Importing .xml file

• Feb 8, 2022 - 22:09

I would like to import an XML file. On other forums, it was suggested to click "file/open" (not "file/import PDF"). When I try this, the XML file does not appear in the place it is stored, indicating it is not a supported file. Any suggestions?


Comments

To open an xml file that is in your (Windows) computer, right click the file/Open with/select MuseScore. Mxl files open with a double click.
What does "files does not appear in the place it is stored", mean.

In reply to by bobjp

The file is stored in "My Documents" in Windows. I had some luck with your suggestion, However, before it opened in Musescore the warning"not a valid musicXML file" appeared. After continuing, the file opened in Musescore, but it was no where near the original piece. It requires a complete redo. The below comment stating it must be a musicXML file appears to be the problem. I was not aware that there were different types of XML files. Is there any type of program to convert the different types of XML to musicXML? Thanks for your help.

Also make sure you're trying to open a MusicXML file. There are lots of .xml file types.

A musicXML document may have a .xml or .musicxml extension.

In reply to by Edward Galick

The toreador.xml file contains a number of issues, which I assume are caused by ScanScore. You may wish to report this to them:
- the lyric-font element is out of sequence (schema)
- one of the credit-words elements has a font-size="10000", which is absurd (normal values are between about 5 and 30). MuseScore accepts this without question, which I consider incorrect behaviour.
- measures 18 up to 21 are incorrect: valid MusicXML, but not matching the data in the PDF. MuseScore correctly displays what is in the xml file
The file also exposes a MuseScore issue: the beam elements do not contain a number attribute. This is allowed by the MusicXML specification, but apparently leads to MuseScore importing without beams.
I still need to look into a few details and will submit issues to have the MuseScore problems fixed later.

In reply to by Leon Vinken

I think there is plenty of blame all around. Starting with the quality of the PDF. But even if it were perfect, mxl is not. The same file will open differently on different platforms. I opened it in Sibelius, then exported as mxl and the beaming is mostly correct in both Sibelius and MuseScore. Then there is the pesky measure 17-20 issue. I opened the PDF in PhotoScore also, and there are issues there too.

In reply to by Leon Vinken

Wow. Things being talked about now are way above my pay grade in understanding. Originally, I purchased ScanScore because I have the need to transpose a considerable amount of F french horn music to Bb trumpet. It works great for that purpose. But I also have the occasional need to transfer music from the tenor clef to base clef, and visa versa. Because it wasn't that large amount of need, I didn't want to spend much, if any, money on doing that. Exporting ScanScore's files to Musecore seemed like an economical way to easily accomplish this. Looks like that can't happen A big thank you for everyone's input!

In reply to by Edward Galick

Edward, PDF to xml is never a sure thing. Your pdf needs to be as clear and crisp as possible. If you used an app on your phone to make a pdf, that might be part of the problem. The pdf needs to be black and white at high dpi 300 at least, 600 beter). Made on a scanner is best. Scanscore should have worked. But the source has to be as good as possible.

Like I said, I opened your mxl in Sibelius (without fixing anything) and then exported as mxl.

In reply to by bobjp

Edward, the short summary is that
- Apparently SmartScore made a few mistakes in scanning and interpreting your score. This leads to incorrect musical data in the MusicXML file, e.g. in measure 17-20. No importing program can fix that automatically.
- Also SmartScore made a few mistakes in encoding musical data that was apparently correctly interpreted. These are probably caused by SmartScore bugs.
- Finally, MuseScore's handling of SmartScore's dubious MusicXML encoding could be improved.

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