[trunk] Thorough bass, figured bass, basso continuo...

...or whatever you may call it!

This point has been raised several times in the Feature Request forum, but I could not find any request for it in the Issue Tracker. So, here it is.

Figured bass can be approximated to some extent by using either [Ctrl][L] (lyrics) or [Ctrl][K] (harmony) or a mixture of the two, but neither is really satisfying. Here, I'll merge the descriptions of the currently missing points already posted in this forum post and in this dev mailing list thread , where some additional details and comments can be found.

1. Figured bass should have its own element type, distinct from either lyrics or harmony.
2. The main figure symbol should be aligned with the note head and alterations should 'hang' before or after. The 'main figure' is either a real figure or a sharp/nat./flat sign alone: this should be vertically aligned with the note head; all other signs (including added accidentals and, possibly, parentheses) coming before or after the main sign should not disrupt this alignment.
3. There should be a way to link figures with duration, for chords changing 'mid-way' of a single bass note.
4. Better continuation lines; with multiple figures, each figure may have its own independent continuation line; also cont. lines should have a duration instead of blindly been drawn up to the next figure group.
5. Figures should be independently enclose-able with parentheses (as it already happens for accidentals).
6. F. b. should have its own style: Y-position, blank space between lines, size (and font?).
7. A few additional glyphs (already available, if needed).
8. Keyboard shortcut (or similar) for easy and quick entering (using the F2 palette for each figure would take forever!).
9. Marc Sabatella asked that F. b. also accommodate Roman Numeral Analysis, but I do not know enough about it to give any spec.

Figured bass is supported quite well by Lilypond and by Sibelius (sorry, no link).

Thanks,

M.