On 2020-01-13 7:05 pm, Paolo Prete wrote:
1) its *calculated* distance from its reference point? (from what I
see,
the reference Y of an OttavaBracket is the middle line of the
associated
staff...)
I tried ly:grob-staff-position (see the snippet below), but it doesn't
seem
to give this info (and it's not documented)
Well, "staff-position" is likely not the metric you want, as its units
appear to be in half staff-spaces rather than staff-spaces like other
metrics, making its result twice as much as you might expect. It might
even be impacted by things like \magnifyStaff, making its value even
less useful.
But put that aside. If we borrow some of the underlying logic, we get
the following:
%%%%
\version "2.19"
drawRelativePosition = #(define-music-function
(grob-path) (symbol-list?)
(define (proc grob)
(let* ((ss (ly:grob-object grob 'staff-symbol))
(refp (ly:grob-common-refpoint grob ss Y))
(y (- (ly:grob-relative-coordinate grob refp Y)
(ly:grob-relative-coordinate ss refp Y)))
(orig (ly:grob-property grob 'stencil))
(sten (grob-interpret-markup grob #{
\markup \with-dimensions-from \stencil #orig
\overlay { \stencil #orig \with-color #red
\translate #(cons 0 (- y)) \path #0.1 #`(
(moveto -1 ,y) (lineto 1 ,y)
(moveto 0 ,y) (lineto 0 0)
(moveto -1 0) (lineto 1 0)
(moveto -0.5 1) (lineto 0 0) (lineto 0.5 1))
} #})))
(ly:grob-set-property! grob 'stencil sten)))
#{ \override $grob-path .after-line-breaking = #proc #})
{
\drawRelativePosition Staff.OttavaBracket
\ottava #1 c''''8 c'''' \ottava 0 c'''4
\ottava #1 a'''8 a''' \ottava 0 a''4
\ottava #1 a'''8( a''' \ottava 0 a''4)
}
%%%%
The above would seem to "fail" on the third bracket. This is because
the slur pushes the bracket out of the way at a time *after*
after-line-breaking. This suggests it is unlikely for user code to
reliably discern the truly final position of a grob.
While I would never claim to fully grok all of the wily machinations of
LilyPond, this particular detail does make some sense to me.
Consider that the layout engine has to be able to draw a line in the
sand and say "That's it! All grobs are in the place where they'll be.
Let's just write this thing to a file and be done with it." As such, it
becomes uninteresting to allow user logic to run after that point since
nothing is permitted to change.
In fact, the layout engine seems to draw a few such lines during its
work, with line breaking being another example. The
before-line-breaking procedure allows user code to manipulate items that
could impact how lines eventually break. But after-line-breaking
happens once lines are locked in and only content within the line could
still be adjusted.
----
Going back to your prior ask of "how do I move a grob?", I think we need
to shift perspective on the issue. It is less important to dwell on
*how* to move something; rather, we should inquire of you *why* you want
to move something. What purpose does it serve, for instance, to move an
OttavaBracket upward precisely two staff spaces? (I apologize if that
is coming across sarcastically, but I am afraid I lack better
wordsmithing.)
The goal of such questioning is to best improve how LilyPond's layout
engine works without user intervention. There likely exists sufficient
logic within LilyPond to accommodate your needs; but it is certainly
possible such logic still needs to be invented. However, I think
focusing on details like final grob positioning might be putting the
cart before the horse.
Consider the recent work done on curve editing. (By the way, that is a
*very* cool contribution; and if I can find time, I may be able to help
with Scheme and JavaScript should that still be required.) Having such
a nice curve editor should in no way be a replacement for improving
LilyPond. Ideally, the software will engrave beautiful curves without
the user needing to lift a finger. At the very least, the user might
have to provide a few hints to get the job done to their satisfaction.
Only as a last resort should one have to position curve points manually.
----
Sorry for my long ramblings. At this rate, I should become a novelist
or something. (:
-- Aaron Hill
