At 2:53 PM +0100 12/24/04, d. collins wrote:
I always thought plug-ins did only things that could also be done by hand, so to speak. So if Forza can copy text blocks, so should be able to. That's why I thought Finalescript might make this hand-copying easier.
Dennis
In general you're right, but some plug-ins get at things that we can't edit by other methods. I'm sure some of the plug-in developers on this list could elaborate.
The thing that plug-ins can't do is to introduce new functionality to the Enigma (mus/etf) file format (such as rendering a new type of object). The only plug-in that is allowed to store data in the actual Finale file is Human Playback (which is a specialized kind of plug-in). There are also some minor limitations still available regarding the data that can be accessed by a plug-in, but most things are now available to the plug-in programmer).
There are currently many different categories of Finale plug-ins. I would personally categorize them into:
* User interface improvements (providing a better user interface for a "feature" already available in Finale), such as TimeStudio FP or Forza! Rehearsal Figures
* User interface additions (providing new user interface functionality to Finale), such as keyboard shortcuts (TGTools Keyboard Remapper, Forza! Quick Navigator), additional document navigation, etc.
* Transfer settings between documents (Patterson Settings Scrapbook, TGTools Transfer, Forza! Settings Transfer)
* Automate tedious calculations and/or data processing (numerous examples around)
* "Inovative work-arounds" to provide new funtionality. Here I would list Patterson's Beam Over Barlines and the next version Forza! Rehearsal Figures (which provides enclosures with rounded corners, drop shadows, hand-written styles - users on the forza-talk list know what I'm talking about).
* Plug-ins accessing data not available to the user. The most notable example here is the harmonics created by TGTools and Human Playback (the pitch transposition field for a single note is not directly editable by the Finale user).
TGTools Easy Harmonics also sets the velocity [-63] to an illegal value for the silent note, which might be a good workaround prior to Fin2002. (I wouldn't call it a good implementation in current Finale versions, since nowadays notes can be set to not play back, which is how HP does it.)
* Statistics plug-ins (Count Items, TGTools Font Info, Forza! Settings Report)
* Scripting plug-ins (FinaleScript, Command Line, Text Editor)
I hope that gives you some insight to what Finale plug-ins can (and can't) do.
Best regards,
Jari Williamsson _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
