[Musicxml Import / GUI] Frame text formatting is interpreted as custom formatting

• Sep 12, 2020 - 21:08
Reported version
3.x-dev
Type
Functional
Frequency
Once
Severity
S3 - Major
Reproducibility
Always
Status
active
Regression
No
Workaround
Yes
Project

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Click on text and go into inspector. Changing the font does nothing. Changing font size does not work either.

Workaround
1. Double click on text to go into edit mode. A drop down menu appears on lower left.
2. You can change font.

I am using latest (or next to latest) nightly 3.5 version


Comments

Yes it works for me every time I've tried it but I can't say I've tried it on every type of text. It sounds like you are doing something wrong.

I just realized it's a nightly. I did manage to download the last nightly and do a little testing on this. I discovered that if you use the toolbar on the a letter of the text to change its font then try to change the font in the inspector, the changed font will only be effective until the letter you applied the font to. What this does is make the inspector do nothing if you use the toolbar on the first letter of the text.

Try to click the Remove Custom Formatting button below the inspector's font field and see if this fixed the problem. If so, I suspect I've discovered your problem.

In reply to by odelphi231

From looking at what you did, I'm sure I'm on the right track. You used the inspector to change the font and the toolbar to change the size and make it bold. This does the same thing as changing the font I described. Use one or the other for the entire text item, preferable the inspector. Then if you need to make a word italic for example, you can use the toolbar for that afterwards.

In reply to by odelphi231

Aside: I don't know the specific circumstances, but sometimes typing in the font name has not worked well for me and it reverts to what the font was previously. I've learned that on my system if after typing in the font name i press the "down arrow" on the drop down list after typing in the font name instead of pressing enter or deselecting that it works no matter what. I.e., on the right of this:
font.png

I merely mention this just in case it might help the OP'er as a workaround with whatever they're experiencing

In reply to by mike320

OK, Mike. I am having a problem following what you are doing and your explanation doesn't tell me if this is a bug or intended behavior. You say, "I suspect I've discovered your problem." It is not MY problem. IMO, it is the program's problem that inspector does not work to change font.
UPDATE: I started a new score from scratch and inspector works as intended on a new score. The score I am having the problem with is a scanned score. Hmm, I suspect I've discovered your problem. Don't know why a scanned score would be different.

For anything on the toolbar to work, you have to have something selected. You can't put the cursor at the beginning of the text and change the font because nothing will happen to the text. If you use the toolbar to properly change a text's font the inspector only works until it runs into the letter where you first changed the font (this includes bold, italic...). In the score you posted, the text was changed using the status bar (or at least that's how MuseScore interprets what it is seeing) so you need to use the remove custom formatting from the text in the inspector to use the inspector.

Now if the musicxml exported from the other program does not tell MuseScore this, then it's possible this is a bug in MuseScore. Perhaps @Leon Vinken could look into this. He's the musicxml guru around here. He would need to see the musicxml exported from the other program. If you used the Import PDF tool then I'll leave that to Leon to tell you what he needs.

In reply to by mike320

If I am following what you are saying, then the timing of what you say I did is wrong. I imported a PDF score. After importation, there was already a title and subtitle text. I tried to change the font using the inspector (like I have always done), but it didn't work. I did not use the toolbar first, THEN the inspector. I used the inspector first then, as a workaround, I used the toolbar (the toolbar at the bottom of the U/I). The toolbar works.
I am not sure what the custom formatting has to do with it, but I am not familiar with what custom formatting does. Are you saying that when a score has custom formatting the inspector does not work and that is intended behavior? Also, are you implying that when you import a score, Musescore interprets text as custom formatting? I will send Leon anything he needs to analyze this, but in a previous post, I included the title page from the score, which exhibits this issue.

Title Can't change font in inspector [Musicxml Import] Frame text formatting is interpreted as custom formatting

The crux of the situation is that when you imported the text (along with everything else) what MuseScore saw was interpreted (right or wrong) as custom formatting like you get when you use the toolbar.

It is by design that the inspector does not override custom formatting applied using the toolbar. That is the purpose of the "Remove custom formatting" button in the inspector.

I've changed the title to something I think will get Leon's attention as well as more accurately describe the real issue. He can then decide if it's a MuseScore bug.

The MusicXML importer imports formatting for frame texts. After import, IMHO, MuseScore should behave as if the user manually overruled a style setting. I would have to check if it actually does this.

Just did a quick check. MusicXML import handles font changes in frames as if they were made using the toolbar in the GUI, which means they are by definition custom formatting. The reason is that MusicXML supports different font settings for different parts of a text and this is the only way MuseScore supports that. Thus, in my opinion, this behaves as designed. The interaction between the inspector and the toolbar seems non-trivial to me.

I take it to mean the that the interaction is important. What you do with the toolbar is important to what you see. Since it's possible to change the font with the toolbar then export it, MuseScore assumes custom fonts were added by the toolbar in case someone changes a word to italics or makes part of the title superscript and so forth. If there is special font applied MuseScore doesn't try to determine how it was applied it's assumed to be from the toolbar. This way all special font's are maintained. This might be a bit wordy but I hope you understand.

In reply to by mike320

Thanks. Is Leon also implying that if a custom font is detected by Musescore, the inspector is not suppose to be allowed to change it - you have to do it via the toolbar? If that is true, as an enhancement, maybe the drop down box for the fonts in the inspector is grayed out.

Leon is the expert on musicxml. To change the font using the inspector there is the remove custom formatting button that will allow you to start over if you don't like what's been done by the toolbar. This is only highlighted if there is formatting from the toolbar.

Title [Musicxml Import] Frame text formatting is interpreted as custom formatting [Musicxml Import / GUI] Frame text formatting is interpreted as custom formatting

The one thing I find unclear (hard to discover and understand) in the inspector / toolbar interaction is that using the toolbar affects what the inspector does. I find the behaviour non-intuitive and hard to understand. Please check attached file, try using the inspector to resize the various subtitles and observe:

1) Default subtitle: no custom formatting, can be resized (as a whole) using inspector
2) Subtitle resized using inspector: no custom formatting, can be resized (as a whole) using inspector
3) Subtitle resized using toolbar: custom formatting, can NOT be resized (as a whole) using inspector
4) Subtitle partially resized using toolbar: custom formatting, only first (non custom formatted) part can be resized using inspector

In the third case the inspector seems to be broken (it has no visible effect). What actually happens is that it changes only the text part NOT changed using the toolbar (which does not exist in this case).

So, yes, I think the user interface could be improved, but that is not really related to MusicXML, so I am not volunteering.

Attachment Size
EditedSubtitles.mscz 3.99 KB

In reply to by Leon Vinken

Leon, I would agree with your assessment. This issue is not really related to MusicXML - it is functioning as intended. I also agree the U/I between the toolbar and the inspector can be improved/clarified. Though it is easier (for me) to use the inspector to change the font; as a consolation prize, I would be happy if there was better clarification on the role of the inspector if the font was first changed by the toolbar so a nooby to Musescore doesn't get confused anymore (like I did) when the inspector doesn't do anything.