[Scherzo]

My apologies if this has been covered already…

I prefer sheet music to charts, but sometimes short of transcribing something myself, I have no choice when I can’t find the sheet music.

I dig the transposing thing with ChordPro files in MobileSheets and assumed I needed to edit charts to that format in my library and/or import ChordPro files to be able to transpose. However, I just added a plain text file (.txt) to my Library with chord symbols above the lyrics, not in brackets within the lyrics and it transposes in MobileSheets just fine.

If this has always been the case, I feel like a dope because I spent a lot of time editing text files just so I could transpose charts in MSP.

Are there are other advantages with ChordPro files in MobileSheets that I am missing?

If not, this is great news for me because the file conversion and/or text editing is a pain!!

[Zubersoft]

Chord pro files are always going to work the way you expect because the syntax makes it much easier for MobileSheetsPro to identify when it's dealing with a chord versus lyrics. With a text file, MobileSheetsPro has to guess at what might be a line of chords versus lyrics. If it gets it wrong (like if there is a 50/50 mix of chords and lyrics on a line for some reason), then MobileSheetsPro might not transpose any of the chords on that line as it thinks it is dealing with lyrics. If all of your .txt files have the chords on separate lines with no other content, then .txt files may work just fine for you. There are other powerful features with chord pro files (such as the ability to repeat choruses, provide labels for sections, change formatting part way through a file, and a ton of other things I will be adding support for in the future), but if you don't need those features, then converting your files may not be worth it.

Mike

[Scherzo]

Understood.

Thanks!

[Scherzo]

A couple of other ChordPro questions:

Is there any way to export the ChordPro file to a PDF?

IS there any way to change the name of ChordPro file after the fact. (Not the Song Title)

Thanks!

[Zubersoft]

To export a chord pro as a PDF, go to the library screen, long press the song, tap Share->Export files and select a destination, check the option to "Export iOS compatible annotations", and the chord pro file will be converted to a PDF. I will add a more intuitive option in the future to force a chord pro to be converted to a PDF without having to use that option.

Renaming a file is currently slightly tedious as you can't do it in the song editor (which I will also add support for when time allows). You will need to rename the file in the storage location, then long press the song, tap the three dots at the top right, tap Swap File, then select the renamed file. This will update the song to use the renamed file and updates the database to account for that.

Mike

[Scherzo]

When I try the PDF creation, nothing happens unless there is an annotation.

I also get this message with another file: "Export operation failed. Ensure the song is not missing files, restart the application and try again."

Which I did to no avail...

[Zubersoft]

My quick test must have been flawed. You can add a simple white rectangle on the page to force the conversion to PDF, or you can long press the song, tap the three dots at the top right, select "Print", and then use a "Print to PDF" option (assuming you have something set up on your device to handle that).

As far as the error message, there must be some kind of corrupted data in the song. Can you please long press that song, tap Share->Export as .msf and email the .msf to mike@zubersoft.com? I'll try importing it and see if I get the same error while exporting.

Thanks,
Mike

[Scherzo]

"or you can long press the song, tap the three dots at the top right, select "Print", and then use a "Print to PDF" option..."

That worked fine for my purposes.

FWIW - The way I created the ChordPro file(s) in question was to copy/paste the text from the Word file the person who wrote the song sent me into Notepad and do my ChordPro chord placement & directives there. I then brought that text file into MSP via the Companion as a .txt file, copied the text from that Song, then created a NEW new .cho Song in MobileSheets and deleted the text file version.

Neither of the ChordPro files I created from my friend's Word files using this method worked using the Share->Export files method so I have a feeling I am pasting some junk into Notepad in the process .

So... I tried creating the file again the same way, but this time instead of copying from the Word doc and pasting directly into Notepad, I copied but pasted JUST THE TEXT into a new Word doc and then copy/pasted that text only into Notepad and followed the same steps to create the ChordPro file in MSP.

THIS time, the export created a PDF just fine.

So I have to assume I copied formatting or other junk into the text file and it carried over to the ChordPro file in MobileSheets because I was copy/pasting it over & over.

If you still want me to send you my corrupted files I will, but I consider the problem solved and it was my error.

Thanks for the help!

[Geoff Bacon]

Strange, Notepad doesn't allow any formatting other than changing the font and word wrap (which is the reason one uses Notepad rather than Wordpad when wanting a pure text file without garbage).

FWIW, I use Programmer's Notepad

Geoff

[Scherzo]

I guess it allows some formatting because when I copied the text from the corrupted .cho file in MSP and brought it back into Notepad, it was apostrophes that were the culprit. They were replaced with some weird text. I've seen the same thing when copy/pasting Word text into some Internet message boards.

Bottom line, I cleaned out the junk in Notepad and re-created the ChordPro file in MobileSheets the same way and all is well.