Moving the cursor between staves in input mode

• Dec 7, 2012 - 19:03

I would like to move the cursor between staves in a score when in input mode. Ctrl+Up and Ctrl+Down would be natural if octave shifting is made with Ctrl+Alt+Up/Down. I know of the workaround using Ctrl+Shift and then the arrow keys, but it is not very convenient.


Comments

Alt + arrows is already usable when not in note entry mode and if there are notes in the same "row" or segments. I guess this shortcut could be reused. What would you expect in the case where there is no chord/rest just below?

In reply to by [DELETED] 5

If I navigated to an empty measure, I'd expect to be placed in note entry mode at the beginning of that measure. In fact, it's the case the where measure *isn't* empty that I think I'd have more question. I could see a decent argument for trying to match the same beat as I was (or the note closest to the same beat if nothing on that beat), but I could also see the effect being to put me at the last note of the measure (more or less just as if I clicked the measure while note in not entry mdoe and hit N), or I could see it putting me at the beginning of the bar in all cases for consistency. I can't say that it would matter to me - a couple more presses of the cursor and I'd be wherever I actually wanted to be, which I imagine might vary from case to case anyhow. But I'd just be happy just to have to option able to navigate up/down by keyboard! To be clear: a mode where it literally moved to the next/previous staff, not the current logic that attempts to find the next note in the current segment even uif it's several staves away, possibly in the "wrong" direction.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Thanks for your comment, Marc.

"If I navigated to an empty measure, I'd expect to be placed in note entry mode at the beginning of that measure."

In what mode did you navigate?

"But I'd be happy just to be able to navigate up/down by keyboard! To be clear: a mode where it literally moved to the next/previous staff, [...]"

Yes, this is important to us keyboard navigators. When I started using Sibelius I read in its handbook about putting the mouse in the fridge to refrain from using it too often and instead train to work with the program with only the keyboard. Since I appreciated the suggestion this actually became one of the reasons I left Sibelius and switched to Igor Engraver instead.

I would in MuseScore like to be able to do more editing while in note entry mode, e.g. selecting notes with Shift+arrows and Ctrl+Shift+arrows and then moving them (vertically: half a space at a time!) with Alt+arrows, or adding articulation and other markings.

In reply to by Magnus Johansson

My comments were all regaridng note entry mode - what I expect to see happen if I hit the shortcut to move up/down by staff.

Being able to do more edits while in note entry mode would be nice too, but that seems a larger architectural change, with all sorts of UI issues to solve as well. Whereas a simple shortcut to navigate staves would probably only require changing a few lines of code. But FWIW, you already can add some articulations while in note entry mode (eg, shift-"." for staccato), so clearly there are some hooks for this. I'd like to see all simple markings made available for shortcut assignment - including markings added to palettes by the user using the new palette customization facilities.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

"But FWIW, you already can add some articulations while in note entry mode (eg, shift-"." for staccato), so clearly there are some hooks for this."

Interesting. I discovered that ongoing slurs are also possible in note entry mode. It would be nice if Werner commented on this issue.

FWIW, the latest nightly builds now implement this sort of navigation. Alt-up/down will first cycle through notes of the current chord in the current voice of the current staff, then on to the next voice or staff whether it contains notes or not. The details of exactly how to handle staves that don't have any note at the current position are tricky as I alluded to above, but I tried to make it do what I thought made the most sense.

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