Bug: View menu 'Sort by' has no effect when a folder is selected

[gjouret]

Problem

The View → Sort by menu sets UserDefaultsManagement.sort (the global default), but when a folder with a per-folder sort override is selected, the sort does not change. The per-folder setting (set via right-click → Show Options → Sort by) always takes priority in buildSortBy() (Storage.swift:1475), and the View menu does not update it.

This means the View menu sort appears to "do nothing" for any folder that has an explicit per-folder sort set.

Root Cause

In ViewController.sortBy() (ViewController.swift:537), only UserDefaultsManagement.sort is updated. The per-folder project.settings.sortBy is not touched. Then buildSortBy() checks per-folder first and ignores the global:

public func buildSortBy() {
    if let project = self.searchQuery.projects.first, project.settings.sortBy != .none {
        self.sortByState = project.settings.sortBy  // per-folder wins, global ignored
        ...
        return
    }
    ...
    self.sortByState = UserDefaultsManagement.sort  // only reached if per-folder is .none
}

Expected Behavior

When a folder is selected and the user changes the sort via the View menu, the sort should take effect immediately on the visible note list. This means updating the per-folder project.settings.sortBy as well.

Suggested Fix

In ViewController.sortBy(), also update the currently selected folder's sort setting:

if let sidebarProjects = sidebarOutlineView.getSidebarProjects(), let project = sidebarProjects.first {
    if sortBy == project.settings.sortBy {
        project.settings.sortDirection = project.settings.sortDirection == .asc ? .desc : .asc
    }
    project.settings.sortBy = sortBy
    project.saveSettings()
}

Environment

• FSNotes 7.1.1
• macOS 15 Sequoia

[gjouret]

Update: Sort indicator (↓ arrow) also doesn't update

In addition to the sort not taking effect, the sort direction indicator (↓/↑ arrow) in the View → Sort By submenu always stays on "Modification Date" regardless of which sort is selected. This is a separate but related bug.

Root Cause

The arrow indicator is not from NSMenuItem.state. It's set as an image on the menu item in EditorViewController.validateMenuItem():

// EditorViewController.swift, inside validateMenuItem(_:)
case "viewSortBy":
    if let submenu = menuItem.submenu {
        for item in submenu.items {
            if let id = item.identifier,
               id.rawValue == "SB.\(UserDefaultsManagement.sort.rawValue)" {
                let direction = UserDefaultsManagement.sortDirection
                let imageName = direction ? "arrow.down" : "arrow.up"
                item.image = NSImage(systemSymbolName: imageName, accessibilityDescription: nil)
            } else {
                item.image = NSImage()  // blank image for non-active items
            }
        }
    }

This code reads UserDefaultsManagement.sort (the global default), not the per-folder sort. So even after the per-folder sort is changed via the View menu fix above, the arrow indicator still points at whatever the global default is (typically Modification Date).

Fix

validateMenuItem should read the effective sort state (which respects per-folder overrides), not the raw global default:

case "viewSortBy":
    if let submenu = menuItem.submenu {
        let effectiveSort = Storage.shared().getSortByState()
        let effectiveDirection = Storage.shared().getSortDirectionState()
        for item in submenu.items {
            if let id = item.identifier,
               id.rawValue == "SB.\(effectiveSort.rawValue)" {
                let imageName = effectiveDirection == .desc ? "arrow.down" : "arrow.up"
                item.image = NSImage(systemSymbolName: imageName, accessibilityDescription: nil)
            } else {
                item.image = NSImage()
            }
        }
    }

Summary of both fixes needed

1. ViewController.sortBy(): Also update project.settings.sortBy for the selected folder (as described in the original issue)
2. EditorViewController.validateMenuItem(): Read Storage.shared().getSortByState() instead of UserDefaultsManagement.sort for the sort indicator