Bug with group naming?

[macula]

Hi Jon,

First, thank you for the steady flow of very solid updates to Bookends.

I just created two folders in my database, say FolderA and FolderB.

Within each one of these folders I would like to have a separate MainBibliography group. Put schematically:

FolderA
|
|—————— MainBibliography

FolderB
|
|——————MainBibliography

Unfortunately, Bookends does not permit this and requires that all groups carry unique names, even if they belong in different folders.

Is this a feature or a bug? To me it seems both inconvenient and counter-intuitive, as it is perfectly permissible to have identically named files in different folders, to use a straightforward analogy.

Thank you.

[Jon]

It's just part of the design to require unique names, which greatly simplifies things such as moving identically names groups between folders (and not forcing you to replace the existing group, as the Finder would). Simply differentiate the MainBibliography group, if that's the name you prefer, with a numbered suffix or perhaps a more informative one:

MainBibliography
MainBibliography1
MainBibliography2
etc.

or

MainBibliography My Original Work
MainBibliography My Review Article
MainBibliography Word in Progress
etc.

Jon
Sonny Software

[macula]

Thanks for the clarification, Jon. I still think that this behavior is counterintuitive and somewhat clunky, but as you suggest there are indeed workarounds.

[Jon]

We'll have to disagree on this. I think it's pretty straightforward, documented, and the error message clear. There are several advantages to requiring unique group names, including the one I already mentioned and another, that if you ever need to flatten the group list hierarchy and rearrange your groups, it's much easier if the groups are uniquely named. I don't see any advantage in allowing multiple groups with a generic name like MainBibliography, and there are several (granted, small) advantages do disallowing it. Groups with related themes/topics are easily dismbiguated with a number or other short extension.

Jon
Sonny Software

[macula]

I don't think that rearranging groups is such a frequent operation as to merit this unconventional behavior, but you do have a point about flattening. Not a big deal anyway—I tend to complain about your somewhat loose adherence to Apple's UI guidelines in Bookends, but the truth is that there is certain elusive charm in any innocuous eccentricity, and these are all very minor quibbles about a terrific product.

Thanks again.