Completed Add alpha picker to the "add to collection screen

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

4 minutes ago, arrbee99 said:

Maybe it was that grid of collection posters you mentioned. There were at least a lot more items shown in that 'add to' box.

You might have a point and I believe that the grid was vastly superior to what is happening now. The current add screen looks to have been designed with the intent of making it too hard to use for people with more than 5-6 collections.

But in two and a half years Emby moved backward from a clumsy but usable screen to one that is about as close to unusable as anything Emby has ever done.

Of course, now that I am becoming a bit insistent, we can expect Emby to do nothing as this "good idea" seems to have become bad because I asked for it.

I must apologize to most of the Emby users for suggesting an improvement that seems to have encouraged Emby in the other direction. We now have an "add to collection" screen that is practically unusable. Improvement????

[arrbee99 1815]

Yes it was discussed before here somewhere, but I can't even think of a decent term to search for to help find it. I was hoping to find it in case it hand some handy illustrations / screenshots.

It was I think better when much more was packed in, even though the term packed in doesn't sound good for clarity of display...

But I must admit, now I've read this thread, and as I can use a keyboard, that isn't to me a bad solution / workaround.

Grid with keyboard shortcut maybe ?

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

17 minutes ago, arrbee99 said:

Yes it was discussed before here somewhere, but I can't even think of a decent term to search for to help find it. I was hoping to find it in case it hand some handy illustrations / screenshots.

It was I think better when much more was packed in, even though the term packed in doesn't sound good for clarity of display...

But I must admit, now I've read this thread, and as I can use a keyboard, that isn't to me a bad solution / workaround.

Grid with keyboard shortcut maybe ?

If you read this thread then you saw that I want/need the alpha picker because I do all maintenance from my recliner as I cannot sit in a normal" chair for long without a lot of pain. I do use a keyboard from my chair but it is only convenient for a fairly short time and I really see no reason for the change to a nearly useless screen like we have now.

I have no problem at all with the keyboard shortcut but an alpha picker would be a very good addition to the grid add to collections screen. This "new" add to collections screen is a huge move into un-usability and without an alpha picker it is a horrid idea. The ONLY redeeming feature for me now is I have most of my collections created and set as I want them so I do not have to use the junky screen much anymore.

Edited September 11, 2023 by Gilgamesh_48

[RLanger7228 73]

I agree with the general sentiment that alpha-pickers in ALL listings would be helpful, regardless of how they are sorted.  Thank you @GrimReaperfor the suggestion of the keyboard shortcut (pressing a letter & waiting a few seconds to skip to that section).  This seems to work well in the "add to..." lists, but doesn't work in the Folder section of music (sorted by file name).  However, when sorted by Title, the alpha-picker appears (thank you @darkassassin07), obviating the need for the keyboard shortcut.

When I do significant editing, I tend to be on my laptop with a keyboard, so the shortcut will work for me, though I agree with @Gilgamesh_48that the mouse-driven alpha-picker would be more convenient.  It is disappointing to learn that this request has been open for years (since 2021), though not knowing the effort or resources it might require to implement, I can't comment with authority.   I, too, have extensive Collections & Playlists, and would appreciate the implementation of this request, though the suggestions above DO help me limp along much better until they can be implemented.

I made a similar posting, with examples & screen shots before I knew this discussion existed.  I have pasted a link below to include it in this discussion (though my original post is now closed to further responses & refers to THIS thread).  The keyboard shortcut & sorting by title seems to address the issues I raised, but I stand by my first sentence in this post.

NOTE:  When I just went to a specific playlist & sorted by title, the alpha-picker did NOT appear, nor did the keyboard shortcut work  I still had to scroll though the hundreds of songs in that list.

