Encore - Selection of measures for Align Spacing

[Doug Kerr]

The Encore function "Align Spacing" of necessity operates (separately) on the content of one or more individual measures (perhaps on only one staff, perhaps only considering the notes in one voice). Accordingly, selection of the "battle zone" must be done by "measure selection" (rather than, by contrast, "note selection").

We can select multiple measures (one at a time, I'm afraid) for this purpose, but if the selected measures aren't contiguous, the function is disabled.

I am not aware of any "logical" reason why this function should be able to affect, in "one shot", multiple measures but only if they are all contiguous.

I suggest that this seemingly-arbitrary limitation be removed.

Doug

[polarbreeze]

...one at a time, I'm afraid...

I'm not sure what you mean by "one at a time" because as far as I can see it's possible to select multiple measures in several different ways (eg click-drag, select systems, etc). But indeed they do have to be contiguous.

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, p,

...one at a time, I'm afraid...

I'm not sure what you mean by "one at a time" because as far as I can see it's possible to select multiple measures in several different ways (eg click-drag, select systems, etc). But indeed they do have to be contiguous.

Yes, I was too narrow in that description.

I'm not sure how "click-drag" works for multiple measure selection (or even what that term means).

We can draw a marquee around all the notes in several adjacent measures, but that is not (for all purposes) the same as selecting the measures.

Doug

[polarbreeze]

We can draw a marquee around all the notes in several adjacent measures, but that is not (for all purposes) the same as selecting the measures.

Drawing a marquee does work to select measures for align spacing. That's what I was referring to.

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, p,

We can draw a marquee around all the notes in several adjacent measures, but that is not (for all purposes) the same as selecting the measures.

Drawing a marquee does work to select measures for align spacing.

Not on E/W 5.0.2.593.

That's what I was referring to.

Gotcha. Thanks.

Doug

[polarbreeze]

Drawing a marquee does work to select measures for align spacing.

Not on E/W 5.0.2.593.

<sigh> Yet another difference between Win and Mac versions.

[Denkster]

Drawing a marquee does work to select measures for align spacing.

Not on E/W 5.0.2.593.

<sigh> Yet another difference between Win and Mac versions.

Indeed.

As I argued before: the 'Align spacing' function distributes space. Therefor the selection must determine the space to be distributed. The width of a measure is a confined space.
Does the marque selection of 1,5 measure on Mac result in redistribute of the space of 1,5 measure?

Eveline

[polarbreeze]

Does the marque selection of 1,5 measure on Mac result in redistribute of the space of 1,5 measure?

No, it selects integral numbers of contiguous measures.

[Doug Kerr]

Does the marque selection of 1,5 measure on Mac result in redistribute of the space of 1,5 measure?

No, it selects integral numbers of contiguous measures.

Does that mean that if we did this:

Encore_select_234.gif (1009 Bytes) Viewed 1535 times

then Align Spacing would work on (all of) measures 2, 3 and 4?

I know that in E/W 5, if we call the delete measures, time signature, key signature, barline type, and several other dialogs with the above in effect, the "offered" range of measures is "2-4". But Align Spacing is grayed out. But Align Playback is lit. (I hadn't previously been aware of any of that.)

So this is probably just another part of the problem as to when Align Spacing is available.

Is it available in E/M 5 when several discontiguous measures are selected by "pile-on"?

Thanks.

Best regards,

Doug

[Denkster]

Does the marque selection of 1,5 measure on Mac result in redistribute of the space of 1,5 measure?

No, it selects integral numbers of contiguous measures.

it selects?
Does the function select?
Does the program change your selection?
How can the user know which spaces will be redistributed (feedback!)?

Eveline

[polarbreeze]

Does the marque selection of 1,5 measure on Mac result in redistribute of the space of 1,5 measure?

No, it selects integral numbers of contiguous measures.

it selects?
Does the function select?

"It" = "The action of dragging a marquee"

Does the program change your selection?

I'm not sure I understand the question but I'll say "no".

How can the user know which spaces will be redistributed (feedback!)?

The dialog box which pops up shows the range of measures selected.

[polarbreeze]

Does that mean that if we did this:

Encore_select_234.gif

then Align Spacing would work on (all of) measures 2, 3 and 4?

Yes

... the "offered" range of measures is "2-4". But Align Spacing is grayed out...

Then I suppose that's a bug in Win v5. It works OK on Mac v5, ie align spacing is not greyed out.

[Denkster]

How can the user know which spaces will be redistributed (feedback!)?

The dialog box which pops up shows the range of measures selected.

OK, so that is your feedback of the program wrt to 'selected'.

But only if you get the dialog. Since we have the shortcut [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[j] (same as [Ctrl]+[j], only: no dialog), I ask again: how about feedback?

the "offered" range of measures is "2-4". But Align Spacing is grayed out...

Then I suppose that's a bug in Win v5. It works OK on Mac v5, ie align spacing is not grayed out.

I disagree.
Since no appropriate feedback on the selection is assured, the user will probably remain unaware of the result to expect. The function should be avoided in such situations.

Eveline

[polarbreeze]

Since no appropriate feedback on the selection is assured, the user will probably remain unaware of the result to expect. The function should be avoided in such situations.

Then you would have to avoid using this method of measure selection completely because it's the same thing for all operations that require measure selection.

As far as your comment about no feedback: by selecting the no-dialog shortcut, the user is voluntarily bypassing the feedback option - they don't get feedback about whether the "adjust for lyrics" checkbox is checked for example. I agree that if this bothers the user, they should avoid using the no-feedback option. Perhaps there should be a note about that in the manual.

[polarbreeze]

Here's the conundrum:

If you draw a marquee that covers parts of measures 2 and 3 (for example), then:

1. For operations that act on full measures, it will be interpreted as selecting both measures 2 and 3.
2. For operations that act on notes (for example), it will be interpreted literally and will only operate on those notes within the marquee.

Because at the time the marquee is drawn Encore is unaware which of #1 or #2 the user will proceed to do, it's impossible for Encore to provide selection feedback to the user.

I think it would take a major re-think of the selection paradigm to overcome this issue. However, personally I don't see the current behaviour as any problem at all. The notion is easily learned and it is very quick to use.