Songbook Issue
 

Went to make a songbook of new songs in 4.5 and did it by Artist Firstname/Lastname and Title. (My KMA's are loaded as Artist Lastname/First.) I am getting something like the following...

10,000 Maniacs
3 Doors Down..
Trace Adkins

With the setting (First name first then lastname) being set shouldn't Tracy Adkins be listed under Tracy? not Adkins?

Am I missing something?

Went through and did it Lastname, First and it came out like this:

10,000 Maniacs
3 Doors Down..
Adkins, Trace

The problem is that when I do it by LASTNAME, FIRST it still arranges it by the last name and puts the first name infront of the last. ?!?!:?:?

Don't see anything wrong. It looks right to me.

I think what he is looking for is for it to sort by first name when he prints that way and it doesn't. The sort is only by last name regardless of whether it is printed firstname lastname or lastname, firstname.

The problem is that when I do it by LASTNAME, FIRST it still arranges it by the last name and puts the first name infront of the last. ?!?!:?:?

I'm guessing that the book is printing out/arranging a list of names beginning with first then last, even though he is asking it to print/sort/arrange by last name first! I don't use Hoster's Songbook feature, but could probably create the same format.

That isn't what he is showing in the example list. I think he is confusing hisself as well as us.

That depends if you left them with the comma

Mariah Carey
or
Carey, Mariah

Since my catalogs are by artist, I always use the first example so I dont have to deal with last name or name first

No what he wants is it to list first name last name and alpahbetize that way. Say he wants to see Trace Adkins listed like this under T for Trace. He doesn't want it listed under Adkins at all.

If this is exactly how you want it to display, you can do it, but make sure first because it is time consuming.
You will have to take all your last name, first name listings ie Adkins, Trace and edit them all to Trace Adkins! Obviously will need to be done for all other names listed this way as well in order to sort/print alphabetically like this.

Fortunately if you are editing the artists through the 4.05 Hoster database, the new pulldown menu in the editor will speed up the process.:)

Yea thats what I meant :) It would be nice to have a feature that truely listed by the Artist FIRST name and not his last.

Again you can do this. But you are going to have to edit all the artists to list it that way ie from Adkins, Trace to Trace Adkins. Then it will sort under T for Trace like you want.

I've always listed it as Trace Adkins alphabetized under A for adkins. Are people really getting to a point they do not know how to find an artist without having to look at the first name only? I never had an issue for 13 years, but seems like the last couple years, people do not understand first name - last name alphabetized by last name. I get people showing me the books saying they are all out of order & don't know how to find anything. I ask what are you looking for (last night for example), he said Garth Brooks. I told him it's under B for Brooks. He looked like a deer in headlights. Then walked away. Came back a couple minutes later saying he is in the B's but nothing is in order. I told him to bring me the book on the page he was on. He cam back & found an artist Beyonce Knowles (K). I told him he was in the K, turned the page over to B & pointed to Garth Brooks. Then gave him a generalized Dewey Decimal System education. I THINK he got it after that as he didn't seem to have a problem after that.......sorry for the rant.

Excellent suggestion! Any database program can only alphabetize information according to the way it is listed in the first place.
There is a program that was recommended on this Forum called KJ File Manager that will transpose long lists of names all at one time. I believe it will do what he needs. Then when he imports the songs into Hoster, they will be named the way he wants them.

its to bad you cant batch do it. rather than one by one.

but it wont change the header !

Well, if he wants a program just for song books (if listing Artists by first name is that important to him) the other one mentioned is SongList Generator. It will read kmas. Maybe that one will do what he wants. I guess no one program will do everything!!!:g Of course the best way to change kma headers is just to use the Edit in Hoster. Then all your changes are preserved.
I'm just sharing what others have shared - that's the best I can do:)

I know what you mean. I have had this happen quite a few times and it's really hard for me to understand. Your medical, tax, school, employment or any other type of record is listed last name first. Fortunately, for me, many of the folks I deal with can still use the phone book.

To "call a friend" :g

:g:gRight on.. LOL!!

Well, after 8 years of shipping Hoster, you are the first to make this logical suggestion.

First, DO NOT re-edit all your Artist names! :e

We can modify the Prepare Songbook dialog to provide for sort by firstname or by lastname. Makes sense to me. If it does to Engineering also, we'll have it in 4.06 within a few weeks. :w