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User tool organization

Hello everyone, hope you are all well.

I have questions about the "Group" designations under user tools. First, I would like to express appreciation to the hardworking and innovative NWC users who have thought of ways to make this program fit a lot of needs that the original software does not. Thank you! You have saved me from having to switch to one of the other programs. I would rather write music than learn a computer program.

Questions remain, however. It might become very clear that I have no background understanding or knowledge of how computers and software and coding work. (I don't want to know how the sausage is made, I just want to enjoy the finished product. )

First of all, there are certain tools that I use frequently, such as Parts (adp), which is listed under .starter tools.

I use these .Plugins regularly: arpeggio and ottavamatic.

Under .Automatic, I use CopyPasteMeasures.og

I have a lot of others that I don't use, probably because I'm not sure what they do, and I have my own workflow. Also, I rarely remember which group the ones I do use are in, so I find myself hunting on a regular basis, except for the ones that I can just press "J" and pull up the Object box. (and I don't really get the difference between an object and a plug in, so maybe that has nothing to do with the group question which I will now pose).

Could I combine all the ones that I do use frequently into one group? Why or why not? Could I dump all of the others into another group? Why do I need 6 different groups?

Re: User tool organization

Reply #1 –
Hi SEBC, owyagoinmateorrite?  ;)

User Tools and Object Plugins are quite different in concept.
  • A User Tool is a small program that can be run against a selection and perform specified tasks like separating parts (Parts_adp), or modifying attributes of things on the staff (can be an object, note, chord, text entry. etc. etc..).  There must be some kind of "clip text" for it to work with, it can't create something from nothing (at least AFAIK).

  • An Object Plugin is a small program "plugin" that is used to create an object and optionally perform playback additions that otherwise do not exist in NWC.  E.G. the ChordPlay.nw object I've recently been modifying.  N.B. they do not use clip text.
    A plugin may have an embedded User Tool.  It it does the tool will automatically appear in the ".Plugins" group.  Such tools are used to edit a selection to add instance/instances of the related Object.  E.G. the automatic tool from ChordPlay.nw will replace text chords with ChordPlay.nw objects.
 
I suggest you read this thread to understand more about the ChordPlay.nw object:
https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?topic=9092.0

OK, User Tools:
The groups that begin with a period <.> appear with the installation of the tool kit.  I pretty much leave them alone.

To create a new group you have a couple of options:
  • Create a new tool.
  • Copy an existing tool

In either case you will have a field at the top of the tool properties dialogue where you can specify the group it belongs in.  Instead of choosing an existing group just type in the name of the group you want to create.  It does NOT need to start with a period, and I recommend it doesn't so you can easily differentiate from the automatic groups and your manually created groups.
This/these group(s) will remain in existence unless and until you delete the last tool in it, at which time it will disappear.

So, as an example, to create a new group and copy Parts_adp to it do the following:
  • Press <Alt+F8> to start the User Tool dialogue.
  • Select the ".Starter Tools" group in the "Groups:" list.
  • Select Parts_adp from the "Available Commands:" list.
  • Click the Copy button.
  • In the resulting dialogue you will see the entire command properties pre-filled EXCEPT for the group.
  • You can either type in the name of a new group, or select an existing group from the list box (useful when populating your new group with additional tools).
  • Click "OK"
  • voila!  All done.

FYI I do not have CopyPasteMeasures.og in my .Automatic group so I assume you put it there yourself at some time.  No problem, just an observation.  If you want you can simply copy it to your new group as described above, and optionally delete its entry from .Automatic after testing the new copy.  Your choice, this is your customisation.  Personally I would only keep the ones originally populated into the "." groups in those locations and move the ones you added later to your new group(s), but then I can be a little anal about this stuff  :-[

<important edit> I just did a quick check and the only way I can see that CopyPasteMeasures.og could have appeared in the .Automatic group is if you placed the program file for the tool in:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Noteworthy Software\NoteWorthy Composer 2\AutoUserTools
as this is the location that populates the .Automatic group.

User Tool script files can be stored in any location you have write access to. 
Originally, when NWC2 was new, they lived in:

(32 bit systems:) C:\Program Files\Noteworthy Software\NoteWorthy Composer 2\Scripts
or
(64 bit systems:) C:\Program Files (x86)\Noteworthy Software\NoteWorthy Composer 2\Scripts

however in later versions of Windows (V7 onwards IIRC) these locations became read only 'cos microsoft...
So you need to have a different location to store them.

If you have a User Tool that is written in LUA you can drag and drop it into the main NWC editor window and it will auto install.  Note that the installation does NOT copy the .lua file, it simply creates a User Tool entry that references the script from where it is stored.

N.B. The User Tool entry in the dialogue references the script file, it isn't the script itself.

This link may also be useful to you:
https://noteworthycomposer.com/hh/nwc2/MNU_USERTOOLS.htm
</edit>

By copying all the tools you regularly use into a single group you make access much easier, AND NWC will remember the last group you used a tool from between sessions.  This is really convenient when you have all your common tools in one place.

