cmsb limitation, any work-around?!!

Unfortunately, I am horrified to find out now that you can't simply sort the categories alphabetically by clicking the link header in administration!?

Err, yes you can!

:0)

Perch

Hi Rez,

What's happening when you click on a column to sort it is you're sorting what's actually stored in the database. So, for your list field, if the value (not the label) of the list field is the number of a category, CMS Builder will sort on that number, not the name. If you change the value of the drop down to be the name, then it will sort by the name, alphabetically.

Hope this helps.

Making the value the name isn't an option for me. If the customer changes a category name, it breaks every item in that category. I would have several hundred records that would need to be re-assigned. They would be very confused, I went through that once.


Yeah, I understand what's going on and that unfortunately you can't sort by label. It's really disturbing to me that I can't sort this list alphabetically; something so basic and standard. I was just hoping there was a different setup technique for this list and categories somehow. I was told a change / fix wont be happening anytime soon and getting custom work for this simple outcome was quite a job. :( Unfortunately I bought a 10 pack of licenses not thinking something like managing a list of items would be a such a huge problem. Once my CMS / setup is squared away, I'll be cranking out 4-8 sites a month. This has to work.

Surely there is different way people are setting this up? i don't get it.

hi Jason,
Thanks for the help and hopefully this doomed feeling will go away. Im trying to turn this list management over to the customer today. I know you are the expert and aware of this, I'm just posting for others. It's what perchhole must not be doing.

Per Dave:
"When linking categories to products, be sure to use "num" for the value field and "name or title" for the label field. Otherwise if you link on name and the category name changes it will forget all the associations."

That is conflicting. Is CMSB more geared to sites with less than 50 records or something when it comes to categories? I'm not understanding how this is not a major issue for other users when managing records. How many records and categories are expected to be managed without sorting alphabetically?

Any other options for setup besides the risk of breaking all the associations?
Thanks.

Hi Rez,

Even if it's not alphabetical, sorting on the category column will still group the categories together, so it will be easy to see items that have the same category.

Another solution would be to put the category field in the search tab, that way they could select a category and get back all the records that have that category.

Hope this helps.

"it will be easy to see items that have the same category"

Not if you have hundreds or 1,000 items and 1 or two in a category that begins with the letter "A", yet could be anywhere in the list. To add to the problem, I input all the items in alphabetical order so it appears at first to the customer that the sorting is working, yet 1 category starting with "A" isn't at the top with the rest. I can explain that to them but the bottom line is that it has a low usability and wouldn't be what a user expects. It's frustrating that interactivetools sees this as logical on their end and won't look at my point of view or my customers as this not making sense or being logical on the user end... yet it's on the list of changes. ? Even if the majority of users arent setting things up like this, the recommended way, with a lot of records (I would think you would want there to be lot's of customers on the way in this situation) I wish new features didn't have a higher priority than straightening out this one.


"Another solution would be to put the category field in the search tab, that way they could select a category and get back all the records that have that category"

this does seem to be the only way to manage this. I already have it that way. This whole situation also partially defeats the purpose of the custom work I paid for. :(

I am using this simple example to figure this out. I was planning on using more than one drop menu / list per item. In fact, I currently have 3. Brewer, Style, and Region. So I can't sort none of those! I had more uses as well but this is just a mess.

Dead end I guess. I was hoping that since this wasnt just one site of my own, it would matter.

oh well. thanks for your time.

Hi rez,

I was told a change / fix wont be happening anytime soon and getting custom work for this simple outcome was quite a job.

This definitely is on our list, but it will be quite a lot of work to do properly. If, however, you are interested in a "quick fix," I can get something working for you in considerably less time -- the only issue is that you won't be able to upgrade the software without more custom work.

Please let me know if this is something you might be interested in and we can hash the details out via email.