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Editor jumps around

I just installed 2.0 in a new Win7 installation on a 2-year old computer.  When I edit existing notes (change from a quarter to an eighth) the editor jumps all the way from where I am in the middle or end of the piece, back to the beginning.  Is it supposed to do that?  Sure makes it slow to edit when I spend so much time finding my place again. 

Re: Editor jumps around

Reply #1 –
G'day dchall8,
umm, no, it should not jump around like that. 

At the risk of being overly simplistic do you reckon you could post a list of keystrokes that causes this to happen to you?  If you could describe exactly where on the screen the editing position was before and after the jump AND could you confirm that the cursor moves and not just the screen?
I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: Editor jumps around

Reply #2 –
Okay I'm finished with those projects but I just invented one to replicate the problem.  I put in a long string of quarter notes with the Enter key.  Then I went back to change some of them to eighth notes.  Starting at the beginning I changed some in groups, randomly, and beamed them together as I went.  As soon as the window started to scroll to get to the notes off to the right, when I click the eighth note button, the window jumps back to the beginning.  The selection point remains where it was and all the notes selected to change to eighth are still highlighted.  So I believe that means the cursor does not move but the window does. 

I did notice yesterday that when I edited near the end of the piece, it stopped jumping back to the front.  I was near the end but the end was not within the window yet.  The pieces were only about 20 bars long so I knew I could tolerate the jumpiness until I finished. 

Re: Editor jumps around

Reply #3 –
When the jumping was taking place, had you already entered barlines, or was it effectively one large bar (or measure if you prefer) ?

I just tried a quick test and found that if there are no barlines, and I'm editing a part of the piece that is far enough to the right to need the screen to scroll to reach it, when I change the note length on a selection I get the same jump you describe.
I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: Editor jumps around

Reply #4 –
Ooooo!  That fixed it.  Thanks.  Still that seems like an 'oopsie' in the coding.  Your fix is more of a work-around than a fix. 

What I was doing was transcribing music from a ripped up sheet to make it nice and pretty.  I blew through the piece putting the quarter notes in at the right place and then went back to fix the timing.  Since I was using quarter notes in 4/4 time, putting the bars in and then auditing the bars later should be no hassle. 

Thanks again. 

Re: Editor jumps around

Reply #5 –
Quote from: dchall8 –
....that seems like an 'oopsie' in the coding.  Your fix is more of a work-around than a fix.

At first glance, I thought, nahhh....what's the problem with hitting the tab key every four quarter notes? Then I remembered Eric Satie. A fair amount of his piano music has no barlines. There's plenty of other music out there without barlines, too. Maybe this should be fixed.

Bill

Re: Editor jumps around

Reply #6 –
Quote from: William Ashworth –
Maybe this should be fixed.
At what price? I'd hate to see the program go into a long huddle just because I changed a quarter note to an eighth note in bar 1 and NWC2 had to refigure the next 200 bars to reset jumping points and system breaks.

The vast majority of music works fine.

I think this is the price that must be paid for the freedom of not having required automatic bar lines.

I have quite a few songs where I only have barlines at system breaks. Yes, the jumping is erratic, but I have gotten used to it.

I would rather have the time spent fixing the areas of NWC2 that cause me to forgo barlines:
  • too much space around barlines, even when hidden.
  • lyrics don't cross barlines.
Registered user since 1996

Re: Editor jumps around

Reply #7 –
Rick, why do you always feel you must disagree? Even with those who defend you?


I certainly agree that there are higher priorities. But I think this would be a pretty easy fix. And it is an annoying behavior when you're dealing with music without barlines.

And, actually, it's part of a larger problem. NWC has always had a tendancy to jump to unwanted places at unwanted times. Remember this topic? Or this one?

None of this affects program output. All it affects is the user's temper. But I do think that's an important thing to take care of. More important than slurs, or proper orchestral brackets? Probably not. But probably not as difficult a programming job, either.

Just my little 2¢ worth....

Bill

Re: Editor jumps around

Reply #8 –
Sorry, let me restate:

If it is a simple fix, fix it.

If not, a few hidden bar lines supplied by the user will fix it.

If we must use hidden barlines, there are other fixes needed.

Over the years, NoteWorthy has fixed some, but not all, of the situations where an edit caused the cursor to "home" itself. IOW, editor jumping is still annoying, but less so.
Registered user since 1996

Re: Editor jumps around

Reply #9 –
Thanks, Rick. Apology accepted. And yes, NWC's unwanted jumps have been reduced (I was particularly grateful when Eric got rid of the jump that used to occur when I checked or unchecked allow layering.)

The jump when barlines are left out isn't the worst one left, either. For my money, the nastiest one is the leap back to the beginning of the score that occurs when you hide or reveal staves. Most of us rely (at least part of the time) on hidden playback staves, and it is really annoying to lose your place when you've made a change in the printout that requires a concurrent change in the playback. My solution to this is to work with the playback staves exclusively until I have the sound the way I want it, and only then create and edit the printout staves. But I would prefer to be able to work with both simultaneously. I've tried color-coding and leaving everything displayed, but that's awkward at best, and it quickly gets unworkable with large ensembles.

Anyway, I don't think we're really very far apart on this. The only thing I was objecting to was the tone of your comments, and I am happy to see the shift you just made away from that.

Cheers and felicitations,

Bill