Mouse Input problem with hidden empty staves (in my case a piano score)

• Jul 15, 2017 - 19:10

Basically, when you create a 3rd stave in a piano score as per a certain piece's demand for it, even if you select hide empty staves in the style options, once the 3rd staff has served its purpose, if you try to input a note into say the 1st or 2nd staffs after the 3 staff section, Musescore will input that note into the hidden 3rd staff that no longer has any use instead of putting it into the first or second staffs.

If you don't get what I mean, then I can give the steps to reproduce the issue:

1. Create a basic piano score.
2. Add a 3rd unlinked staff by going Edit - Instruments.
3. Hide it by going to Style - General - Hide Empty Staves.
4. Try and input a note into the first or second staves and you'll see that it inputs it into the 3rd stave instead of the first or second ones.

I'm using Musescore 2.1 on a Windows 10 Computer


Comments

See what you mean. It happened to me when I try to add a note below the F in the 5th measure of the attached score. To reiterate OP's problem, this happens when you try to enter a note with the MOUSE. I'm using version 2.1. OP didn't specify a version.

Attachment Size
3 staff piano test.mscz 8.09 KB

In reply to by izzychns

There is a 2.2 branch in the development area, but there is no guarantee it will ever come out or even be called version 2.2 if it does. Version 3 is still a long way out, so I would guess the 2.2 branch will be released to address bugs found in 2.1. I'm not a developer so this is only a guess because no one knows for sure right now.

In reply to by izzychns

"yeah using the other input methods arent really optimal fixes (at least for me anyway)"

So, meanwhile, the easiest and most effective way to get around this issue is to simply uncheck "hide empty staves" (is this really annoying in this use case to display a third staff?)

Thus, this issue will no longer arise: you will continue to use the mouse as usual. And you will re-check the empty staves option when you finish entering your score.

In reply to by cadiz1

In general, note input with hide empty staves enabled is not really recommended anyhow. After all, every note you enter potentially changes which staves are considered empty. That option is meant to be turned on only after all notes are in place and you are turning your attention to page layout.

In reply to by izzychns

What sort of feature do you mean? As I said, the solution is simple - just keep "hide empty staves" turned off until done. There is no real advantage in turning it on earlier, and no matter what it's going to cause confusion as you enter notes and this changes the layout in such a way that different staves need to be hidden or not hidden. It's just not a good idea even if this particular bug gets fixed.

In reply to by izzychns

I'm not sure why OP cannot use any input method but the mouse.

I can think of a few reasons it would be necessary. A person who is handicapped with most of their fingers missing (or paralyzed) would not be able to efficiently use a keyboard of any type (musical or computer). I have seen people with nubs for fingers be rather proficient with the mouse. Once this hypothetical user has finished inputting the score and is working on the layout he will hide empty staves as you suggest. If, in fixing the layout, he realized he needs to change a note, it will likely end up on the invisible staff. This bug IMHO would mostly affect the disabled rather than the average user. MuseScore has an ongoing goal of improving accessibility with several ongoing projects. I would suggest this is no minor bug to someone who is limited to using the mouse. BTW, I almost never use the mouse to enter notes and could live without that capability.

In reply to by mike320

im not like handicapped or anything. i use the mouse and the keyboard at the same time just like any other MS user. That includes inputting notes and stuff. All I was saying was having to limit myself to one specific type of input just to workaround this one bug wouldn't be efficient. Editing the score with the 3rd stave intact and then hiding the 3rd stave after the score is finished makes my OCD go crazy (I know it sounds dumb, but FWIW I am actually clinically diagnosed with OCD) because like, it makes the score look clunky, and then you know, there's a bunch of work I have to do to fix the layout that I could've did whilst I was in the middle of editing the score but couldn't because of that stave.

It's just an all around bother, although I know it probably isn't a big enough issue for the devs to see a good enough reason to fix it in the next version, which I understand, although mike did bring up a good point about it being an issue for the disabled. Just wanted to clarify where I stand on the issue I guess.

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