PageTextMaestro and PageText.

Topic: PageTextMaestro and PageText. (Read 2978 times) previous topic - next topic

PageTextMaestro and PageText.

2022-09-19 09:50 AM

Is there a user-friendly explanation of how to use PageTextMaestro.nw and PageText.nw?

I thought I had them figured out a few months ago, but now I'm befuddled. The highly technical discussion that started 7 years ago and continued 4 years ago is way over my head and the sample file isn't helpful

I've finished my project printing page headings the old way, so there's no urgency, but thought it might be worth asking because most users are probably as technically challenged as me.

Re: PageTextMaestro and PageText.

Reply #1 – 2022-09-19 01:02 PM

Hi David, been a while since we chatted.

I know of no particularly user-friendly resource, but I use them all the time. Though I don't necessarily use all the features. I primarily use it for a kind of header in the page number location which includes:
Song Title
Part Name (from the Staff Label)
Version number
Key
Page number of /? pages

The latter 3 I populate (or partially populate) from the Comments section of the Authoring Info dialogue.

The PageTxt command I generally use for this function is:
%Title% - in %Comment,Key% %Comment,Ver% - %StaffLabel% - Page %PageNum,1%%Comment,TotalPages%
and will result in something like:
Song Name - in C - V1 - Trom - Page 1/3
at the top of each page. The page number automatically updates to match the page it's on. The total pages number is manually input into the Comments once I get the piece almost finished, until the entry shows a "?".

This text appears on every page of a part so the pages can be identified and kept together.

I also occasionally use it for sub-titles and my template includes:
SubTitle
SubTitle2
entries in the Comments section

Do you have any specific questions?

Re: PageTextMaestro and PageText.

Reply #2 – 2022-09-20 10:32 PM

Hi Lawrie,

Thank you for this. The next time I try to use the pagetxt tools, I'll come back to your message for guidance.

I think the key is knowing to choose Custom1 or Custom2 only for what is not already in the File Information box (Title, Author, Lyricist, Copyright notice 1, Copyright notice 2, and Comments. Somewhere in the user forum there's a mention of how to set things up in the Comments box, but there are far too many forum entries about this wonderful tool to try to find that one today.

Here, I was rewriting a 7 page 500-plus bar part for a 3 movement suite that was printed too faintly (and blurry) to read on a music stand, particularly in bars full of leger-line notes that ran together, making if difficult to see where the staff left off and the leger lines began. I created BMP images from the PDFs, processed them with SharpEye, converted them with Niversoft's MusicXML - Noteworthy tool, edited them. Having finished and proof-read the music, now it was time to print the pages.

I probably spent 5 or 10 hours trying to figure out how the pagetxt tools would do what I needed. Since I was facing a deadline, I gave up and finished my project the old-fashioned way, creating a separate file for each movement and printing my desired headers for the second and subsequent pages as ordinary text entries centred above the middle bar of the top system of each page.

I eventually got what I needed on my title pages, but it took a lot of trial and error, and I doubt if I could succeed again without repeating the trial and error learning experience. Looking back, it was probably Custom2 that made my last problem in the title pages go away, but who knows?

Secondary pages, no go. No matter what I did I could not get headings to work.

What I was trying to create was:
First page of each movement: (single spaced)

Suite from

THE NAME OF MY FAVOURITE BROADWAY MUSICAL

1. DRUNKEN WALTZ

Contrabass kazoo in F

Author and arranger info

My Favourite Broadway Musical- 1. 1. DRUNKEN WALTZ [/size] Contrabass kazoo in F - page N

but I simply decided I couldn't afford more time for experimentation.

Hopefully I've explained what I did and what went wrong. It's hard to do this accurately a couple of days afterwards.

When first inserting a Pagetxt item, you're given several choices, but I coudn't find any explanation of that they mean:

Page style New
Page style Once
Page style Author
Page style Copyright
Page style Custom1
Page style Custom2
Page style Title

There's probably a couple more, the UserPrompt doesn't facilitate copying the menu. What does each of these mean and when should each be used? A narrative help file could be useful.

Don't worry about replying. If I find the time, I'll try to draft up some sort of short narrative as a message in the forum.

Re: PageTextMaestro and PageText.

Reply #3 – 2022-12-19 09:27 AM

Front page, top:
- Song title, centred, Page Text font.
  Dnnnnnnnnnn Medley
- Two-line song subtitle, centred below the song title, in either Page Text or Page Small Text:
  Battle Hymn of the Republic;, Nnnnn Nnnn, The Nnnn of Nnn Nnnnnn;
  Mnnn Cnnnnnn Bnnnn (Snnnnnn); South Rampart Street Parade
- Top left (where File Info normally shows Lyricist): Instrument name
  Flute 1
- Right side (system generated from File Info / Author): The composer/ arranger's name.
  Arr. Mmmmm Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
All of this should be high enough on the page to avoid clashing with the top system.

Second, third and fourth pages, top, preferably centred:.
- Page numbers (system generated with Page Setup / Options / Page numbering
- I want the song title and the instrument name to appear on one line at the top of each of these pages, centred if possible but left or right justified would be acceptable.
  Dnnnnnnnnnn Medley - Flute 1
Very specific commands illustrating exactly what to enter and where will be greatly appreciated.

Re: PageTextMaestro and PageText.

Reply #4 – 2022-12-19 12:20 PM

Hi David,
this isn't quite exactly what you asked for, but it's close enough for you to figure it out I'm sure.

The TOP staff, is the one that provides relevant information for a conductors score. You ONLY use it for that purpose When printing parts don't make it active. When printing parts just activate the staff/staves of the part you want.

Page numbering looks like: 1/4, 2/4 etc.. This is done using directives in the comments and specific parameters in the:
"PgTxt: PageNumber"
objects.
In the comments you will see three current variables:
TotalPages: /1
TotalPianoPages: /1
TotalScorePages: /4

I'll let you explore to see how it all works. Note some PgTxt objects are always visible, some are top staff only, some are once... You'll need to check them out.

The objects on ALL staves except the Score staff and the Piano staves are IDENTICAL, but if instruments end up needing different total page counts they need to reference additional variables in the comments section and thus the "PgTxt: PageNumber" object will need updating for that staff.

Re: PageTextMaestro and PageText.

Reply #5 – 2022-12-20 08:58 AM

Thank you so very much, Lawrie, this helped a tremendous lot. You've allowed me to achieve what I wanted, as shown in the attachment (without the typo that's there now).

Best wishes from (hopefully temporary) snow country.