GSoC: Week 8
The actual PR for the improved Implode tool and the actual PR for the new excerptsdialog.
Last week
I worked a bit on some new tests, and switched some test cases, so the tests are better sorted. This also affects the new directory of PR 2738.
The test for the improved Implode is finished, it does just show, that the Implode tool doesn't matter on most things as slurs, hairpins or something else. It also contains a empty destination staff which is catchier, because the undo action would leave an empty staff, so I fixed this and created a test for this. Another thing is that the test score has more than four voices but we chose the first four voices we find. Last thing the new test is about is how it handles transposed instruments.
The tests for the new excerptsdialog is a bit more complicated.
Last week heuchi detected some issues adding elements to a score which has voice parts. When voice 1 is missing some elements like rehearsal marks, staff text, hairpins and some other things aren't copied to the parts. This was fixed by an update of the undoAddElement() function. The problem was that some elements as for example hairpins are always added to the first voice of a staff, so if we don't map this voice in a part we don't get this hairpin. For such elements I made sure to always have a track to add them.
To test this newly added thing it would be needed to add those elements directly in a score. I didn't see an example for this in the other tests and honestly I didn't spent much time on this, but if someone has an idea how I easily can test the addition of a StaffText it would be great.
Besides this implementation details I asked last week for a better name than "Implode"/"Explode". The idea of freixas was to call it "Merge"/"Seperate" and Jojo proposed "Gather"/"Scatter". He also mentioned that Finale and Sibelius call it "Implode"/"Explode".
If it helps I can start a new forum discussion on this.
Next Week
As in the last weeks I'll fix upcoming bugs and try to improve the tools, but next week I'll have three exams, so I won't be much around.
Thanks for testing and your response,
Felix
Comments
Jojo proposed "Gather"/"Scatter" dependence on the way Finale and Sibelius name it.
He did propose it, but both Finale and Sibelius call it "Implode"/"Explode."
In reply to Jojo proposed by Isaac Weiss
Ah sorry, I misunderstood. Thanks.
Regarding the naming of Implode/Explode, I personally would love to see a forum discussion opened for this.
I strongly suspect that whoever first named the feature (whether in Finale or Sibelius) was a programmer and not an engraver. For example, I have Gardner Read's old book on Music Notation. He has chapters on idiomatic notation. For woodwinds, he says "In most orchestra and band scores it is the practice to combine pairs of instruments on one staff [emphasis mine]." "Combine" or "merge" are both good terms to use as they describe the actual task being performed in the clearest terms.
The MuseScore Design Principles says "ux-jargon: Users should not be required to understand any form of implementation-level terminology." Implode and explode certainly have the stink of geekdom.
If Finale and Sibelius have introduced an expectation for these terms in the music community, using the more natural terms will not confuse MuseScore users. If you were looking for Finale's implode tool in MuseScore and found a merge tool instead, you would probably understand that you have found what you were looking for. If you are not a Finale/Sibelius users, then the implode/explode advantage is lost.
"Gather/Scatter" are less clear than "merge or combine/separate".
Finally, I am hoping that someday MuseScore will provide multiple merge/separate tools. Let's take woodwinds as an example. Following Read's instructions for combining woodwind parts, would one prefer that the tools be named woodwind implode/woodwind explode or woodwind combine/woodwind separate? The first set of terms not only sound destructive and violent, but somewhat rude. Woodwind gather/woodwind scatter don't work well, either.
Try other combinations: voice implode/voice explode vs. voice combine/voice separate.
I may be just shouting in the wind here. I don't know that this page gets much readership. I will happily repeat my position in a forum posting.