 

Edited February 25, 2025 by RLanger7228

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

19 minutes ago, RLanger7228 said:

I agree with the general sentiment that alpha-pickers in ALL listings would be helpful, regardless of how they are sorted.  Thank you @GrimReaperfor the suggestion of the keyboard shortcut (pressing a letter & waiting a few seconds to skip to that section).  This seems to work well in the "add to..." lists, but doesn't work in the Folder section of music (sorted by file name).  However, when sorted by Title, the alpha-picker appears (thank you @darkassassin07), obviating the need for the keyboard shortcut.

When I do significant editing, I tend to be on my laptop with a keyboard, so the shortcut will work for me, though I agree with @Gilgamesh_48that the mouse-driven alpha-picker would be more convenient.  It is disappointing to learn that this request has been open for years (since 2021), though not knowing the effort or resources it might require to implement, I can't comment with authority.   I, too, have extensive Collections & Playlists, and would appreciate the implementation of this request, though the suggestions above DO help me limp along much better until they can be implemented.

I made a similar posting, with examples & screen shots before I knew this discussion existed.  I have pasted a link below to include it in this discussion (though my original post is now closed to further responses & refers to THIS thread).  The keyboard shortcut & sorting by title seems to address the issues I raised, but I stand by my first sentence in this post.

 

The fact is that Emby had a good alphapicker in the photo display that worked fine but they chose, for some reason, to remove it. They say that it is too complicated but I do not see how that could be as there are clients that do it just fine or they are saying that clients like the Roku are better than the regular web interface. I don't buy that at all!

I believe that for some unknown reason the developers at Emby just do NOT like the alpha picker and they removed it for no other reason than they do not use it. Well folks not everyone uses Emby like you do and a working alphapicker in all screens that can be sorted by either title or filename should have one available. Collections, main library screens and anyplace else where sorting is allowed needs to have an alphapicker and not having one just shows the developers are either lazy or dumb and i refuse to believe the developers of such a good program are dumb. 

I want my photo alphapicker back and i want it to work correctly. I believe that if you can sort something by title or filename then an alphapicker should be fairly to implement and, if it is really not wanted then allow it to be toggled on and off. 

But this is Emby's program and they can do with it as they please but i do not have to like it at all.  

BTW: The keyboard shortcut is nearly useless at times for me as I often browse without a keyboard at all. 

Edited February 25, 2025 by Gilgamesh_48

[RLanger7228 73]

@Gilgamesh_48:  I agree with your suggestion that the alpha-picker should be in all  listing screens.  I like the suggestion of a toggle on-off option for those who don't want it (though implementation would be easier without having to script for the option) and I also don't see a reason why they can't be in all listing screens.  However, I don't think the aggressive approach, making assumptions or denigration is the best way to convince someone or "guilt them" into taking action.  You are, of course, free to express your opinions in any way that you wish, but you may find that you don't end up getting the results you desire.  Indeed, as you hinted, this approach may even be counter-productive, as you will tend to push people away with that sort of commentary, making them less sympathetic to your point of view.  The choice is yours - I am not telling you what to do.

I can only hope that the developers come to understand that there a lot of other people who would appreciate this sort of functionality (even if they are not participating in this conversation), and also hope that the implementation is not too arduous to undertake, nor consumes too much resource to be practical.

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

1 minute ago, RLanger7228 said:

@Gilgamesh_48:  I agree with your suggestion that the alpha-picker should be in all  listing screens.  I like the suggestion of a toggle on-off option for those who don't want it (though implementation would be easier without having to script for the option) and I also don't see a reason why they can't be in all listing screens.  However, I don't think the aggressive approach, making assumptions or denigration is the best way to convince someone or "guilt them" into taking action.  You are, of course, free to express your opinions in any way that you wish, but you may find that you don't end up getting the results you desire.  Indeed, as you hinted, this approach may even be counter-productive, as you will tend to push people away with that sort of commentary, making them less sympathetic to your point of view.  The choice is yours - I am not telling you what to do.

I can only hope that the developers come to understand that there a lot of other people who would appreciate this sort of functionality (even if they are not participating in this conversation), and also hope that the implementation is not too arduous to undertake, nor consumes too much resource to be practical.

