suggestions on sort orders in RA2 software?

[wkearney99]

Is there a suggestions forum?

The RA2 software is a really handy tool. But it's a bit inconsistent in how it handles sort orders of rooms. On some lists it's alphabetic, but in others it can be manually arranged. There's something to be said for manual sorting, as it helps cut down on the amount of GUI fiddling you have to go through to find things. As in, when programming a keypad it's convenient to not to have to scroll down a list to get to the dimmers in the next room. But then in other places things come up alphabetically. Not that the software doesn't work, just that the inconsistency disrupts the flow of work a bit.

And while we're on the topic of sort orders, is there a way for the tablet apps to show the list of rooms in the same order as manually organized in the RA2 software? It was a little bit of a disappointment to see the listed alphabetically in the app. Perhaps some sort of integration ID-like sort number? It'd be nice to have the rooms gathered together. It would cut down on the amount of 'scrolling around' a user has to go through to find a given room in the app.

[schalliol]

I made a post after seeing your post on the thread I started. What do you think about this?
https://forums.lutron.com/showthread...?p=517#post517

[wkearney99]

I made a post after seeing your post on the thread I started. What do you think about this?
https://forums.lutron.com/showthread...?p=517#post517

At certain point you cross a threshold beyond a simple tool and a whole automation UI viewer.

Me, I just want to have the app be able to present the list of rooms with their logical names, but in a more organized order. As in, Front Door first, then the proceeding areas. And then group them likewise according to other things the users will find 'sensible'. As in, grouped by floor if the project lends itself to that. Or by other proximity-related aspects.

Graduating into a full automation user interface, a la iRule or any number of other products seems to go well outside the scope of what this sort of app ought to be covering. Yeah, it'd be great to have it all laid out on a map. But what about when customers start making those pesky associations about what ELSE it "should be doing"? That just becomes a morass of support headaches, perhaps best left to the makers of more integration oriented tools.

[Armando B.]

With the Lutron Home Control+ app you will be able to toggle between sorting the items in the system alphabetically, or by the order they were added to the system. Please follow the steps below for how to toggle this setting in both iOS and Android devices.

iOS:
- Go to "Settings" on the device
- Scroll down to "Lutron Home Control+"
- Toggle the option "Sort Alphabetically" on or off

Android:
- Select the "Apps" menu
- Select the "Home+" option
- Press the device's "Menu" button
- Select the "settings"
- Check or uncheck the box for "Sort items alphabetically"

[wkearney99]

Is the 'order added to the system' something that can be altered? What is is based upon?

[Armando B.]

The order added to the system will depend on how objects are added in the RadioRa2 software. When a new area, device, timeclock event, etc is added to the RadioRa 2 program in that order; then the XML file for the system will be updated. This XML file will get stored on the Main Repeater upon a transfer. It is this XML file that the Lutron Home Control+ app will use to control the system.

[wkearney99]

So it's the literal order in the XML that controls the positioning? Is it therefore possible to rearrange the ordering within the XML file and affect change to the ordering? Or is there any information used within the elements of the XML file that also influence it?

Or is the integration ID involved? They do get created sequentially, correct? But I'm guessing that manually changing them has impacts on how keypads and programming might work. Or does the RA software take that into account when you edit an ID?

[Craig W.]

If you want to displayed the rooms is a particular order and having them listed alphabetically is not desired then unfortunately you would need to delete the rooms and then create the rooms in the order in which you would like them displayed. However when you delete a room the devices also get deleted. So you would either need to create a new room and move all your device into this new room, delete the existing rooms, then move the devices back into the room they are located in, or you would need to add the devices back into the room and re-active them into the system.

[schalliol]

Not sure why my thread was closed, as I want a map, not a list. The fact of the matter is room names in a large home are hard for people to understand and find in any sort order.

[wkearney99]

Sure, I figured that would be the alternative. Something that didn't require re-doing a ton of work would certainly be welcome.

But then there's always the juggling act of whether it's easier to just start over or endlessly hunt down the little details that got missed...

I'll most likely just re-create the whole plan from scratch. It's not that big of a deal. Riddle me this, if I punch in the device serial numbers ahead of time will that cut down on having to manually activate them all over again?