Text properties window - frame "background color" problem.

• Jul 3, 2015 - 21:53

Create a staff text object and try to set a frame background on it - for example, white.

In the frame section of "text properties" there seems to be a problem setting background color. Clicking on any of the standard colors or using the color picker on the right does not work. You have to use the "eyedropper" tool, or when you leave the palette the color will not be finalised.

In addition if you try to copy and paste a text object with a frame background it will lose the background settings. It may even lose the rest of the frame settings - I can't remember offhand.


Comments

Can you post a score and precise steps to reproduce? The color picker works a bit oddly I think, but I don't see that it is different for text backgrounds than other elements - you need to select from both the *inner* ring in order to actually change the color. The only thing any different about text backgrouns that I can see if that they are transpoarent by default.

I also could not reproduce any issue with copy and paste.

Try the attached file. I have put a text object on the top staff. Given it a frame.

(1) Now, right click on text, select "Text properties" then "background color" (under "frame"). In "select color", click on any color in the "basic colors" list. Click OK. Notice that there is no change in the background color preview and if you exit the window completely, the text object remains the same.

(2) Now go back to the same "Select color window" and place the displayed crosshairs somewhere, move the "scroll arrow" if you like. Then click OK to exit "select color", notice that the background preview has not changed (it is still transparent). The text object has also remained unchanged.

(3) Now go back to "select color". This time click on "pick screen color" to activate the "eyedropper". Pick any color you like. Now click OK. The background preview should have changed and the text-object will have assumed a new background.

PS: I couldn't duplicate any copy/paste problems either.

Attachment Size
text_background_problem.mscz 16.22 KB

As Marc says, the background colour is set to transparent by default. If you reduce the transparency you will see the colour. Perhaps this should bet set to opaque by default?

If backgrounds are set as transparent by default then that should be indicated in the text styles/properties (with a check box, ON or OFF?). The absence of any obvious way of setting transparency on or off is surely a bug and should be raised in the issues forum.

In reply to by geetar

It is indicated by a slider when you go to select the colour and one might expect transparency/opacity settings to appear alongside the other settings for colour so it's not a bug. The fact that it is set to transparent by default, however, may be undesirable.

By transparency slider do you mean the arrow on the right of the window? As far as I can see, there is no transparency option visible in Text properties. Just to be on the safe side I have attached a view of the "select color" window.

I have tried adjusting both the crosshair and color slider on the right again and again, but it does not override the default transparency setting. As I said, the only way to override transparency is to use the "pick screen color" option which uses the eyedropper.

Attachment Size
select_color.PNG 106.62 KB

In reply to by geetar

Huh, apparently the color picker is very system dependent, as that picture doesn't even slightly resemble what I see. The one on my system (Linux / Ubuntu / xfce4) has a clearly marked "Opacity" slider. I guess the Windows standard color picker does not? That's a shame. Not sure if there is anything we can do about it though?

For the record, here's the color picker on my system:

color-picker.png

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

And on your system, the button "background color" in Text properties displays like this, I guess? Is it the expected display by default? EDIT: a priori, no, it should work (fine, or as expected) in the same way that the "Foreground color", right?
Background color.jpg
Indeed, for me too, the only way to change (activate) this background color is, first, to hit "Pick Screen Color".

I'm on Windows and had the same issues trying to select a background color. I did, however, manage to "unlock" it by selecting "Pick Screen Color."

but....is it just me, or does the background color not cover hairpin marks (cresc., dim.)?

In reply to by HG19

Actually everything in the program is graphics. That sounds sarcastic, I guess, but I don't mean it that way. The decrescendo lines and such are not imported graphics, they are part of the program. I suspect they are somehow drawn using vectors of some sort. Text in MuseScore does not have a background per se, so if you want a white background to cover part of what is there, you have to make a picture and place it on the page.

I would prefer to have an option that allows this to be incorporated into MuseScore so you can tell it to put a white (or the same color as the canvas) background around text such as the picture I inserted in this file. It's not really that much work, especially if you plan to use it a lot. This took about a minute to create using the Paint program that comes with Windows. I didn't look around for the proper font, I just used the Paint default, but anyone can make it look better by using a different font. This is actually a nice feature of MuseScore that you can create your own symbols or text that you can put in a palette and reuse as much as you want.

In reply to by mike320

yeah, that probably wasn't the best way that I described it but what I mean is that program-defined lines (and brackets) seem take priority over everything else in terms of layout, much like an imported graphic. This isn't the case with other programs.

I can see the advantage of the import picture feature for this purpose but whether or not I would reuse them is very circumstantial. Resolution seems like it might be an issue as well. I'm doing some engraving work using MuseScore and this would make it not an option for me.

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