Batch Convert plugin does not function in MuseScore 2.0.2 on Windows XP and 10
Hi I try to use the plug in batch function to convert a directoy with files using Windows XP and converting files from xml into mscz or pdf while running MuseScore 2.0.2
In musescore 1.3 it asks for a directory to open and functions perfectly.
In musescore 2.0.2 it asks for a file and you cannot select a directory nor more files.
How to use the batch plug-in in MuseScore 2.0.2?
Robipad
Comments
Hmm, works here on Windows 7. The file selector looks different for the 2.0 version, it shows directories only, not the files within, but other than that it should look and work pretty much the same as the 1.X version. It's is s complete rewrite though.
I tried it in Windows 10. There I can select a map. If I select the batch doesn't start. So that doesn't help.
"select a map"? What do you mean by that?
Which exact version of the plugin are you using?
I mean select a directory (called map in Dutch) the same as with 1.3 and like you said no files are shown. So the difference is that if doïng so 1.3 starts the batch and with 2.0.2 nothing happens (Windows 10). For XP you cannot select directories but only files with 2.0.2 and so the batch cannot start anyway.
In fact it seems logic that if you cannot select a directory while using XP it cannot start a batch anyway. But it seems also logic to me that if you select an "empty" directory with W7 or W10 it cannot start a batch as well.
Not sure what could be done for Windows XP, MuseScore as well as the plugin should work, but XP is no longer supported and so ie MuseScore as well as the plugin.
As to why it doesn't work on Windows 10 is a mystery to me, it certainly does work here with Windows 7, are you sure to have selected a directory that does contain files matching the input formats from the previous dialog?
Yes since I can open the files in 2.0.2 from that directory without any problem. So why don't I see the files in the directory (like you said yourself in your first comment) if using the batch?
You don't see the files within the Directory in the 'file selector' because the function used here only allows the selection of directories and hence hides the files within. Not much we can do about it, this is what Qt provides. But just clicking OK, once you browsed into the desired directory should work and also be remembered for next time (something the 1.x plugin didn't do). It then should start converting all files matching the input formats (default is .mscz) into files of the selected output formats (default is .pdf). It remembers those settings too for next time.
If it does not, try running it inside MuseScore's Plugin Creator, maybe you can see there what is going wrong and where?
I've now tried in a virtual XP: there it doesn't work at all, the initial dialog, which should show and allow to selecte the input and output formats is completly blank. So I don't even get to the 2nd Dialog to select the directory. Opening the plugin in the Plugin Creator shows loads of warnings, None of which are seen on Windows 7.
So unless someone can come up with a reasonably simple fix, I'd declare that plugin to be non-working and unsupported on XP
I guess I stick for a while with my 1.3 which does a perfect job in XP and in W10. There are a few more problems related to interpreting the xml during import which did pop-up in 2.0.2, which I don't have in 1.3, so even when the batch functions I need to come back with a few issues that need to be solved. But first the batch should function. I'll see into the Plugin Creator but I've yet no idea how that functions.
Well, 1.3 has the same problems with the XML (and probably even more), it just doesn't validate the input and hence can't reports those problems
Not true, it has not the same problems. And if during the validation in batch with 2.0.2 the batch should stop we are completely in trouble, so I hope that's not the case.
MuseScore 1.x doesn't validate XML input, hence doesn't report problems found. They are there regardless!
2.0 does validate and report issues and allows to load anyway, nothing to do with the plugin.
The plugin may or may not continue on such an invalid XML, I don't know, I think it (actually MuseScore) allows to load anyway (not sure at all what happens if you quite there), which then should give basically the same result as the plugin for 1.x.
Well, there are literally thousands of bugs fixed from 1.3 to 2.0, but no doubt a small handful of new ones introduced. So while there will be *tons* of MusicXML files that load incorrectly in 1.3 but correctly in 2.0, there may be a few here or there where the reverse is unforunately true in 1.3. In order to fix those new issues - assuming they are really bugs and not truly invalid MusicXML files - we'd need you to post them to the support forum so we can see.
Meanwhile, for batch export, I'd say, just don't bother wih the plugin. It is trivially simple to convert files by calling MuseScore from the command line, perhaps using a batch file, makefile, etc.
