Cool but I don't get user tools

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Cool but I don't get user tools

2004-10-13 11:01 pm

User tools looks like the macro system we've been looking for, but I have no idea how to get started. Can you give some examples?

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #1 – 2004-10-13 11:03 pm

Yeah it's my post. I don't know why I put Preview 1b in the "name." (doh!)

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #2 – 2004-10-14 12:38 am

I'm missing something, Francis. What user tools?

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #3 – 2004-10-14 12:48 am

Some examples will be forthcoming. For example, I am working on an example Retrograde script that uses PHP.

The concept is really pretty simple. The complexity is in the execution of the concept. Custom commands can be written to process NWC2 clipboard text. Custom commands should accept NWC2 clipboard text as its input, and the command output should be the clipboard text that NWC2 will use to replace the selection. The process is similar to a clipboard operation:

Edit, Copy some notation in NWC2
Paste it into a text processor
Change the text in some way
Select and copy it from the text editor
Paste it back into NWC2

NWC2 custom user tools can do basically the same thing, but in an automated fashion (no manual copy and paste operations).

There are no preconfigured user tools. Tools will have to be added/configured by the user. Instructions will be coming shortly with the examples.

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #4 – 2004-10-14 03:02 am

Sounds very useful, Eric.

I don't recall if I've put this suggestion forward before, but another nice enhancement would be the ability to block out one or more measures in two or more adjacent systems, then perform one operation affecting all the highlighted areas.

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #5 – 2004-10-14 03:23 am

Well I get the concept at least . . . I'll wait for the examples, then.

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #6 – 2004-10-14 07:18 am

I downloaded the new version last night, but haven't had a chance to look at the new features. Is there any sort of API for the clip, or do we just get the text? If the latter, then the API I've been developing to handle NWC clips might be of some use after all.

RObin

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #7 – 2004-10-14 09:09 am

There is not any strict API published. The actual notation constructs can be ciphered fairly quickly through copy and paste.

There is a fairly easy way to parse the NWC2 clip text generically with most script languages, but it isn't always worth the additional overhead. For example, my retrograde script does it mostly through brute force analysis of the text as it scans through it.

Perhaps you could send me some additional details by e-mail on what you are doing...you could also wait and see what develops in our examples.

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #8 – 2004-10-14 03:35 pm

I missed the announcement of version 1b and didn't twig to it until seeing the last message above. I don't normally check news or check for web updates, because most of the time there's nothing new. Suggestion - a message in the forum to alert us, as has been done in the past.

When installing this update, my system hung. That's because I access the forum by opening the program and going in through the help menu (Go to Noteworthy Forum), rather than using my extremely long list of browser favourites.

If the install menu said to close existing NWC sessions before installing, I missed it. Suggestion - IF it's not already there, make sure the user is advised to close open sessions. Some of us will easily figure out the problem, others will have trouble.

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #9 – 2004-10-16 04:11 pm

The first user tool can be found in the User Tools section.

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #10 – 2004-10-16 05:06 pm

Hi Eric,

Thanks for the link.

What does "to retrograde selected notation" mean?

I couldn't install it to see if it explained it, because I haven't yet installed the PHP script. Does that have to be installed in the root of C: or can it be placed in my NWC2 folder which is two or three layers down from the root?

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #11 – 2004-10-16 06:03 pm

For that matter, does the computer need an internal server with PHP?

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #12 – 2004-10-16 09:25 pm

In musical terms, retrograde generally means reversal of a performance (turning it around backwards).

If you are not a web developer, you can safely ignore everything to do with web servers during the PHP install. In fact, you could just unzip the PHP zip package into a dedicated folder, then manually locate that folder when installing the retrograde script.

PHP prides itself as a web scripting tool, and contains a fair amount of technical language that can be confusing to the average user (not interested in web or other programming). For this reason, we should have some tool variations based on other languages available soon.

I wouldn't recommend installing PHP underneath NWC. Give it a place of its own.

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #13 – 2004-10-16 10:05 pm

You can also try an online version of this tool right from our web site. It uses the manual clipboard copy and paste approach to retrograde selected notation.

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #14 – 2004-10-16 11:12 pm

Not sure if I need it, but what a cool tool! Thanks, Eric, it's magic.

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #15 – 2004-10-17 12:21 am

Wow, that IS cool!
Will there be a link to it from somewhere other than this thread?

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #16 – 2004-10-17 12:22 am

A Retrograde script tool would be extremely useful for composers of serial music and similar types.
In twelve-tone music, a "row" is constructed using all twelve pitches of the chromatic scale in a seemingly random order. The row may also be used backward (Retrograde) or "upside-down" (Inversion) or backward and upside-down (Retrograde Inversion). So now I'm waiting for the Inversion script tool...

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #17 – 2004-10-17 06:03 pm

I'm jealous! Actually, I DO have PHP (and Perl, etc.) installed under the Abyss web server on my own laptop. Not that I know how to use them... But alas, not having my own stuff handy, I can only read about it.

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #18 – 2004-10-19 04:49 pm

The retrograde installer now includes a prebuilt version of PHP that you can use. It installs within the NWC2 program folder, so it will be uninstalled automatically if you ever remove NWC2 from your system.

See nwc2/usertools for details.

Re: Cool but I don't get user tools

Reply #19 – 2004-10-20 06:36 pm

I was able to get the latest NWC2 yesterday, so I could have a look. The PHP user tools (so far) reminds me of the time I called up the "Java Console" in some application, and was similarly presented with a text-entry area. Not knowing Java...

Presumably, the intent is to allow sharing of user-created scripts, or something like that? PHP does not look very hard to learn.