Netflix Queue Sorter

Screen shot:

Netflix Queue Sorter, v1.12 (26 Aug 2009) [source]

This script allows you to shuffle (that is: randomize), reverse, or sort your DVD or Instant Queue by movie title, length, genre, star rating (that is: suggested rating or user rating), average rating, availability, or playability.

Available options:

Tip for instant queue users:

This script becomes more valuable if you install the IE Tab Firefox plugin, so that you no longer have to use Internet Explorer to watch instant movies. Once installed, you can both sort and watch in Firefox! Detailed installation and setup instructions are available here.

History:

• 2009-08-26: v1.12: fix rating sort due to Netflix site changes
• 2009-06-05: v1.11: fix availability sort due to Netflix site changes, add ability to cancel lengthy operations (i.e. sort by length)
• 2009-04-15: v1.10: add ability to move playable movies to bottom of DVD Queue, provide tooltips for sort buttons, add "les" article, make script work with FF2
• 2009-03-16: v1.9: change default title sort behavior so that articles (a, an, the, etc) at the start of movie titles are ignored, as this is the Netflix default
• 2009-03-16: v1.8: add customization option to title sort so that articles (a, an, the, etc) at the start of movie titles can be ignored (see below), fix two small bugs
• 2009-02-26: v1.7: add sort by length, display length in queue, get closer to JSLint compliance
• 2009-01-31: v1.6: fix compatibility with the Netflix Rating Granulizer script, add progress indicator for avg rating sort, incorporate some JSLint feedback
• 2008-11-29: v1.5: fix sorting dates in availability sort on Instant queue
• 2008-11-08: v1.4: series discs are now in correct order when sorting by rating
• 2008-11-06: v1.3: small fix to availability sort: just move items up and don't change rest of the list order
• 2008-11-06: v1.2: add sort by availability, add sort by playability, add reverse queue option, rename randomize -> shuffle
• 2008-11-01: v1.1: fix netflix changed page markup, add randomize, sort by title and sort by genre, don't use rated movies in avg rating sort, fix bug in series disc processing, improve ui, improve performance by not marking changed rows
• 2008-10-17: v1.0: rename user rating to suggested rating, make sorting DVD queue work (deal with series discs), let user know what to do when sort is done.
• 2008-10-11: v0.2: allow sort by user rating and average rating, improve performance, enable Update Queue button, mark changed rows, scroll back to top when sort is done.
• 2008-10-08: v0.1: sorting algorithm works for Instant queue only.

Known Issues (also see my to-do list):

• Please make sure you've uninstalled any and all old version(s) of this script via Tools->Greasemonkey->Manage User Scripts...
  Select Netflix Queue Sorter and press the Uninstall button.
  Then, if you haven't already, install the latest version of this script.
• Sort by rating and sort by title keep series discs together and in the right order (e.g. disc 1 before disc 2). All other options do not. This will be fixed in a future release.
• Sorting by average rating is slow if you have lots of already rated movies in your queue, or if you have the Netflix Rating Granulizer script installed.
• Sorting by length is slow. After saving the sort by length via the Update Queue button, click the Sort by Length button again to display the length. (There is no need to click the Update Queue button after that.)
• For some series discs, Netflix reports "the" movie length as total running time of all individual discs rather than the length of each disc.

Installation instructions:

1. Install Greasemonkey: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748
2. Restart Firefox.
3. Load page and click the Install this script button at the top.
4. Greasemonkey will ask you to install the script. Choose Install.

Usage instructions:

1. Go to Netflix and log in.
2. Go to your queue.
3. Click on shuffle, reverse, or one of the sort buttons.
4. If you like, inspect the new ordering in the text fields.
5. Click the Update Queue button to save it, or refresh the page to undo.
   Note: once you apply the new ordering via the Update Queue button, there's no undo.

Title sort algorithm customization:

The default title sort algorithm sorts titles alphabetically while ignoring so called articles (a, an, the, etc) at the start of a movie title. This means the titles "Alien" and "The Alien Saga" will still be near each other. However, this behavior is customizable. A special option is available to edit the articles that should be ignored, or to turn this behavior off (meaning the two titles mentioned earlier will be sorted far apart from one another).

This option was added in v1.9 of the script, so make sure you have at least that version installed. If you've just upgraded to that version, make sure you perform a "sort by title" sort before reading on.

To customize the algorithm, type "about:config" (without the quotes) in the browser address bar. (See http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config for what this is all about.) You might get a "This might void your warranty!" warning page. This is an important warning because you do have to be careful here. Since these instructions will tell you exactly what to do, click the "I'll be careful, I promise!" button.

You should now see a list of all browser preferences. To only show the Netflix Queue Sorter preferences for the "sort by title" sort option, enter "greasemonkey.scriptvals.http://userscripts.org/users/64961/Netflix Queue Sorter.sortByTitle." (without the quotes) in the Filter box. You should now see just two rows. If you see no rows at all, make sure there are no double quotes around the filter value.

You can expand the name column by pointing at the bar (|) in between the first two column headers, holding the mouse button, moving the mouse to the right, and letting go of the mouse button.

To change a value, either double-click a row, or select the row and press the Enter key.

To use the default title sort, meaning articles at the start of movie titles will be ignored, set the value of the ignoreArticles preference to true. Only if the ignoreArticles value is true will the articles preference be used. You may edit the articles preference value to add or remove articles at will. Articles must be separated by commas, and make sure to keep the space after the article, if applicable. For example, if you type "A" (without the space), "Alien" will be sorted under "L" as "Lien", as its starting "A" is ignored. To continue this example, the article should have been entered as "A " (with space). I've only found one article that does not use a space, the Italian "L'", as in "L'Avventura".

To sort titles the way they are displayed in the queue, using the full title, set the value of the ignoreArticles preference to false. (The value of false means a, an, the, etc at the beginning of titles are not ignored.) The articles preference will not be used.

There's no need to save after making changes--you don't even have to reload the queue--just press the "Sort by Title" button again. If you're satisfied your changes work, close the "about:config" page.

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Tags

• average rating
• duration
• dvd queue
• instant queue
• length
• movie title
• netflix
• playability
• randomize
• randomize netflix queue
• reverse sort
• shuffle
• shuffle netflix queue
• sorting
• sort netflix queue
• star rating
• suggested rating
• user rating

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