Hello vMix Team and Community,
We are writing on behalf of EasyStream Brasil and our community of high-performance replay and sports production operators.
We have noticed in recent updates regarding Data Sources (specifically with JSON/XML APIs) that column headers are now automatically sorted alphabetically (A-Z). While we understand this may have been implemented for performance indexing or UI standardization, it has created a significant workflow disruption for live sports productions, particularly in Motorsports/Racing.
1. The Issue: Alphabetical Sorting vs. Logical Order
Timing and Scoring APIs typically deliver data in a strict logical order critical to the context.
• Original API Order: Pos, Car, Pilot, Laps, Last_lap, Best_time, Diff, Category.
• Current vMix Behavior: Columns are forced into: Best_time, Car, Category, Diff, Laps...
When the Data Source ignores the incoming serialization order, it breaks the visual logic for the operator mapping the data and disrupts scripts that rely on specific column indexing.
Request: Please add a checkbox in the Data Source Manager settings to "Keep Original Source Order" or "Disable Column Auto-Sort". We need vMix to respect the order provided by the API endpoint.
2. The Enhancement: Regex Support in Data Formatting
Currently, the data handling capabilities are robust, but we often rely on external scripting to clean up simple data strings.
We strongly suggest implementing Regular Expressions (Regex) support within the "Format" column field or the "Value Replace" logic.
• Why? Regex for data treatment is significantly more powerful than simple row filtering. It would allow users to extract specific substrings, strip leading/trailing characters, or reformat timecodes directly within the Data Source engine without overhead scripting.
These two changes would greatly improve the flexibility for power users dealing with complex live data integration.
Thank you for the continuous development and support!
Best regards,
EasyStream Brasil Team
https://EasyStream.com.br