Ability to set left barline of systems
A publisher I worked for from time to time requires systems to start with double bars if the previous previous system ends in one. MuseScore does not allow this - it gives you the option of drawing a barline at the start of a system, but no way to control what *type* of barline is drawn.
See for instance this lead sheet, which was created in Finale:
http://www.marcsabatella.com/music/charts/moon_rocket.pdf
Note how the third system begins with a double bar - this is done because the second system *ends* in a double bar. This cannot currently be achieved in MuseScore short of drawing a line placing a graphic, but that is an extremely awkward workaround.
Two solutions I can see:
1) An option in General Style->Barlines to control whether the left barline at the start of a system automatically is drawn the same way as the right barline at the end of the system. This option would presumably be greyed out unless one of the options to draw left barlines at starts of systems is selected. No change would be required to the score format as far as I can tell - it's just something that would happen when drawing the score.
or
2) The ability to set the left barline at the start of a staff in the same way barlines are normally set - select barline, double click icon in palette, or drag icon from palette to barline in score. Setting the left barline in this way should not necessarily affect the right barline at the end of the previous system - you could in theory have a double bar at the start of a system that did not end in a double bar, or a dashed barline to start a system that ended in an invisible one, etc. This solution would require a measure to take an optional additional property to store the left barline style.
Comments
I'm not sure how solution 2 would work intuitively for multi-stave scores. Or is this something you would only see on a single stave score?
Yes, it would need to apply to multi-stave systems as well as single-stave systems, but I don't see how number of staves would change anything. Left barlines would continue to be applied to all staves within a system just as right barlines are. That's how Finale does it, and it seems to work just fine.
Sorry, my mistake. I assumed that the left bar line would appear where a beginning repeat appears (which is incorrect). The left bar line should appear at the very start of the system, to the left of the clef.
The UI you suggest in solution 2 would actually be a very intuitive UI. (As you can probably tell, I haven't worked with left bar lines before.)
I too would like the ability to have double bar lines at the beginning of sections, at the beginning of staves.
BTW, as an additional usage note:
In lead sheets I create for my own usage, I normally have left barlines turned off for single staves, but have them turned on for multiple staves. So it only comes up for me when there are multiple staves. In lead sheets, I rarely have multiple staves for the whole score; I use Hide Empty Staves to get just a single staff for most of the score. However, in those cases, the left barline still appears, even though it's basically a single staff, which is probably a bug, although I actually kind of like that behavior :-). There are of other more problematic bugs with barlines and brackets when using Hide Empty Staves, and there are existing issues in the tracker for them.
In lead sheets I create for publication though, I always have left barlines turned on - and autogeneration of clefs and key signatures turned off, because that's how this publisher does it in the books I worked on.
This remains extremely high on my list of most-needed enhancements. Whether I create left and right barlines separately or there is an option (perhaps a style option) to force a left barline at the start of a system to inherit the look of the right barline at the end of the previous system, I need to be able to do this. This also extends to the ability to end a system with a double bar if the next starts with an open repeat, although there are workarounds to force this behavior at least temporarily.
method II is implemented here: https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/commit/919c698faae32a37193327f69…
it's now possible to change the left system barline to double bar, or dotted barline and only these two. The bar line span is not editable. 36c7b4efbe
Sounds good to me. I guess someone somewhere would want more styles, but realistically, all I'd ever use it for is ordinary double bars.
Thanks.
Automatically closed -- issue fixed for 2 weeks with no activity.
In reply to #12 by System Message
I'm trying to create a barline at the left side of a measure at the beginning of a system. However, it looks like MuseScore doesn't allow that. With a search I found this thread with the same feature request - which reports that this feature was implemented a long while ago. However, I still cannot find any way to insert a left-side barline of simple double-barline. What's the situation please? Thanks.
In reply to (No subject) by polarbreeze
I certainly would like this.
Thanks for reopening.
It works fine for me. What goes wrong when you try? Can you attach a score and steps to reproduce the problem you are seeing?
?
In reply to It works fine for me. What… by Marc Sabatella
I think we're talking at cross purposes. This image shows the left-hand (double) barline that I'm looking for. Typically it echoes a closing double barline on the previous line.
![Screen Shot 2018-02-15 at 16.53.25.jpg]( "Screen Shot 2018-02-15 at 16.53.25.jpg")
In reply to I think we're talking at… by polarbreeze
Yes.
Another example
![Screen Shot 2018-02-15 at 17.19.28.jpg]( "Screen Shot 2018-02-15 at 17.19.28.jpg")
In reply to I think we're talking at… by polarbreeze
I don't understand. As far as I can, the second and third examples shown above are exactly what Shoichi's example does. That is, select the existing barline (of course you need to have enabled the style option to have barlines on single staves in the first place) double click the desired barline in the palette, and bingo. Or use drag & drop.
The first of three examples shown above is different, because the barline appears after the clef. This is non-standard, and it means you are actually talking about a mid-measure barline, not a system barline. But no matter, you can get that effect as well, just add the barline from the Symbols palette (press "Z" to display) anywhere you like (the usual method of apply mid-measure barlines won't work at the beginning of the measure).
OK, an easier way to describe it is by showing how MuseScore positions the opening repeat barline. The idea is to allow any kind of barline to appear in that position. You describe it as non-standard; however I do often come across it and it is supported in most notation programs. As it turns out, I use that configuration a lot in lead sheets, in combination with rehearsal letters, because I find it easier to notice the section breaks in a hurry.
Yes, as noted, to do that you do need a symbol. But the more common (in published as opposed to amateur charts) examples you showed with actual system barlines are supported directly, and that was what this issue was about. Feel free to open a new one about the mid-measure version.
In reply to Yes, as noted, to do that… by Marc Sabatella
Not a symbol - that wouldn't behave the same way. The suggestion is for is an actual barline that appears in the same place as in other notation programs - not a mid-measure barline. Think of it as the same as MS's existing left-of-system repeat barline, but in the different styles and (of course) without the repeat function. Same as Finale and Sibelius.
I understand that is the request for a new feature; I was just observing how to get this effectn now if you really need it.
In reply to I understand that is the… by Marc Sabatella
OK, thanks Marc