I would normally agree BUT the developers removed a mostly working alphapicker from the photo library and they have not added it back in FOUR years. That shows that the developers just do not understand how valuable the alphapicker is for some of us. There is no reason that I can even conceive of to not have that functionality nd leaving it out just seems to indicate some innate desire to not have any alphapicker and that means that the persuasion I tried in the past did not work hence I am becoming somewhat more aggressive. 
I do not expect my new approach to have any more impact that the old one but I feel, since this was effectively ignored for four years, that a new more aggressive approach is needed. I do not intend to trash anyone but the lack of movement on this and the total indifference of the Emby team means that more pressure, within my poor abilities, is needed.

I do not really expect any action on this front as they have had zero movement for over four years. Even the "Add to collection" page is still without an alphapicker and they remove the one they had from the photo library.

If a keyboard selection works then it should be fairly easy to make an alphapicker work at least as well but Emby is too stubborn to add it. I do NOT understand why but FOUR years is a very long time to wait for what seems to be an easy addition that already works from the keyboard.. Just put an alphapicker on the screen and trigger exactly the same action as the keyboard does. It cannot be hard if a little energy is directed at it as the functionality is already in the code.

[RLanger7228 73]

I feel your frustration.  4 years IS a long time to try one's patience.  If other methods of appeal have not yielded results, I can understand why you have resorted to alternative approaches.  I was just trying to be helpful.  There are other simple suggestions I have also made that seemed to have been received positively, but have also not been implemented yet.  I guess I have just not gotten to the point of being angry about it.   I made the same argument about existing functionality seeming to be "easy" to reproduce elsewhere within the program.  So far, no one has answered the question directly of why it is this way.  The workarounds are helpful, but do not work in all situations.

I can't imagine why the alpha-picker was removed from photos, unless there are space (or other) limitations & it was removed to make "room" for another feature?  However, this is just pure speculation on my part.  It would seem like it is something simple that could have been left in, but the ways of programmers can be mysterious.  As a former computer programmer myself, I understand that the more functionality you add, the more compendious the coding becomes, the more RAM it utilizes, the slower it loads & runs, sometimes requiring virtual memory swaps with the hard drive for different segments, slowing it down further.  I don't know if this is the issue here or not.  It would be unfortunate if this highly useful bit of functionality had to be "sacrificed" for something else, and we don't know what they decided to keep or add "in exchange" for it.  I highly suspect that it was NOT due to avariciousness or laziness.

We can only hope that enough user interest can raise the programmer's perception of its value enough to increase the priority relative to other features.  However, if it is a zero-sum problem, which feature(s) would we be willing to sacrifice to get the alpha-pickers back?

[visproduction 315]

Alpha picker is back in Collections on the latest Version 4.9.0.42 beta.  Very nice.

I noticed 1 trick and 1 alignment question.

Trick:
If you want to place any collection after the letter Z at the bottom of your list, you can use a foreign letter Þ, Æ, Ö.  The new foreign letter will appear in the alpha picker list.

Metadata Sort Titles

Zorro

Þ Agatha Christie
Þ Favorite directors

===

Question - Alpha sorts always goes to the row in the middle, not at the top of the screen.  What about moving the result upward 200px?
All alpha letter clicks bring the media to the center, not to the top of the Window.  This can mean in a row of, say 7 media, sorting on M can have a top row of K, L and the middle row 6 media posters of L, before you get to the first M poster, at the end of the middle row. The row just below which would have more M letter media is usually cut off.  I tested for normal poster sizes.  Is this user friendly? 

I think that when users change poster sizes, that it may be difficult to bring the letter results exactly onto the top row, but moving the sort row up about 200px would be nice, especially on smaller screens.   This sort to the middle is standard everywhere, not just collections.  Did anyone else notice this?  Would sorting to the top row be nicer?

Edited March 15, 2025 by visproduction