If I added everything that people requested to be configurable, well, let's just say that it wouldn't be pretty.  :-)  I try to keep configuration options to a minimum in JuK...

This really is an issue for me, especially with collection albums (multiple artists), see also #69387. That bug could be fixed with solving this one. It is such a pain to have to select just the album in question and then explicitly sort that on Track, then at the end of the album switch to another view for another album.

Instead of a config option, why not make the sort order adjustable through right clicking the sort headers or a tool-bar item?

For an example of this option, get MS Outlook (I run it under Wine for the corporate contacts and email, Evolution 2.0 here I come) and right-click on a column header, then select 'customize view' and select 'sort'. It then lets you choose up to 4 columns on which to sort ascending or descending. Juk only would need to add a dialog box entry to the current header pop-up, and let you adjust  the sorting order and direction from that. No extra config entry needed that way.

When sorting on multiple columns, Outlook does show the arrow markers on all explicitly sorted headers, but when you click any of the headers to re-sort in a different way, sorting is done on only that column. Multiple-heading sort is only possible through the dialog box.

Implicit sorting is a real pain when it does the wrong thing. Either adjust the implicit sort (which porbably will be wrong for another situation), or remove it altogether and allow it to be adjusted.

Amarok does this well without adding any additional configuration options or interface clutter: Click on one column header to sort by that, then click on another to set that column as the primary and the previous as the secondary.
This means, for example, click "Track", then "Album", and you have what is wanted in bug #69387.

I whould like to add it whould be nice if juk whould look at the location of the file. very often tags are broken or not available, but the files are sorted in maps on artist and album. now, if there are no tags, files end up on top of the list. but xmms, for example, can sort them according to their location, so also files without proper tags end up in a sane location in the playlist.

and please considder at least the amarok way of sorting...

I would like to add, that it's very confusing, the way juk sorts the tracks.

The sort order could be marked with a little number next to the column header (it's done that way in J. River Media Center, and that works very intuitively).

The sort order could be done either like in Media Center and Amarok where a click on the column header brings the column to the front (first sorted), or you could be right clicking the column header select a sort priority, where draws are sorted out either alphabetically or in the Amarok way...