Title: How Collectorpro handles Object numbering and sorting
 

In summary Collectorpro is very flexible in the way it performs object numbering.  There are two options and I will describe how each functions:

 

Option #1-This option is where Collectorpro assigns the object numbers (this is the default).  In the situation, when you add objects, Collectorpro will number them sequentially starting with 1 and going up.  When you run a report, Collectorpro will automatically resort the objects by category and subcategory (if used) and renumber them starting with 1 and going up.  The benefit of this is that you do not have to worry or mess with the object numbering.  You can enter objects in any order you wish and they are resorted by category and grouped by category and renumbered so all objects in a category are sequential on the report.  Also, if you enter 100 objects and then go back and delete a few, Collectorpro will automatically resort and renumber them when you run the report.  No more worrying about missing numbers or the order.

 

The implications of this are that an object ID can change, but in our design we understood that the object ID itself was not as important as that there are no missing numbers and that all objects in the same category are listed together on the report.  Based on this we designed Collectorpro to handle all this for you. 

 

Option 2-The appraiser assigns the object ID's.  If you check the Report Preference to "Use your own object numbering system", Collectorpro will not assign ID's to objects and you will have to enter the object ID (up to 20 characters).  This is useful if you wish to control the object ID numbers and if you wish to use a numbering system already assigned to the objects such as a museum would use.  If you use your own numbering system, Collectorpro will not resort, renumber, or group objects by category and subcategory on the reports.  The objects will be in the order of the object ID's that you have assigned.  In this case you have total control over the object numbering and the order the objects appear on the report.

Additional Information

 

There is a third thing that can affect the order of objects on the report.  On the Report preferences you can check a box named "Use Sort key for sorting objects on reports".  If this is checked, regardless if you assign your own ID's or allow Collectorpro to assign ID's, the objects will be in alphabetic/numeric order on the report based on the value you have entered in the Sort Key field on each object.  

Special Note on Using the Sort Key

The sort key field is an alpha-numeric field so you can use letters or numbers.  When you use this field to sort the objects on the reports, it will sort like a dictionary even if you enter numbers in the field.

For example if you enter numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11.... in the Sort Key field on objects, they will sort left to right and appear on the report in the following order:

1,10,11,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9

To use numbers and prevent this from happening you can use the same number of digits on each object such as 01,02,03,04,05,06,07,08,09,10,11.  These will sort correctly since they are all the same number of digits. 

 

In summary, with these variations, you have complete control over the object numbering and the order they appear on the reports.  This may seem daunting, and most appraisers just use our automatic numbering and sorting since they would rather spend time doing research and billable things, but we can accommodate most any way you would want to do this.