BookPedia: author name and publisher/place

[Kopernikus]

Generally, the author name in bookpedia is set as: "first name last name", but I would like to have that automatically as "last name, first name". The same with publisher and place, which is originally set as "publisher, place" and I want it like "place: publisher". So how can I set that?

-Nick

[Conor]

Hi Nick,

There is no way to change the order, it is set by the database where Bookpedia retrieves the data. In the future we might have Bookpedia try to distinguish between last name and first name so that the order can be reversed on the fly.

Regards,
Conor

[Evertype]

One workaround would be to have an additional field or two for ordering purposes. Apple's Address Book has an analogous feature, originally I think for Japanese names: The field is called "Phonetic first/last name".

I'd like to see a similar functionality in Bookpedia and for the film director in DVDpedia.

Michael

[thajeztah]

I double that. Right now, I've added 'author lastname' and 'author firstname' to BookPedia (and artist firstname/lastname in CDpedia) in order to have the right sorting.

Would It be possible to add special 'sort by' fields to the Pedias in the future? (just like in iTunes). By default these fields can be left empty to have Pedia 'sort out' the sorting. To override the sorting, fill in the fields.

Regarding the separate fields for firstname/lastname:
Might it be possible to add 'calculated' fields to Pedia in the future? Before using Book/CD/DVDpedia I used a FileMaker Pro database to store my collections.
I used separate fields for firstname and lastname and added a combined column for my overviews. In some views I combined the fields 'last, first', but in other views, I used 'first last'.

[Conor]

Thank you for the feedback. Merged fields are an interesting idea, at the moment they can be done in the info view as the info view is completely customizable, but a column with merged information we had not considered. When we update the database structure we will definitely add a sort author field, just like the sort title.

[thajeztah]

If I can be of any help with designing the database structure, please let me know.

I've designed many databases for my work and although I don't have much experience with SQLite, I've worked with PostgreSQL, MS SQL Server, Sybase, MySQL and FileMaker. In case you need a hand, have somebody to have a look at your ideas, or anything else, don't hesitate to contact me

[Conor]

Thank you. I will contact you if I need some assistance. Core Data from Apple hides most of the SQL specifics and makes working with databases easier. The only issue is that Core Data does not let you alter a table after it has been created. So adding a single field means migrating the entire database to a new structure. In Leopard Core Data helps out with a mapped migration, but in Tiger it has to be done by us.