Part Sorting

[FalloutBoy]

I have posted this also in general discussion so please excuse the double post but I thought it might get more exposure here:

The Categories which have ---- at the end I have no control over the order of and I can not add any more AFAIK

The Items beneath that are those which I have defined as Sub Categories so that will be the initial sort order.

The items will then be broken down further along the lines of the largest definable type for each section which will further refine the sort.

This will be the basis for a simple editor which changes the Category and Sub category and refine options for each part.cfg, you will see the contents of the entire part.cfg but will only be able to change the category and sub category.

Note: The reason why a lot of addons are not sorting correctly and things are under the wrong sections is that these things are un or incorrectly defined.

If there is anything you can think off in respect of Sub Categories or ways to break down sub categories into the largest groups possible - id be glad to hear it.

Category

Pods 1000----

Manned 1 man 10000001

Manned 2 man 10000002

Manned 3 man 10000003

Manned 4 man 10000004

Manned 5 man 10000005

.

.

.

Unmanned remote 10000500

Unmanned probe 10001000

Other 10009000

Propulsion 2000----

Ion 20000000

Jet 20001000

Liquid 20002000

Nuclear 20003000

Solid 20004000

Aerospike 20005000

Fan 20006000

Propeller 20007000

Ballon 20008000

Misc 20009000

Control 3000----

SAS 30001000

ASAS 30002000

Guidence 30003000

Structural 4000----

Decoupler 40001000

Fairing 40002000

Adapter 40003000

Strut 40004000

Beam 40005000

Node 40006000

Launch Control 40007000

Connector 40008000

Attachment point 40009000

Aero 5000----

Nose cone 50001000

Winglet 50002000

Cannard 50003000

Wing Connector 50004000

Intake 50005000

Nacelle 50006000

Control Surface 50007000

Utility 6000----

Battery 60000000

Parachute 60000500

Window 60001000

Escape Tower 60001500

Lander Leg 60002000

Light 60002500

Anchor 60003000

Bay 60003500

Hook 60004000

Magnet 60004500

Sound 60005000

Solar panel 60005500

Thermal generator 60006000

Docking port 60006500

Ladder 60007000

Rover 60007500

-Body 60007500

-Wheel 60007600

-Track 60007700

Science 7000----

Communication arial 70001000

Meter 70002000

[EndlessWaves]

Some context would be helpful, the post doesn't make a lot of sense as it is. Are you trying to make some sort of dewey system for parts?

[FalloutBoy]

Some context would be helpful, the post doesn't make a lot of sense as it is. Are you trying to make some sort of dewey system for parts?

Ignoring the numbers as they are for my reference as you work down the list the items with the ---- are the main categories defined by squad for parts in the VAB

Under that I have tried to sub categorize the parts into logical blocks for sorting so for example with pods you will see 1 man pods first then 2 man pods and so forth then the next block is remote controlled unmanned pods and finally the last block is unmanned satellite pods.

What I'm after input on is how to further sub categorize blocks so that things are sorted the by the largest data sets possible while still providing the best visual sort order.

I.E the main heading for the next section is propulsion where I will sort rocket motors by type then beneath that will come the fuel tanks for each set of motors - but do i want to sort them by size? or name? if they are an attached radial tank or inline so basically if i decided to sort liquid fuel motors then fuel tanks which are inline followed by radial you would see displayed under the propulsion panel

LFM1 LFM2 LFM3 LFM4 LFM5

IFT1 IFT2 IFT3 IFT4 IFT5

IFT6 RFT1 RFT2

Where LFM = Liquid fuel motor, IFT = Inline fuel tank, RFT = Radial Fuel Tank

Then the next subcategory might me nuclear engines followed by their fuel tanks in much the same way.

The over arching goal is to sort out categories in the VAB and SPH so that you can find what you want as quickly as possible.

I hope this helps disambiguate what I'm trying to achieve somewhat, I've already got most of the program written and am getting close to just needing to ensure everyone is happy with the categories because initially they will be completely hard wired and I'm yet to decide if they'll stay that way - so your input is crucial.

[EndlessWaves]

The over arching goal is to sort out categories in the VAB and SPH so that you can find what you want as quickly as possible.

A dictionary approach doesn't work very well when there's no categories, you don't want to look up something beginning with W when you have to turn the pages one at a time. When you've got a long list of stuff then quickness will depend on grouping. Unless you're going to modify the editor interface to allow selecting categories then you want the most commonly used things on the first page and things that are used together next to each other where possible.

So decouplers belong at the top of the structural list, but Ion Engines and Nose Cones should both be at the bottom of their respective lists.

[FalloutBoy]

A dictionary approach doesn't work very well when there's no categories, you don't want to look up something beginning with W when you have to turn the pages one at a time. When you've got a long list of stuff then quickness will depend on grouping. Unless you're going to modify the editor interface to allow selecting categories then you want the most commonly used things on the first page and things that are used together next to each other where possible.

So decouplers belong at the top of the structural list, but Ion Engines and Nose Cones should both be at the bottom of their respective lists.

I Agree and Disagree to a certain extent, what I am getting tired of though is items that don't have any proper definition for category and/or subcategory which are two items in the config file which don't always seem to be set correctly so you end up with liquid fuel engines in the science section and rockets under utility - its a right royal mess and takes ages to find things; However if to set all liquid fueled rocket motors to the be category = Propulsion and all fuel tanks to the same they don't automatically sort nicely.

But if you set the Category to Propulsion and make all Rocket Engines for arguments sake = 1 and all liquid fuel tanks = 2 then they should sort correctly.

So for a starter my thoughts are under propulsion:

Liquid fuel rockets(1) then Liquid fuel tanks - first those without mono propellent(2) and then those that include it(3)

R.C.S Thrusters(11) and thruster fuel(12) -> keeping the thruster mono-propellent in this case as close as possible to the liquid fuel mono propellent tanks.

Nuclear engines(21) and fuel tanks(22)

Booster engines(31) and rockets(32)

Seperatrons(41)

So what we have here is everything that's a fuel tank sorted by the numbers under the category propulsion.

Of course some of these can be further refined depending on if they are and inline model or radial, my thoughts there are radial first inline 2nd.

But with what I've got now and its just a few installed mods some of them literally have no definition and its hopeless what you are describing though i think is sorting by manufacturer and is beyond the pervue and if it can be done I'd have to delve into mono to do it - not something I'm quite ready to do yet.