Advanced library filtering
![]() |
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Introduction
Filter is a Music and Video Library feature that allows a user to quickly reduce a list of titles to a smaller list that matches a user specified criteria. For example, filter the main listing of movies to only movies whose genre is Science Fiction.
There are numerous fields available that can be used to filter lists.
A filter will only be available when a listing of titles is visible on screen.
Filter -v- Search
Filter and Search are not the same. They can be explained as follows:
- Filter
- When a list of titles is displayed on the screen, applying a filter will remove items that do not match the users criteria. ie A large list is reduced to a smaller list.
- Search
- Starts with an empty list and adds to it based on the users criteria. ie An empty list is added to with matching titles.
When a Filter is not available, the option will be replaced by Search.
Access
The filter option is accessed from the Left Sideblade Menu
The Filter option itself is available on any page that has a listing of Movies, TV Shows, Episodes or Music Videos for the Video Library or any page that has a listing of Artists, Albums or Songs for the Music Library.
Filter is a library only function. It will work from the main menu options of Movies, TV Shows, Music Videos and Music as well as their Nodes (genre, year, studio etc). It will not be available in Videos>Files as this is not accessing the library nor Smart Playlists as playlists are already filtered.
Usage
- Apply Filter
- From the Filter Dialogue Screen as shown in the below row of images, enter or adjust a field as required. The changes are immediately visible in the background. Select OK to accept and view the modified list.
- Multiple filters can be applied.
- Filters are not persistant. They will cancel when exiting the list- this could be due to backing out to the previous menu, or pressing play on a title.
- Clear Filter
- If still in the filter dialogue screen, select Clear and back out of the list.
- If viewing the filtered list, back out of the list to the previous menu, then re-enter the list to see the unfiltered list again.
Available Filters
The following screenshots display the available filters as described.
A table at after the images summarises all available filters for each class of media.
Video Library
The following four screenshots show the filters available for Movies, TV Shows, Episodes and Music Videos.
Music Library
The following three screenshots show the filters available for Artists, Albums and Songs. A table at the end of this page summarises all available filters for each class of media.
Filter Summary
The following table lists which filters are available for which media type:
Filter | Music | Video | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Type | Artists | Albums | Songs | Movies | TV Shows | Episodes | Music Videos |
Title | Text Input | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Rating | Range Selector | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
My Rating | Range Selector | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
In progress | Choice Spinner | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Year | Range Selector | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Tags | Text Input | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Genre | Text Input | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Actor | Multiple Selection | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Director | Text Input | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Studio | Text Input | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
First aired | Range Selector | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
Artist | Multiple Selection | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
Source | Multiple Selection | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Moods | Multiple Selection | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Styles | Text Input | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Instruments | Text Input | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Type | Text Input | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Gender | Text Input | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Disambiguation | Text Input | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Biography | Text Input | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Born | Text Input | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Formed | Text Input | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Disbanded | Text Input | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Died | Text Input | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Album Artist | Text Input | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Compilation | Text Input | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Album | Text Input | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
Label | Multiple Selection | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Duration | Range Selector | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Filter Types
There are different types of filters and every type comes with a different style and representation. The above series of images display the various types of Filters.
Text Input
Text Input filters allow the user to specify a series of characters which should be contained in the filtered property of the media items. The user can type directly in the Text Input when it is focused or open the on-screen keyboard by pressing on the filter option.
Title is an example of this type.
Range Selector
Range Selector filters allow the user to specify a range e.g. a range of years or a range of ratings. If the selection covers the whole range no filter will be used. The user can move both range selectors to the left or right to specify the range. Moving up or down switches between the two range selectors.
Rating is an example of this type.
Choice Spinner
Choice Spinner filters allow the user to choose between one of several choices. Every Choice Spinner filter will have a choice named "All" which disables that specific filter.
Compilation in Albums is an example of this type.
Multiple Selection
Multiple Selection filters are presented as a title followed by a number in brackets- Genre[25]. The number indicates the number of available options in the list.
Selecting the button will open the multi-selection dialog with a list of possible options. The user can select any number of options. Selected options will use a green coloured font
To apply the selected options the dialog has to be closed by using the OK button. Closing the dialog with the backspace or escape key will result in cancelling the selected options.
The available options in the list will depend on what other filters have already been applied.
- If there are no filters applied all the available options will be listed
- If other filters have been applied then the options in the list may be reduced to match the already adjusted filter options.
The button will be greyed out if the list has either 0 or 1 options.
Genre is one example ofa this type.
Return to top |
---|