Astronomical Caliculations WUT Name sort bug

[3domennotry]

Expected Behaviour

Specifications is unification.

Actual Behaviour

Specifications is not unification.

Steps to reproduce

1. Show Astronomical Caliculations window.
2. Show WUT.
3. Input and Select etc...(Please look at image)
4. Sort by "Name".

"NGC/IC objects"
I think that order by Number.
11, 13, 14, 20.....
(Ofcourse, it is not right.)

"Bright barium stars"
I do not understand order rule.

"Comets"
I do not understand order rule.

"Bright carbon stars"
I do not understand order rule.

"Bright stars"
I do not understand order rule.
Curiously, when the sorting is repeated in descending and ascending order, the results change.

System

• Stellarium version: stellarium-24.2-qt5-win32.exe
• Operating system: Win7 32bit

(Sorry, I can not speak English very well.)

thank you.

[alex-w]

Well, the AstroCalc/WUT tool has complicated rules for sorting by column "Name". Of course, we can change it, but I think we need some discussion here for sorting rules by object's type.

@10110111 @gzotti @worachate001 - I want to hear your opinions.

[github-actions]

Hello @3domennotry!

Thank you for suggesting this enhancement.

[alex-w]

@3domennotry what about your opinion too?

[10110111]

Ideally, I think the rule in all cases should be something like this: for two names being compared,

1. split them by spaces to yield two arrays, first and second;
2. for each n, if first[n] and second[n] both represent integral numbers, make sure their length is the same by prepending 00...0 as necessary (or maybe even simply turn all numbers into, say, 10-digit ones the same way);
3. join the arrays back and compare two results lexicographically.

This way we'll get the following order or sort:

2 Aur
22 Psc
56 Peg
70 Aql
105 Her
HIP 13055
HIP 15549
HIP 16489
p Ori
ζ Cap
ζ Cyg
κ 2 Cet
λ Lyr
...

[3domennotry]

Thank you for everything.

This is my personal opinion.

1. Some group's specifications.
   ex. "Messier objects", "Caldwell objects", "Asteroids", "Planets"

It should not be changed.
These group's sort rule is number or string.
Specifications is unification.
very good!!

By the way,"Messier objects" in "search window"'s list order is name, simpley.

2. The other group's specifications.

2-1. ex. Comets

Sort by name, simpley. as same as Exoplanet Plug-in Cofiguration window.

2-2. ex. DSO

Usually, DSO format is ID + space + number.

First, Sort by ID.
Next, If DSO format is ID + space + number, Sort by number.

as a result. ex. C 1, C 10, M 1, M 10

However, it is maybe impossible or very difficult.

2-3. ex. Stars

Almost bright stars format is follow
a. proper name. ex. Sirius
b. Bayer letters(greek) + constellation. ex. α Aqr
c. Bayer letters(alphabet) + constellation. ex. G Sco
d. Flamsteed numbers + constellation. ex. 61 Cyg
e. Argelander sign + constellation. ex. R Hya, RR Lyr, V2500 Oph
f. HIP XXXXX
g. other format

Sorry, I have no good idea.

If specifications changed is impossible or very difficult...
Nobody can sort by name.
This idea usually seen in Japan.
When sort by Japanese "kanji" name(sort by char code), nobody understand order rule.

thank you.