The ChordPro reference implementation supports inserting standard notation in ABC format into ChordPro.
That's a convenient method to insert little snippets of standard notation into lyrics&chords scores.
I usually use the reference implementation to create a PDF and import both the PDF and the ChordPro file into my MSP library.
The ChordPro file in MSP is useful to transpose the song into another key.
MSP already ignores start_of_abc and end_of_abc - I can't remember in which MSP version this helpful little feature has been introduced.
So I would propose some additions:
1.) ignoring not only start_of_abc and end_of_abc but also those lines of the ABC section that start with the tags scale= width= and X: would make room for some more lines of lyrics and chords on a page. That's sometimes useful on a small tablet.
2.) experienced users of ABC are even able to play from the ASCII text of ABC scores as shown here
So it would make sense to transpose the ASCII text of the ABC section together with the ChordPro part of the song.
This should be relatively easy to implement - just apply existing transposing rules & code
(mostly as a workaround as long as 3.) is not available)
3.) The perfect solution, but not so easy to implement: render ABC within MSP to show standard notation that allows transposing
My preference would be to support the ABC rendering as that is another request that has come up on the forums several times. There are third party libraries which should be able to help with this I believe, lowering the level of effort required. I can always look into short term fixes to help until then. I'm not sure how easy it would be to apply the transposing logic to sections that aren't normal chord definitions - just thinking about it at a high level, I think I would have to hack a lot of code to force the abc section to be handled completely differently than any other lines in the file, as I would need to treat every character as an independent chord to be transposed.
An intermediate step could be to first implement handling images (that's also on the list). Then it would be possible to externally generate an image (or SVG) from the ABC and include that. Of course, you'll loose the ability to transpose.
Handling images wouldn't really help.
If I cannot transpose in MSP and have to use an external program I'm fine with transposing in the ChordPro reference implementation and creating one PDF per key.
06-05-2023, 07:51 PM (This post was last modified: 06-05-2023, 07:53 PM by NeoCZ.)
Just want to bring this topic up since version 3.8.0 was released with great new chord pro feature - support for pango markup. Also version 3.8.1 is going to include more new chord pro features. Any chance we can get ABC format support in not-so-far future versions?
Tablet: Surface Pro 8,
Other: Strich BT-FP2, USB-MIDI connection to Kurzweil Forte 7
11-07-2023, 06:09 AM (This post was last modified: 11-07-2023, 06:10 AM by Andrew9999.)
I'm using 3.8.16 (Windows) and MS isn't recognising ABC notation, even if embedded in ChordPro (other than as plain text). What's the status of this feature request please.
It got pushed back a bit (obviously) as a lot of the code is in place, but I have to go through the entire ABC open source library that is being used and make sure it won't terminate MobileSheets if it encounters an error (as it's designed to be use like a command-line application, not as a library). I'm just juggling a large number of feature requests, and trying to work on the things I'm getting requests for the most first.
I am a new user and would first like to extend a chapeau - so far, I am rather impressed with MobileSheets, it appears to be a near-to-perfect solution to my musical performance/band practice needs in conjunction with a page turner pedal. Nice, intuitive and not overloaded UI, so far very robust functionality.
I already discussed the issue of abc support offline with Mike, just wanted to pitch in another 0,01 for a speedy (of course not hasted) implementation. Aside from the sheer endless things one can do with abcs, one of their great advantages is its unbeatable small file size - and given that MobileSheets makes a copy of every song file, a large existing song collection will double the disk space footprint. Thus, an existing huge abc library will double little space (still reasonably little), whereas an existing huge pdf or jpeg library will double huge space, which may yield very huge. So I am very much looking forward to abc support in MobileSheets as my music library is >80% abc, approaching 100%.
then again, implementing abc support is hard as there are as many ways to make it wrong with abcs as there are ways to make it right.
thumbs up, Mike!
btw, would the library you are using allow SEH wrappers to ensure at least no crashes?
I'm a big ABC supporter myself and the implementation in MS has been requested for a long time. The more user ask for a feature the more Mike prioritizes it. So good you're here and asking for the feature. The more the better.
As I understand ABC support will be part of the planned additional ChordPro features that are hopefully coming soon.
@RAc:
if storage space is really an important topic for you (I doubt it really is nowadays) you just have to manage your files yourself to avoid that MobileSheets makes a copy of every file.
Me, BRX and some other forum members do that without any problems.
"Manage files yourself" means:
on Android: uncheck "Let MobileSheets Manage My Files" and set the path where you want to store your files in "Set the MobileSheets Storage Location" in Settings - Storage
on WIndows: just set the MobileSheets storage location to a path outside of c:\Users\her\AppData\Local\Packages\41730Zubersoft.MobileSheets_ys1c8ct2g6ypr\LocalState\
on iPad: I'm not sure if managing files yourself is possible, BRX might know more
If you do that, you can store your files in a folder structure of your choice inside the MobileSheets storage location and MobileSheets will use them from the location where you stored them.
Just in case you import a file from "outside", MobileSheets has to make a copy.
The main advantage for me is that any edits, no matter if they are done with MobileSheets or with any external editor show up immediately in MobileSheets without the need to re-import or apply "Swap File". Saving storage space is a nice secondary effect, but not my main concern.
(01-27-2024, 07:58 AM)itsme Wrote: As I understand ABC support will be part of the planned additional ChordPro features that are hopefully coming soon.
@RAc:
if storage space is really an important topic for you (I doubt it really is nowadays) you just have to manage your files yourself to avoid that MobileSheets makes a copy of every file.
Me, BRX and some other forum members do that without any problems.
"Manage files yourself" means:
on Android: uncheck "Let MobileSheets Manage My Files" and set the path where you want to store your files in "Set the MobileSheets Storage Location" in Settings - Storage
on WIndows: just set the MobileSheets storage location to a path outside of c:\Users\her\AppData\Local\Packages\41730Zubersoft.MobileSheets_ys1c8ct2g6ypr\LocalState\
on iPad: I'm not sure if managing files yourself is possible, BRX might know more
If you do that, you can store your files in a folder structure of your choice inside the MobileSheets storage location and MobileSheets will use them from the location where you stored them.
Just in case you import a file from "outside", MobileSheets has to make a copy.
The main advantage for me is that any edits, no matter if they are done with MobileSheets or with any external editor show up immediately in MobileSheets without the need to re-import or apply "Swap File". Saving storage space is a nice secondary effect, but not my main concern.
Great, thanks for the info, that helps a lot already!
the main issue on my side is that I already chose abc as the "native format" for my music, so any conversion I have to make (eg to pdfs) not only doubles the number of files in the library and multiplies the storage footprint (which, as you justly point out, is not a huge oncern in itself) but also doubles the maintenance effort if changes are being made to an individual file.
i play in a folk dance environment, so the tunes I play undergo frequent adaptions (eg transpositions, rearrangements of tune sections, for example to adapt a 32 bar piece to 40 bars etc, differing combinations of tunes to sets, reharmonizations...) for which abc is ideal as the native format (for other reasons as well). My dream is to get rid of all the pdfs, jpegs and other secondary formats.
however, if I understand you correctly, resetting the MobileSheets path will still enforce the MobileSheets file structure onto the location? I need to keep my abc folder "clean" of non abc files so I can share it with other musicians who do not use MobileSheets, so I would need two copies of the library nevertheless - one in "pure" format and the other one in the MobileSheets format, right?
