Hey all,
Can someone please help me find a way to customize my templates by customizing my player info listed at the top left of their 1st page? I would like to remove borders and alter text style as well as stacking the instruments vertically. I’m not a fan of the horizontal placement when it comes to lots of perc. instruments.
T
Hi @Dilorenzo to obtain what you want you can edit the Layout Name Paragraph Style in menu Library/Paragraph styles… You can uncheck the Border, and set other desired parameters.
To have the names on multiple lines, you can insert Line Feed breaks between the words in the layout names in setup Mode. I make this with a command in Keyboard maestro (on Mac) directly in the Layout Name field, or you can copy and paste from a test editor*. You would need also to adjust the frames position/sizes in your Page template, to make space for the higher Layout name. Better to create a custom First Page Template for parts, and apply it when needed. (see this post for reference)
*Line Feed via copy paste from a text editor:
Thanks Christian,
I’m half way there! Easy enough to get rid of the border. When it come to the adjustments made vertically, are you saying I need a third party program to create the vertical look then copy and paste into the right side, not left setup instrument list? Sorry for the confusion. A bit of a newbie here.
You need to have Line Feed (breaks) between the words that you want to appear in separate lines in the name of the Layouts on the right panel in Setup mode. A fast way to have this without third party programs, that I showed in the video, is to write the names on separate lines, as desired, in a text editor (Word on windows or Pages on Mac for example) and then copy and paste all into the Layout name. You can double click on the Layout name or right click on it and choose Rename, before pasting.
(Or if you are on Mac you can use Keyboard Maestro, and create a macro that, with a custom shortcut, pastes a %Line Feed% text in the desired place/s. I attach the macro I made, that can be activated with control+option+command+enter):
dorico insert line feed (enter) for dorico properties textes Keyboard maestro macro.kmmacros.zip (1.3 KB)
Now back to Dorico:
The token that is used in the Page Template that shows the text on the upper-left corner of the First page in parts layouts, is the “Layout name” token: that’s why you need to edit the Layout name if you want to affect the text being displayed into multiple lines. (You can also, instead, rename in the same way the Player on the left panel in Setup mode, and the Layout name will mirror this name.)
To expand the text frame that contains this token you can refer to the link that I posted in my previous post.
The Manual reference for editing text frames:
Christian,
Thanks for your help. I do understand the “fast way” of getting the desired look by entering one line at a time with line breaks and copying and pasting back in.
Is it possible for a future Dorico update to provide an option for Vertical stacking for Player Layout? It would be useful for players holding or playing multiple instruments. Especially since that’s the methodology of the player to hand held instrument setup, is…setup?
Thoughts?
T
The Layout Name is (I think) normally/generally used to show “who uses that part” (for example for the librarian to know on which stand to put the notes).
If you need to specify all the used percussions that that player uses, and display it vertically, there are other methods to add this information: as Text in a title page or at the beginning of the piece., or using the Percussion legend function…
Just to clarify: “fast” was referred to the fact that this is obtainable (also) without need of third party tools and configuration (this latter possibility would take initially more time, but after the initial configuration is even faster: just press the shortcut for the Line Feed in the desired place and you are done) .
And, in case you use the external editor method, you don’t need to enter “one line at a time”: just write your text and press enter where you want a new line: at the end copy it all at once and paste it in the Layout Name field. It takes just a couple of seconds (and I imagine that you need to rename the layouts only in a few cases anyway).
You can tag this post as feature request (you find the tagging options if you edit the title of this thread). I am sure the Team has read this thread and will eventually consider it.
But I think I gave you a comprehensive explanation on how to customise the Player info on first page. I hope for the time being this solves your needs.
Happy composing 
Christian,
Thank you so much for spending your time answering these questions! I’m sure this info will help many people out there who are looking for this workaround.
Unfortunately for me, I could not get your macro to work. I tried downloading the Mac software you recommended to get a better understanding of your macro and how to open it on my MAC. After going through the tutorial, my computer loses the function to use the “F” key on my keyboard. It might have something to do with setting F6 as a macro trigger? Anyhow, yesterday I was losing too much time trying to mess with pasting 3 lines of text. and eventually had to move on.
I thought maybe your macro might just open after double clicking and using your suggested control>option>command+enter, but couldn’t get it to work. I’m sure I’m doing this all incorrectly. However, I’m grateful for your efforts in steering me in a solvable direction.
T
@Dilorenzo I am sorry that you have spent so much time 
.
Maybe I didn’t explain clear enough: you don’t need Keyboard maestro to do this, at all.
I made (here below) a short video (less that two minutes) with the complete workflow. The frames editing must be done only once (since all parts use the same template), and you can also create a “custom First page template” with the repositioned frames that you can apply only to the needed parts. Please feel free to ask if something is not clear. It really takes very little time to do.
And this is not a workaround, but rather a customisation for specific needs, using the powerful possibilities of Dorico (and a little help from a text editor in this case) :-):
Beautiful!!
Thank you!
T