You can copy a tool entry from the .Plugins group.  I do not know if the copy will disappear if the Object Plugin is deleted.

Many years ago I wrote the following guide.  It is available from the Scripto, but finding it is a little challenging.  It is often linked from the individual User Tools in the "NWC2 Scripts" section accessible from the front page under the "User Tools" link.  I must remember to ask @Richard Woodroffe (who manages the Scripto) to make a link to it in the "Helpful Files" section to make it easier to find.  This guide is quite old now, but aside from having no mention of Groups as they didn't exist for the version of NWC2 it was written for, basic information is unchanged - I think you would find it most informative.

https://nwc-scriptorium.org/nwc2scripts/invocationinstructions.pdf

<edit> Bugger :(  Just discovered the above link will not work directly.  The scripto is set up to reject direct access to this, and I imagine other, files.  Instead use this link: https://nwc-scriptorium.org/nwc2scripts_parts.html and click the "Invocation Instructions" link contained about 3/4's of the way down the page. </edit>

Object Plugins:
I know of no way to group Object Plugins.  NWCs advice is to only install the Plugins you plan to use as the more Plugins you have the longer NWC takes to start.  Fair enough, but I reckon stuff it.  I install all the Plugins that interest me, whether I use 'em or not, 'cos just maybe, you know, I might want one of 'em some time...  ;)

The down side is finding the one I want in the list, though they do sort in alphabetical order and pressing the first letter will jump to that part of the list in the <J> (Add Object) dialogue.

I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: User tool organization

Reply #2 –
Hey SEBC,
if you've already read my reply (#1) above please make sure your saw my edits (in blue).
I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: User tool organization

Reply #3 –
Quote from: Lawrie Pardy –

<edit> Bugger :(  Just discovered the above link will not work directly.  The scripto is set up to reject direct access to this, and I imagine other, files.  Instead use this link: https://nwc-scriptorium.org/nwc2scripts_parts.html and click the "Invocation Instructions" link contained about 3/4's of the way down the page. </edit>


Yup - sorry - blame  a Korean website which was attempting to steal every file on the scripto (not just .nwc files) and set up their own version.  There is now also a link to this document from the helpful files page (as requested by Lawrie).

Rich.
 

Re: User tool organization

Reply #4 –
Thank you, Lawrie, for your reply. I think I get the difference now between plug in and object, so thanks for that simple clarification.

While I think of it, there is an object in my list that I could probably delete, but I will check here first: "newObject.test". Also under the list that is generated when I click "Manage objects" is on by the name of "p" at the very top. It says it was used once but is not installed. So I have no idea what that is.

Re: how things ended up in the folders that I have, I do recall having some issues with downloading objects/plug ins from the website and losing them, or not knowing where I had downloaded them to, or where they were supposed to go...so that might account for the CopyPaste plug in ending up in the automatic group.

I have successfully created an "Often Used" group, so thanks for that advice!



Re: User tool organization

Reply #5 –
Quote from: SEBC –
Thank you, Lawrie, for your reply. I think I get the difference now between plug in and object, so thanks for that simple clarification.
<snip>
A pleasure - glad it helped.
Just one thing, a Plugin IS an Object, more correctly called an "Object Plugin" whereas a "User Tool" is for task automation.
(I'm sorry, the pedant in me was jumping up and down and I had to mollify it ;) )

Quote from: SEBC –
<snip>
While I think of it, there is an object in my list that I could probably delete, but I will check here first: "newObject.test".
<snip>
"newObject.test" will be something that someone was using to test a plugin called "newObject".  If you locate it and edit it with notepad, or another pure text editor, you should be able to read comments to see what's it's about.  Regardless, if you're not using it then feel free to delete it.

Quote from: SEBC –
<snip>
Also under the list that is generated when I click "Manage objects" is on by the name of "p" at the very top. It says it was used once but is not installed. So I have no idea what that is.
<snip>

This object will be being referenced by a NWC file you have open.  It is used once in the file but is not installed, you have the option to install it or ignore it.  The reference will disappear when you close the NWC file unless you install the object.

Quote from: SEBC –
<snip>
Re: how things ended up in the folders that I have, I do recall having some issues with downloading objects/plug ins from the website and losing them, or not knowing where I had downloaded them to, or where they were supposed to go...so that might account for the CopyPaste plug in ending up in the automatic group.
<snip>
I guess you have the option of doing some housekeeping  ;)

Quote from: SEBC –
<snip>
I have successfully created an "Often Used" group, so thanks for that advice!
Excellent!
I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: User tool organization

Reply #6 –
On the subject of User Tools, this is my collection on the right hand side of my page. The left side is for web pages that must be kept open at the same time as NWC--most have been converted to user tools unless matching staves must worked on simultaneously.
my NWC page

If I am not able to continue this site, thanks in advance to Richard Woodroffe for his offer to host this on nwc-scriptorium.
Since 1998