[WalterWeinzinger]

Hi Mike,

I'm wondering if you have ever considered making it possible to create a collection of sets. Our contra dance band has over 100 two/three-tune sets and we're creating more sets on a regular basis. Maybe 25 of these will be selected as our "current" setlist, that we'll use for our next dance. Then we might have another 25 that are in our "Working On" group of sets that aren't ready for prime time yet. Then we have a "Back Pocket" group of sets that are old standbys that we really don't need to practice anymore but run through them a few times a year because we still might use them at a dance.
Right now, I add a prefix to the name of the set to group the sets - xJD_ for our current setlist (the name of our band is Just Desserts - I change JD to UD for another band I occasionally play in which plays some of the same sets as Just Desserts, but also has some different sets as well), xJDWO_ for our working on setlist, xJDBP_ for our "back pocket" group of sets, etc.
It would be great to have all the sets we've ever created in the main MS setlist, and then be able to create subsets (collections) of sets from that main MS setlist. That would get rid of the need for set name prefixes to group sets and also the need for editing the set name prefix when a set gets moved from one group to another. Simple collections of sets from the MS setlist would be so useful!
Right now I use a collection for listing waltzes that we have learned anytime in the past, another collection for a list of waltzes that we are currently practicing and then another collection for a list of waltzes that we have ready to play at upcoming dances, but we only play one waltz at a time. We never play a set of waltzes. Collections work well for single songs. I would think collections could work well for single sets as well, although such functionality could involve quite a bit of coding, right?
Again, thanks for your consideration!

Walter

[Zubersoft]

Hello Walter,

This has come up in the past (https://zubersoft.com/mobilesheets/forum...p?tid=8538) and my current plan is to add a new tab that allows for group setlists. This does not mean you will be able to place setlists in setlists - I will never support that as it creates potentially infinite depth like a file system and results in a very cumbersome UI, but I will allow setlists to be grouped together and loaded as one giant setlist if desired. 

Mike

[WalterWeinzinger]

Hey, that's great, Mike! 

I agree, collections of collections should be avoided! We just need collections of songs and collections of sets. In fact, if my band has a tune that we're working on that is not yet paired with another tune, I will still create a set with just that tune so it shows up in our "Working On" setlist (which I currently make with the xJDWO_ prefix). I only go to my list of songs when someone suggests we try playing a brand new tune.
 
For clarification - we call a grouping of two or three tunes that will be played without a break as a single dance (usually ~ 8 minutes) a "set", and a list of some or all of our sets is a "setlist". I think what we call a set, you call a setlist.

So my question would be, is your plan to have a tab for collections of sets and another tab (which already exists) for collections of songs? (Maybe the tabs could be named "Song Collections" and "Set Collections"?) That would be super. And just FYI - I would never need to load all the sets in a set collection all at one time. I just need certain sets grouped together so I can choose one to play (hopefully with no intermediate "Load All" screen!). Then when done playing that set, it would be great to be able to go straight back to that same set collection.

Thanks!

[Michael_G]

Hi Walter, 

perhaps a silly idea because i missunderstood your needs, but why not thinking a little bit "out of the box" and using the song editor to combine multiple songs (via adding multiple files) to a new song and take this song as "set" in your meaning. It would even load without needing more then one click. 

You  could even delete the song containing only one song after you're done with practicing, if needed. 

Kind regards 
Michael

[ChrisPhone]

Any updates on this potential feature, @Zubersoft?

I am also a contradance musician, and I downloaded and started using the mobile sheets app a week ago. It's been amazingly useful so far. Like the OP, I've been creating setlists of
songs which my band plays at contradance gigs. In this context, a setlist is two or three tunes that are played back to back for a single dance. Depending on the event there could be anywhere from 6 to 12 dances, and therefore 6 to 12 setlists, used in a particular gig. I love how easy MobileSheets makes it to add and remove songs from setlists, particularly because we're always adding new tunes to our repertoire and changing/updating our song sets.

I'm hoping for a way to sort or group setlists so I can quickly pull up just the specific setlists I need for a particular gig.

I see that I can select multiple setlists and choose to Add Pieces To Collection or Create Collection From Pieces, among other options. Is there, or can there please be, a similar option to create a collection from those *setlists*?

One work around that I've considered is to create an entirely new library that would just contain the sets for a particular gig, but unfortunately I have yet to figure out how to move or copy pieces from my existing library into a newly created library without having to reupload the piece all over again. I know this is off the main topic, but if you're able to tell me how to accomplish that I would be grateful.

Thank you for this great app.

[Geoff Bacon]

@ChrisPhone

A collection is a set of pieces/songs that is usually sorted alphabetically.
Each collection can have only one copy of a song (unless you duplicate a song under another name)
A setlist lists songs in a specific order

It sounds as though you have already found how to add songs in multiple setlists to a single collection.

Why not use the same mechanism to "create a setlist"?; just select the setlists in the order that you want to play them. 

Probably a good idea to put a single space at the start of each 3 song set list name - this will put all the names in a # section at the top of the list.
For individual gigs, put 2 or more spaces at the start of the setlist name; this will put the gig at/near the top of the page i.e. easy to find
e.g. "    gig_venue 2023-06-30"
After the gig, rename the setlist without the leading spaces (or delete if you don't need to remember what you played)

Cheers
Geoff

[Zubersoft]

It's still high on my list of things to do. The iPadOS version obviously consumed most of my time through the first couple months of this year, and I've been working through the backlog of feature requests since then. Keeping on top of the customer support is definitely requiring a lot of my time though which is slowing down development. I have a huge number of things slated for the next big update (although I may release things in smaller pieces as bugs are fixed), but tackling the groups of setlists is not a part of that list. It will be slated for one of the next major updates.

Similarly, adding options to move pieces between different libraries and provide options to more easily switch libraries is also on my list of things to do. This one I may try to tackle sooner as it just requires a few new UI options and some code to transfer things between databases (which probably sounds easier than it is as there is a considerable amount of data that has to be handled and I have to properly handle warning users when they are moving a pieces that is a part of setlists, among other things). I appreciate your patience as I work through this mountain of work.

Thanks,
Mike