topic Re: Dialog box does not list files alphabetically??? in Installation & update

Dialog box does not list files alphabetically???

Chris Hough — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 15:59:15 GMT

I have been putting up with this for some years now and today I am just over it. (I've been using Archicad for +20 years on Mac, though obviously this problem does not go THAT far back...). Pardon the snark in this post but I'm just super frustrated with several things going on and this is the proverbial straw.

I'm sure the answer will be that A) there is some obscure dialog box that is buried in the program somewhere that will fix the problem or B) it has to do with the way the Mac OS handles the files listing and it "can't be fixed" by Graphisoft. But here goes:

We have a very extensive list of texture files that we often use regularly to look at various exterior materials on the models with our clients. Why oh why then does the dialog box in the Surfaces- Texture- Browse not display these files in alphabetical listing?? Do you realize how hard it is to look through a randomly ordered list of files?

Any explanation for this at all?

Re: Dialog box does not list files alphabetically???

Laszlo Nagy — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 17:35:47 GMT

I am not on Mac so I will be able to check it, but could you post a screenshot of how that Dialog looks?
Others may have some ideas.

Re: Dialog box does not list files alphabetically???

Lingwisyer — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 01:33:43 GMT

Chris wrote:
Surfaces- Texture- Browse

As in changing the image in the surface editor? Looks to be a Mac thing as it is in alphabetical order for me on Win10.

Ling.

Re: Dialog box does not list files alphabetically???

Chris Hough — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 16:03:38 GMT

Screen shot of the dialog box below.
Yeah, sure we can say "must be a Mac thing" but c'mon- I will go off on a big rant if that's the "official" response. I'll hold my tongue for now.

Re: Dialog box does not list files alphabetically???

jclewis — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 18:12:44 GMT

Same here.

Very annoying.

Re: Dialog box does not list files alphabetically???

Barry Kelly — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 01:06:02 GMT

Chris wrote:
Yeah, sure we can say "must be a Mac thing" but c'mon- I will go off on a big rant if that's the "official" response. I'll hold my tongue for now.

This is far from an official response but it is fine in Windows OS.

I do not have a Mac, but is there some default OS setting that affects the default list order of files?
I am not familiar with any setting in Archicad itself that can change this, as this dialogue is not a standard list where you can choose to list by file name, size, date, etc.
So I assume it is getting some default setting from the OS.
Or it is indeed just a problem where the Windows version is correct but the Mac version is not.

Maybe our friend Minh will see this and can test on both systems (it is the 'browse' for textures button in the surface settings dialogue.

Barry.

Re: Dialog box does not list files alphabetically???

Chris Hough — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 03:00:55 GMT

Guys, I appreciate the fact that it runs fine on Windows, and that you are trying to problem solve this and help. Seriously, thank you for letting me know. I think it's pretty clear though that is is a Mac specific problem.

I am pretty familiar with the Mac OS and while there are different ways that the OS can tell the finder to display files (by date, kind, etc) the options are for the main OS dialog boxes and not configurable for software running in the OS that I am aware of (though obviously things change from OS iteration to iteration).

Re: Dialog box does not list files alphabetically???

Chris Hough — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 03:08:41 GMT

Here is the finder dialog box that lets you sort files by various options. I am thinking this one does not have any impact, but as you can see I do have it set to sort via file name (default setting I believe). If there is a separate one for affecting non OS software I am not aware of it.

Re: Dialog box does not list files alphabetically???

Minh Nguyen — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 05:14:19 GMT

Hi all,

Thank you very much for sharing the issue and I am very sorry about the experience!

I looked into this and after a little bit of deep digging, I learned that this is a known issue. Furthermore, it only exists on macOS. The reason behind it is that the APFS system introduced to macOS.

This caused the files within to be sorted out in a random order rather than in alphabetical order.

Unfortunately, there is no applicable workaround, however we are aware of the issue and plan to tackle it. Unfortunately, this is a big Project Proposal and not a small fix. There is a need to overwrite the system's own methodology of sorting items. Nevertheless, I do hope we will have it fixed in the near future!

I am very sorry for the inconveniences and troubles that this issue is causing. If there are any further questions, please let me know!

Best regards,
Minh

Re: Dialog box does not list files alphabetically???

Chris Hough — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 15:57:32 GMT

This seems to have been fixed in either the latest OS update and/ or with the latest update of Archicad 23.

Much appreciated!