Some of these methods are described in https://musescore.org/en/node/12452, Makefile in https://musescore.org/en/node/12452#comment-42050, batch file in https://musescore.org/en/node/12452#comment-42073. Both need to get adapted for MuseScore 2.0 and it's new location and filename, but should still work
Whatever you say, there are different kind of validations. For example I did run 12000 files in different batches in 1.3. Several times the batch stopped a little while showing a line number where it stopped ( but continued) and showed afterwards which files were not converted. This was always an xml integrety (not musical) mistake. If opening the files in Finale the same line was indicated as a mistake, however Sibelius might just crash. This happened a few times, say 10-20 for all the batches. Mistakes were generally very fast found if looking to the indicated lines. But this are not musical validations.
If you open files in MuseScore 2.0.2 many times it will indicate (musical) mistakes, but you can open the file anyway by ignoring them. Similar things happen if files are opened in Finale or Sibelius. But it is not certain that all 3 notation program give the same indications for the same "errors", one might open without complaints, while the other will complain and sometimes one might crash.
If using a program like PDFtoMusic Pro many faults may be introduced by wrong interpretations of the pdf's. So if a batch would stop every time on a musical validation error,
you better can stop using the batch. If I ignore the mistakes in most cases the files are perfectly usable. If a batch is running hopefully ( I didn't succeed yet to start and check it) you can set it default to "ignore" those mistakes. If not I will stick to 1.3 anyway. Too many unimportant mistakes will stop the batch and if I needed to correct it first, the whole batch advantage is gone.
Then I believe that the interpretation of MusicXml is not stable enough to validate it while running a batch. I had too many unsolved questions during several discussions and see e.g. That Finale 2014 still makes a mess of chord interpretations from MusicXML which are imho perfectly correct and also correctly opened in MS1.3 and in Sibelius. (I've a slight idea that MS2.0.2 now uses the same mistaken interpretation like Finale)
In a next reply ( I need to go to my PC for attachements) I will send an xml together with a 1.3 and a 2.0.2 conversion so you can see the differences.
Please do so in a separate issue, as that XML problem surely is not related to this plugin problem here
And best to do so, as I said, in a fourm post, because it may turn out the file really is invalid, or the issue might already be fixed (like the one issue you did already tell us about a month or so ago).
Won't fix it for Windows XP (Qt dropped support for it, as did Microsoft) and can't reproduce for Windows 10. I wonder whether the Qt Version tused for MuseScore 2.0.2 is too old to Support Windows 10, if so, the next version will probably use Qt 5.5.x, which should be Young enough to Support it.
For the time beïng I stick to 1.3 which is doïng the job I want in XP and in W10. There are many more problems with the way MusicXML has been implemented in 2.0.2 which let me stick to 1.3. I first have to analyze those and make it to issues that must be solved, before I can use 2.0.2 anyway.
As said somewhere along this discussion I was and am still using 1.3 since this batch conversion functions quite well for me. However due to all kind of managing with files, now my directories contain also many 2.0.2 saved files. This means I cannot import those into 1.3 since they are not downwards compatible. This means I really need to start using the batch conversion of 2.0.2 either with XP or with Windows 10. It still doesn't function. So I did have a look into the 3 links you mentioned above (#14) and did try to use the available info to use the batch getting to work directly as a windows executable. However I failed to do so. My knowledge is too limited to get it working. So please have a look why it still doesn't function in MuseScore.
This is what presently happens in 2.0.2 in W10:
Presently if choosing in MuseScore 2.0.2. Plugin ==> Batch export ==> Selection window pops up ==> I choose 2 formats for conversion OK ==> Window for selecting directory pops up ==> Select a directory in the left pane ==> Window closes and nothing happens (Same with XP). In fact the procedure is the same as in 1.3, only the subdirectories also shows up in the right pane where you choose the correct directory and it will start directly converting if you select it.
Please can you solve this? Or explain what I do wrong?
I can't reproduce, as I don't have XP any longer. It works on Windows 7.
You'e better separate the 1.x from 2.0 score, in a different subdirectory, so you can use the 1.x plugin on the 1.3 files. For the 2.0 files, if the 2.0 plugin doesn't work for you, you can still use the manual method, File->Export, or any of the ones mentioned in #14
You could try running the 2.0 plugin inside the plugin creator, maybe you see error messages and can report them here