Default collection sort order in desktop app

PChemist
Are collections sorted at all?



When I rename a collection, its position may change, so there is some kind of ordering related to the name, but I cannot understand what that order is and why they are not at least sorted alphabetically.

I understand that implementing the sorting feature that works across various alphabets might be trickier than for just the Latin alphabet. For Latin alphabet, sorting can be performed via SQL/SQLite. SQLite does sort non-Latin strings as well, but it cannot perform case-incentive sorting if not built with the ICU extension.

Basically, I think the most natural default collection order would be alphabetical case-insensitive.
  • poettli
    edited February 25, 2025
    1 is smaller than 6, so all the sub-collections starting by "1" come first, followed by "6". "N" and "A" don't play a role here because they are function of "1" (all "N"s) and "6" (all "A"s). Then 9 < 41 < 400 < 540 < 914 < 4148 in the first image. You change 9 for 91 in the second image, so the order becomes 41 < 91 < 400 < 540 < 914 < 4148. Finally, 91 becomes 911, so the order is now 41 < 400 < 540 < 911 < 914 < 4148.
  • PChemist
    Trying to interpret parts of strings as numbers this way while sorting other parts alphabetically IMHO is plain ridiculous.

    Collections should be sorted as case-insensitive strings by default. No attempt to do any "smart" sorting should be made, because the result will be nonsensical most of the time regardless of any scheme.
  • dstillman
    It's a totally standard way of sorting, and Zotero has sorted strings like this for many years (over a decade) in response to user requests. Otherwise "Collection 11" sorts before "Collection 2".

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_sort_order
  • PChemist
    edited February 26, 2025
    So, if I submit a pull request that

    1) Adds a checkbox to the settings dialog controlling if natural sorting should be employed;
    2) Adds associated preference handling in the preference file;
    3) Extends the sorting logic to make this option possible.

    is it going to be considered for inclusion in beta?
  • dstillman
    I don't know that we'd make this a visible pref, but if you want to create a PR for a hidden pref, we can take that. Should be the numeric: true lines in intl.js:

    https://github.com/zotero/zotero/blob/6f8da4825e2d42f1d531fb685f23e7d00e2ceb05/chrome/content/zotero/xpcom/intl.js#L251-L265
  • dstillman
    extensions.zotero.naturalSorting is now available in Zotero 7.0.14.
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