[Batiatus]

Probably asked before but searching didn't yiled helpful results for me.

If I create a specific playlist, say James Bond films in release order, and link it to a sub-menu item, how do I get the list to be displayed in the exact order I want it?

[Ned Scott]

IMO, the easiest method is to change the sort title (context menu -> Manage -> Edit sort title).

That way the sorting is correct even if it's not based on "date". The sort title is how it is alphabetically listed, but it doesn't change the actual displayed title. The sort titles would look something like "James Bond 1" and "James Bond 2", etc.

[Batiatus]

IMO, the easiest method is to change the sort title (context menu -> Manage -> Edit sort title).

That way the sorting is correct even if it's not based on "date". The sort title is how it is alphabetically listed, but it doesn't change the actual displayed title. The sort titles would look something like "James Bond 1" and "James Bond 2", etc.

Changing the sort title doesn't work when you have a library in alphabetical order and would like a sub-menu listing of specific films in a specific, non-title, date or sorttitle order.

To put the Marvel Cinematic Universe films in their correct order on a sub-menu playlist your suggestion would also have them all together in the main library.

It's a playlist. Play item 1 first. Then item 2. Then 3. Music playlists have been able to do that for ever.

[Ned Scott]

I assumed you were talking about movie sets (wiki) and were just confusing the term with playlists. There's no magic to changing the order of a video playlist. Video playlists are created in the order you queue things. You can move listings on an existing list up or down using a keyboard or the context menu, which will change their order. See basic playlist (wiki).

[Batiatus]

I assumed you were talking about movie sets (wiki) and were just confusing the term with playlists. There's no magic to changing the order of a video playlist. Video playlists are created in the order you queue things. You can move listings on an existing list up or down using a keyboard or the context menu, which will change their order. See basic playlist (wiki).

No, it's not a normal que of movies. It's a list in a specific order in the playlists menu that can be linked to a menu or sub-menu option to give you the full list.

For example:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<smartplaylist type="movies">
    <name>Marvel Cinematic Universe</name>
    <match>one</match>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Iron Man</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>The Incredible Hulk</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Iron Man 2</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Thor</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Captain America: The First Avenger</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>The Avengers</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Iron Man 3</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Thor: The Dark World</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Captain America: The Winter Soldier</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Guardians of the Galaxy</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Avengers: Age of Ultron</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Ant-Man</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Captain America: Civil War</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Doctor Strange</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Guardians of the Galaxy 2</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Spider-Man MCU</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Thor: Ragnarok</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Avengers: Infinity War Part 1</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Black Panther</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Captain Marvel</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Avengers: Infinity War Part 2</value></rule>    
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Inhumans</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Guardians of the Galaxy 3</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Ant-Man 2</value></rule>    
    <order direction="acscending">year</order    
</smartplaylist>

If I bring up this playlist, under any of the options, it won't ever put it in this exact order. The best that can be done is by year however after year it default to alphabetical and puts 'Captain America: The First Avenger' before 'Thor' which is not the correct MCU order.

[Ned Scott]

Ah, that's a smart playlist. In Kodi smart playlists are folders and not actually playlists, but we call them playlists (weird, right?). If you do my original suggestion of changing the sort title then it will work.

[Batiatus]

Ah, that's a smart playlist. In Kodi smart playlists are folders and not actually playlists, but we call them playlists (weird, right?). If you do my original suggestion of changing the sort title then it will work.

But I can't change the sort title and have Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3 appear as a trilogy in the full movie library. That's the point of this exercise. I want a sub-menu for film series that can be put in their proper timeline order. I'm not sure why that seems to be so difficult for the software to understand. It's just a list to display in order directly without any other rules enforced on it.

How do movie sets work differently? Seems they should work based on a list in the stated order, no?

[jjd-uk]

Have you actually tried using sort title? as I don't see why it wouldn't work in your example unless I'm completely not understanding what you want to achieve.

[Batiatus]

Have you actually tried using sort title? as I don't see why it wouldn't work in your example unless I'm completely not understanding what you want to achieve.

