Adrian,
If you have multiple Finale documents open at once, and start editing Text Blocks in one of them, eventually the changes to the text block in the active document will start to bleed over into the inactive documents. This was true in Finale 2002 and 2003 and it happens *very frequently* in Finale 2004.
Try this: open a complete set of orchestra parts. Start changing the Staff Name headers -- for instance, change "Flute 1" to "Fl. 1". Then cycle through all the other documents, and manually redraw the screen for each document, and look to see if the Staff Name header (or some other text, like an expression) was changed in the other documents. If not, go back try again with a different text block -- for instance, try changing the title, composer, or copyright date in the Flute 1 part, then cycle through the other parts. Keep in mind, you *must* redraw the screen after you switch to a different document -- often, the part will *look* fine at first, but when you redraw the screen you will see that a text block (or expression, or staff name) has been modified.
This bug has been confirmed by your colleague, Brian. Here's a quote from an email he sent me:
I do know there are bugs written up about the staff names, text blocks, etc being overwritten. This has to do with the same ID number taking over two or more text blocks, or even expressions since Expressions are now somewhat text blocks in 2004 because they are multi-font.
This bug is real, it's serious, and it needs fixing badly. Until it's fixed, it's not safe to have multiple documents open simultaneously.
Again, if there's anything else I can do to help, let me know.
- Darcy
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[EMAIL PROTECTED] Brooklyn NY
On 09 Jun 2004, at 03:04 PM, MacSupport wrote:
Darcy
This may indeed be a bug, but we are unable to reproduce it here. In order to report the bug, I need you to send me steps to reproduce the problem. As an example, I have sent steps to recreate a bug (since fixed) from an older version of Finale
Begin with a new file.
Click the Text Block Tool.
Click measure 1.
Click Group ID.
[Click Text Block]
Type a short string, for example, "test."
Click OK. Click Select. Click OK.
[Highlight text block handle]
Choose Select Default Fonts from the Options Menu.
Choose Text Block... from the popup menu.
Type 24 and click OK. Click OK.
Observe the existing text block, which changes font size.
Program behavior is not dependent on Redraw Control settings.
[with the handle highlighted press the delete key; handle remains. force a redraw; handle remains]
Thank you,
Adrian
Technical Support Representative
MakeMusic!, Inc.
Coda Music Technologies
Please include all previous correspondence relating to this issue in your reply.
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---------- From: Darcy James Argue Sent: Monday, June 7, 2004 3:02 PM To: MacSupport Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: MacFin2004 Text Block Bug
Hi Adrian,
Restarting the computer doesn't even begin to address the problem here.
Nor does it have anything to do with the Mac Fontpack (which I already
have) or the number of fonts in my fonts folder. This is a very
serious bug in Finale that has been a problem since Finale 2002,
although in Finale 2004 it has become *much, much* worse. I am asking
you to make fixing this bug your highest priority.
Once again: when you make changes to text blocks in one Finale document
-- like say, adjusting the copyright notice -- often that text will bleed into *all the other open Finale documents*. Sometimes it will
replace other text blocks, sometimes it will replace expressions (as in
the file I sent), sometimes it will replace staff or group names....
To make matters worse, these unwanted changes don't show up on screen
until after you redraw. Since you naturally don't expect any changes
to be made without your say-so, much less to documents you're not
currently working on, it is *very easy* to save these corrupted
documents without realizing that anything is wrong. The only 100% safe
solution is to never have more than one Finale document open at once --
which is extremely inconvenient.
What makes this bug so serious is that it means I can't trust Finale.
Let's say I'm working on two Finale files, Document A and Document B.
After working on Document A for a while, I switch to working on
Document B, then after a while I go back to Document A. This bug means
that when I return to Document A, I can't be sure it's in the same
state it was when I left it to go work on Document B. More often than
not, Finale has made unwanted changes to Document A in the background,
without my consent, without notifying me, and if I don't remember to
redraw the screen after I switch, I might not even realize that
anything's wrong. When you can't trust an application not to corrupt
your files, you can't trust the application, PERIOD.
No disrespect, but I don't need advice or workarounds. I know what the
problem is, and I know how to deal with it, for now, i.e., don't have
multiple documents open at once. All I want from you guys is this
statement: "We're aware of the bug, we agree that it's very serious,
and we're doing absolutely everything we can to fix it as soon as
possible."
If there's anything more I can do -- send you more examples of files
afflicted by this problem, etc. -- I'm happy to do so. But please, >
let's get this thing solved. Not being able to have multiple documents
open at once is killing our productivity, and it's hard to feel good
about using a program you can't trust.
Regards,
- Darcy
-----
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Brooklyn NY
On 07 Jun 2004, at 03:28 PM, MacSupport wrote:
Darcy
I would suggest restarting the computer. If that does not fix your problem, I would suggest downloading the Macintosh Fontpack from our website
www.finalemusic.com
Also, you'll want to make sure that you don't have more than 150 fonts
in your fonts folder. If so, you'll want to remove the ones that you
use the least and make sure that the finale fonts remain intact. Here
are the ones to look out for.
Maestro Engraver Tamburo Petrucci Jazz
or, any fonts that include these names with additional words.
Please let me know if I can be of further help.
Thanks, Adrian Technical Support Representative MakeMusic!, Inc. Coda Music Technologies Please include all previous correspondence relating to this issue in your reply. Did we answer your question? Click here to comment on the quality of our Technical Support: http://www.finalemusic.com/support/tech-comments.asp?tech=carla
Introducing Finale 2004. See the new features and pre-order today at http://www.finalemusic.com/finale/f2k4/
---------- From: Darcy James Argue Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2004 4:07 PM To: MacSupport Subject: MacFin2004 Text Block Bug
<<File: Text Block Bug.mus>><<File: ATT661466.txt>> Hello,
In the hopes that files like this will help you track down the
problem,
I have attached a file that was afflicted by Finale's nastiest bug.
You'll notice that in this file, all instances of the dynamic "p" have
been replaced by the copyright notice I was adding to a completely
different file. I wasn't working on this file at all, I made no
changes myself -- it simply happened to be open while I was working on
the other file. You'll also notice that changes made with the *Text*
tool in one document affected *Expressions* in a completely different
document.
Please please please fix this. Until you do, it's just not safe to work on multiple Finale files at once.
- Darcy
-----
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Brooklyn NY
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