Separate Save Style and Save Style As...
Currently MuseScore has Format > Save Style... which acts as a "Save As" function, requiring the entry of a name or selection of an existing style. When choosing to save as an existing style, a replace prompt appears and requires attention.
It is awkward to not have separate Save Style and Save Style As... functions that function where:
* Save Style silently updates the current style without any entry required or any prompt.
* Save Style As... works just like the current functionality.
This would make updating the current style easier and less intrusive on the thought process. It would follow what seems to be the norm in many or most software packages.
Thanks!
Comments
I'm not sure what you would expect "Save Style" to do. The current style is always automatically saved to the score, you don't need a new command for that. if you want to create a separate file, that's what stave style does already. Style files are by definition separate from the score, so a plain "save" makes no sense - the style is saved to the score with an ordinary save of the score, the only reason to ever use save style is to create a separate file.
In reply to I'm not sure what you would… by Marc Sabatella
I expect "Save Style" to update the separate style file with the current style settings. Example: I change the font for titles from Zaps Chancery to Arial. I click Save Style. The style file is updated. I start a new score and use that style file. The title for the new score appears in Arial. (It is the same functionality as if I selected today's "Save Style", selected the style file in currently in use, clicked Save, and then said "yes" to the 'replace' prompt.
This allows me a number of conveniences, one of which is easily updating the (standalone) style file when I have a set of changes that I want to save for future use. This can be an incremental process when creating a new style from an old, for a different purpose. (And actually goes back to a suggestion of yours, which is to create style files to use for music intended for my iPad. I am creating at least four of these (landscape and portrait, one tune per page and two tunes per page. Not all may be necessary, or others may be useful - exploration currently in process.)
In reply to I expect "Save Style" to… by DMarcus123
If you save a style file, that's a totally separate thing from the score. There is no association between them whatsoever - no sense in which the score knows you used it as the basis for creating an MSS file, no sense in which the MSS file knows it was generated from a score.
So, in your example, are you suggesting you had once previously already created an MSS file with Zaps Chancery as the title font, and you also have a score that also happens to have Zaps Chancery as its title? If you wish to replace the existing MSS file with one created from the score score after changing the font to Arial, simply do so. But again, there is no sense whatsoever in which the score and MSS file know, or should know, about each other. Your score doesn't know that once upon a time you might have sued it to create an MSS file, and your MSS file doesn't know if it came from this score or another score. If you want to update the file, just do the save, select the file, and elect to replace it.
In reply to If you save a style file,… by Marc Sabatella
Restating the example (I am clearly not being too clear).
Example:
1. I change the font for a chord from Arial to Comic Sans in a score to which I had just applied the style MyNewStyle.mss. This is a style sheet I am developing for us in a new series of scores for a specific publication.
2. I like it! I want to use it for all the chords in my piece. I select all similar elements and apply Comic Sans. I click the S to update my style in the score and finish my score.
3. I decide I like so much I want to use it for all scores in the series. I click Save Style. MyNewStyle is updated--once I retype the name or click the existing file in the list and confirm I want to replace it.
What I am suggesting is that Save Style should simply update MyNewStyle.mss with no prompts whatsoever. This of course requires that there be an entry in the score's MCSZ file that identifies the path and name for the MSS last applied to it.
In reply to Restating the example (I am… by DMarcus123
I would go a bit further and say that not only the score should remember its style origin but it should also adapt itself to style changes in a simple click way, optionally automatically
In reply to Restating the example (I am… by DMarcus123
OK, so what you are really suggesting is that the score should forever remember the fact that you once upon a time used it as the source for creating a style file. That's a very different thing from how this works currently - again, the score is completely unaware that you ever happened to use it as the basis to create a style file at some point in the past.
If such a feature were ever to be implemented, though, I fear it would be far more complicated in practice that what you are imagining. What if you actually created multiple style files from the same score? Which one should be updated if you hit "save style"? All of them? And should this association just remembered during the current edit session, or would it be remembered when opening the file years later? What if the style file doesn't exist - like you delete it, or you've shared the score with someone else who doesn't have the style file? And what if that style file was also associated with other scores? Should all of them have permission to update the style file? Wouldn't changes made on behalf of one score then clobber any changes made on behalf of another score?
In reply to OK, so what you are really… by Marc Sabatella
One useful change to the "Save style" function would be to save only those settings that have been changed away from the default.
Another would be 'cascading style sheets', some sort of a
#include-like functionalityIn reply to One useful change to the … by Jojo-Schmitz
Seems when this was first implemented there was a reason why it saved all styles, and why the code continues t make that distinction (styles saved within scores save only modified settings, styles saved in MSS file save them all). I can imagine both behavior being useful, so a checkbox in the save style dialog could be nice.
In reply to Seems when this was first… by Marc Sabatella
It should be an option or maybe preference setting, as defaults may change.
Currently I hand-edit my .mss files, using a
diffoutput from before and after my changes (or by consulint the source code or the mscx files), pretty painful and not user-friendly at all.Attached some of these, each for a single purpose only
In reply to It should be an option, as… by Jojo-Schmitz
I wonder though, is saving and then loading a style file to toggle a single option really a better way to go than simply toggling the setting normally? As real world use cases go, this doesn't seem all that compelling to me. But something like a file that overrides all text styles to use your favorite font while keeping all else the same, or something that applies a whole group of lyric settings, or chord symbol settings, is something I can see feeling more worthwhile. Making me wonder if maybe the place to make this happen is within the style dialog, a button to save the current page of settings only?
In reply to I wonder though, is saving… by Marc Sabatella
Yes, for a single setting this is not too helpful (it might for non-interactive batch conversions though), but as soon as it becomes a handful or three of those, it is.