File sorting when selecting a file to print on UM2+

[rene_beekman 0]

Is it possible to have the file names in the Print dialog screen on the UM2+ appear in reverse chronological order (latest file first) ?

It appears that currently the files are (roughly) in chronological order.

I have searched the forum, but have not found a way to do this.

 

It is a minor change, but it would make file selecting when printing much quicker and more natural.

[Smithy 1,146]

No, there is no option to configure the sort order.

But, yes would be a great feature, I also don't like to scroll all the way down, but I guess it will never come, the UM2+ is too old to get any new updates or features.

 

I am not sure if the Tinkergnome FW has such a feature, if not, raise a feature request on Github, maybe you have luck.

[Dim3nsioneer 558]

You can jump to the end of the list by turning the selector wheel counter-clockwise.

[rene_beekman 0]

2 hours ago, Dim3nsioneer said:

You can jump to the end of the list by turning the selector wheel counter-clockwise.

 

I know that, but that's a fiddly workaround. It includes jumping across the "return to previous menu" links.

And honestly, when was the last time you needed to print the oldest file on the card? 🙂

[tinkergnome 927]

Arduino devices are very limited on memory, that's why the firmware doesn't sort lists. It just reads the first few visible lines from the sd-card and continues reading only if one rotates the encoder wheel.
Such a sort feature would require a more modern microcontroller (with more RAM). It's the same problem as on the first simple mp3 players.
On a freshly formatted sd card the order will be almost certainly the same order as the files were put on the card.
There are tools for Windows, that are able to subsequently (re-)write the sd card in a sorted order, but i don't know how reliable or trustworthy those are.
(search for "FAT sorter" or "SD sorter")

[Dim3nsioneer 558]

1 hour ago, rene_beekman said:

I know that, but that's a fiddly workaround. It includes jumping across the "return to previous menu" links.

 

Alternatively, you can organize the files in folders if the list gets too long.
Sort orders may depend on personal preferences. One person prefers it sorted by date, another by name, both ascending and descending. I got used to the current sort order; one swift turn to the left with the wheel and I'm at the end of the list. But usually when I need to reprint a job, it's one somewhere in the middle. 🙂

[CarloK 205]

The file sorting wasn't implemented because of the limited RAM size that Tinkergnome refers to. Now with hindsight there is a trick we can apply to re-use some memory space that's not used at the time of file selection, or at least have the most recent file appear on top as in the UM3. 

But ... development of the UM2 software by Ultimaker has stopped, perhaps a bug fix release will follow but no new features.

 

Since a week I have my private UM2. With the UM2 software being open source I'll have a look into this some time later.