Sorting compound names

[jda]

>>The authors field of *one* record might be
>>
>>Zasukhin, R
>>Brenstein, R
>>von Abel, GE
>>
>>The the authors of this record will be compared to the authors of 
>>every other record. In this particular instance, I would want this 
>>record to sort *before* another record with these authors:
>>
>>Zasukhin, R
>>Brenstein, R
>>Bethany, D
>>
>>Jon
>
>I don't think valentina can do this type of stuff for you. Too much 
>logic involved with multiple-level hierarchy. I think you need to 
>roll your own functions. As I said, this is what I am planning.

Actually, the only logic needed above is to ignore "von ". Then the 
sort will work as my German/Swedish/Dutch users would like.

Valentina 1.x can't do it, but perhaps the new ignorewords list in 
2.x can do just this (if one can apply it to indexed fields, not just 
indexedByWords).

>
>More examples of interesting names that affect sorting
>
>van der Waals, H
>Brenstein-Smith, E
>Capistani Macuendo, RH
>Macuendo Macuendo, GT
>
>And then some last names are common enough that sorting the first 
>names (initials) will need to come in play as well.
>

In my case, sorting by the initials will come into play frequently. 
As Erik has pointed out, there are simply too many different rules 
(and exceptions to the rules) to make a universal sorting algorithm 
that will satisfy everyone. But the ability to ignore certain words, 
as an option, will satisfy at least one group...

Jon