Forgeot Eric wrote:
>Here is what a "normal" user can expect from a software
>(especially music / abc related). It's only my preferences and
>several users would not understand my wishes but it may help
>nevertheless. It's not about display / hearing abc, but it's about
>program conveniences and file management.
Interesting to compare this list with what BarFly does. It's now
a mature application after five years of development, and I think
does everything you suggest (allowing for some differences in
convention between Mac and Windows).
>In my opinion this software should :
>
>- open files with "drag and drop" (for windows, but maybe for
>other O/S too)
Yes.
>- when you open file from the dialog box (file...open... etc.),
>give the choice in the file type filter to choose other extensions
>(not only *.abc, but *.* ) otherwise (especially if there is no
>"drag and drop support"), there is no way to open a file which
>have a bad choosen extension (for example *.txt instead *.abc),
>unless to rename it. There is this limitation in iabc
There's no file filter - it will open any text file regardless
of extension.
>- allow to enter data directly into the application, without
>opening any file (from an other application with "copy and paste,
>or from scratch) : skink does this very well with its conveniant
>field when we can enter notes.
Yes.
>- not "lock" a file loaded especially if it doesn't write anything
>in it : in iabc it's not possible to make correction in an abc
>file (with an ascii editor for example) and then save it to review
>it later in iabc : the file is write protected by iabc. And if you
>load an other file in order to "free" the previous file, the
>previous is still locked : you just have to close iabc and then
>open the application again, find the right folder, reload the file
>etc.
Yes, although strictly speaking Mac programs are supposed to leave
files open when the data is on display to prevent another program
from modifying the file behind the user's back. In the early
days of development I decided to close files except when reading
or writing to reduce the chances of file corruption if the program
crashed (which it did a lot in those days).
>- save folder preferences (favorite folders ) and keep the last
>directory used in a configuration (log or .ini) file.
That's a system function in Navigation Services on the Mac.
>- add keyboard shortcuts for every command (or for the most used
>at least)
Yes, although with over 100 menu commands there aren't enough
keys to go round.
>- follow the general convention for shortcuts ("ctrl + c" for
>copy, "ctrl + a" for select all etc.)
Yes (command key rather than ctrl on the Mac, but the principle's
the same).
>- when several tunes are processed, not stop if it detects an
>error in a tune : just ignore the tune and follow on with the
>other tunes
Yes.
>- eventually try to display the tune nevertheless if an error is
>detected (but gives warnings) : it's maybe a minor one
>(unsupported feature) and the tune may look quite the same
Yes.
>- gives a lot of option (possibility to allow / disallow a display
>option, a command, to change the fonts, the size etc.)
Yes.
>- if there is a lot of tunes in a file, doesn't process all of
>them at the opening, but process / check those on request (the
>specific ones we want to display) : it will save times.
Individual tunes get processed only when they are on display or
being played.
>for the tune reels.abc you give as example with iabc, it takes 1
>minutes to process all the 373 tunes in it. With AbcMus it takes
>only 1/2 second ! It only check the numbers I guess and make the
>calculation on a tune request, and if there is errors in some
>tunes it won't be blocked and even try to play them as well. I can
>also add that AbcMus can most of the other features I mentionned
>above (it's a coincidence because I've just checked this
>afterwards, but it may indicate AbcMus is a conveniant,
>well-designed, software). Anyway, it's not a nasty critic for the
>other programs which are works in progress and grow in features. I
>hope they will make their marks in the future !
AbcMus is a very well designed program. Another useful feature
which you don't mention, but which both AbcMus and BarFly possess
is multiple document architecture, so that you can open multiple
files in different windows and copy/paste tunes between them.
(This is easy on the Mac, but I think much more difficult on
Windows.)
>
>An interesting tune which doesn't display (unless editing them) in
>both skink and iabc :
All these tunes work fine on BarFly, which is not surprising since
Dan G Peterson is a long-time BarFly user. He was one of the program's
most useful critics in the early days, and several of its features
were added in response to his suggestions.
Perhaps I should point out though, that ({c/d/}c2) is actually illegal,
since the abc 1.6 standard says:
"Grace notes have no time value and so expressions such as {a2}
or {a>b} are not legal."
BarFly just ignores time values attached to grace notes, although there
is some pressure (especially from pipers) to support grace notes of
different lengths.
Phil Taylor
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