OK, for the Marvel Cinematic Universe example....

Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3 should all appear in the main movie library under I-R-O-N-_-M-A-N-0-1, I-R-O-N-_-M-A-N-0-2 and I-R-O-N-_-M-A-N-0-3

Thor and Thor: The Dark World should appear in the main movie library under T-H-O-R-0-1 and T-H-O-R-0-2

The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron should appear in the main movie library under A-V-E-N-G-E-R-S-0-1 and A-V-E-N-G-E-R-S-0-2

And so on.

Under the main MOVIES menu item I have a sub-menu item called "Series" which links to a number of smart playlists of various film series. One being the MCU, where all the films are listed in the playlist in their MCU order. Because Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger were both released in 2011 if sorting the playlist by year Captain America ends up before Thor alphabetically instead of after as the playlist dictates. The same thing will happen with Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man.

I DO NOT want my main movie library to get to M-A-R-V-E-L and suddenly have Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Iron Man 3 etc.

So to summarize, I already use sort order to put these films in a proper alphabetic order in the movie library. I want to have a sub-section where I can put them, or any films I choose, in a specific playlist order of my choosing. My ipod could do this a decade ago.

[Batiatus]

And speaking of sort order, why does the official ios (and I'm assuming android) app not use or have the option to use sort order? I've asked in that specific thread with no response at all.

[Ned Scott]

So one part is a bug where sorting by date doesn't sort by the full date, but only the year.

A workaround for the time being would be to use just a basic playlist instead of a smart playlist. There's no reason to use a smart playlist when you are only using it for a specific listing of movies. Smart playlists and basic playlists can be mixed together. Your sub-menu "series" link can point to whatever folder that contains your smart playlists, and the basic playlist can be there too.

Somehow I get the feeling that this won't be "acceptable" to you and you'll just bitch about it, so this is my last post in this thread.

[Batiatus]

So one part is a bug where sorting by date doesn't sort by the full date, but only the year.

I've not seen an option to sort by date. Only by year. Outside or "date added". If there's another way to sort by actual date that would be good to learn.

A workaround for the time being would be to use just a basic playlist instead of a smart playlist. There's no reason to use a smart playlist when you are only using it for a specific listing of movies. Smart playlists and basic playlists can be mixed together. Your sub-menu "series" link can point to whatever folder that contains your smart playlists, and the basic playlist can be there too.

What's the difference between a "basic playlist" and a "smart playlist"? How does this look in the XML?

Somehow I get the feeling that this won't be "acceptable" to you and you'll just bitch about it, so this is my last post in this thread.

WTF? I asked for help, needed to explain further and clear up confusion. Didn't think it was so difficult to understand so I made it as clear as possible. Snide remarks such as this don't help to further things along. If you have a personal issue with someone perhaps you should PM them instead?

[Batiatus]

Using a regular m3u playlist doesn't work. It needs to be a smart playlist.

According to the wiki here, this string should determine the order as listed in the playlist.

Code:

<order direction="ascending">playlist</order

Using sort by playlist within Kodi brings back all sorts of crazy results. The playlist looks like this

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<smartplaylist type="movies">
    <name>Marvel Cinematic Universe</name>
    <match>one</match>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Iron Man</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>The Incredible Hulk</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Iron Man 2</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Thor</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Captain America: The First Avenger</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>The Avengers</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Iron Man 3</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Thor: The Dark World</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Captain America: The Winter Soldier</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Guardians of the Galaxy</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Avengers: Age of Ultron</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Ant-Man</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Captain America: Civil War</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Doctor Strange</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Guardians of the Galaxy 2</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Spider-Man MCU</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Thor: Ragnarok</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Avengers: Infinity War Part 1</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Black Panther</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Captain Marvel</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Avengers: Infinity War Part 2</value></rule>    
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Inhumans</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Guardians of the Galaxy 3</value></rule>
    <rule field="title" operator="is"><value>Ant-Man 2</value></rule>    
    <order direction="ascending">playlist</order    
</smartplaylist>

But the order looks like this!