Someone wants me to send a simple Lead Sheet in MusicXML.
In my Dorico score, it’s a single flow. And the flow heading is hidden (Page Setup > Flows > Never).
I export the flow and open the XML file.
But the flow number and title are both showing, and the text tokens are visible when I click on them. Their visibility affects the layout of the page.
How can I export to MusicXML without the flow number and title, ideally preserving the original page layout, please.
PS The XML file also shows staff names and bar numbers which are hidden in the original Dorico file.
If you remove all tokens from the Page Templates they do not appear in xml.
I don’t think you can remove the staff names, since these are instrument identifiers, used by all import programs to choose appropriate instruments.
Thanks @Janus . That’s helpful. But flow tokens have already been removed from the Page Templates.
And if I go to Editing Page Template > Flow headings, then the Default Flow Heading there can’t be deleted.
I don’t think the issue is that the MusicXML file is including the flow heading, David. The issue is that when you import it into Dorico, Dorico’s defaults are such that it ends up showing the flow heading.
I assume that your collaborator is using a different application (otherwise, why not just send them the Dorico project). In general, importing a MusicXML file into Dorico isn’t going to be a good indicator of what that MusicXML file will look like when imported into a different application.
Thanks, Daniel. That makes sense. I’ll remember that.
I finally opened it in Dorico and then deleted the flow heading and saved it, and it didn’t show next time I opened it, altho the layout was still pushed down the page.
But, like you say, the engravers who will receive it are using a different app, so I guess they’ll know what to do.
It sounds as if you deleted the FlowTitle token rather than either turning off the Flow Header in Layout or creating a very thin empty custom flow header. Either should remove the gap above your music notation.
Thanks @Derrek . You’re right. I only deleted the flow token.
I’ve just tried now what you suggested:
I saved it as XML > Opened the XML in Dorico > Changed it to “Never” show flow headings > Closed and reopened and the flow heading was gone and the layout was back to what it should have been.
Thanks. Great to know this procedure. I’ll follow it in future.
I’m continuing this conversation here, because I think it’s related.
When I export a MusicXML file, and then open it in Dorico, I get a message with 40 ERRORs, like this. (XXX is where I have removed the file name)
ERROR - Element ‘syllabic’: This element is not expected. Expected is one of ( end-line, end-paragraph, footnote, level ). At line 276 of file XXX
ERROR - Element ‘syllabic’: This element is not expected. Expected is one of ( end-line, end-paragraph, footnote, level ). At line 334 of file XXX
Having said that, the file still opens OK.
But the errors specify as far as line 5226, which is surprising, since it’s only a 42-bar file.
Does anyone have any idea what is causing these error messages?
Also, I see that in this file, the composer name and copyright line are not showing in the XML file, which is not an issue I’ve had before with XML files.
Thanks
Yes, there’s a small bug in Dorico 5.1.10 that can cause Dorico to export invalid MusicXML for lyrics in certain circumstances. This will be addressed in the next Dorico 5 update.
Thanks, Daniel
Do you know when we can expect that?
When it happens, as is usually the case.
Ah. So I’ve gone back to my old version of Dorico 4 to try and do the same thing. But it now seems determined to export musicxml files only as xml files (with a Microsoft Edge icon).
Is there any way I can get back to my old pre-upgrade Dorico 5 which did this job so well.
I’m genuinely curious as to how an upgrade (5.1.10) can function so less well than the former version which it upgraded. Didn’t something get broken when they were trying to fix something else?
When you make changes and improvements to software, there is always the risk of something else (large or small) getting broken. In the trade, we call this a “regression bug”, and our internal testing team spend a large proportion of their time performing regression testing, which is testing around an area where changes have been made to verify that no existing functionality has been broken. We also have automated tests that cover lots of Dorico’s core functionality, and run these many times a day to check that no new change has broken any functionality that is covered by those tests.
Unfortunately, despite the great care that is taken both in the development and testing of new features and improvements, occasionally bugs slip through the net. This is one of those times.
The MusicXML files exported by Dorico 4 are fine. They have the .xml file extension instead of .musicxml, but you can still open these files in any application that imports MusicXML.
Thank you @dspreadbury for the full explanation. Understood.
Good to know that Dorico 4 xml files are fine. Yesterday, I actually changed their extension to .musicxml which doesn’t seem to do any harm. They still open fine. And it gets rid of the MS Edge icon (and the default tendency to open in MS Edge) for my recipient.
Might it be an idea if the next upgrade could SAVE in MusicXML? That is, one could open an MusicXML doc in Dorico and save the changes in MusicXML without re-exporting.
This might help in getting rid of unwanted Flow headings, etc.
MusicXML files don’t contain flow headings. When you import a MusicXML file into Dorico, it will be imported into a new project file with your default settings. If your default settings specify that flow headings should appear, you’ll see flow headings in the resulting project.
I know it seems a little perverse, but you shouldn’t judge what data a MusicXML file contains by how it appears when importing into any specific program, because each program handles MusicXML differently, both when exporting and when importing. Although it’s a very useful (even invaluable) tool for interchange between different applications, it’s a very broad and deep format, and different applications handle it in different ways.
The only test that matters is whether the person you’re sending the MusicXML file to can get the data he or she needs when they open the file in the application they’re using.
Thanks for the explanation, Daniel
Dear Dorico team & @dspreadbury
Many thanks indeed for fixing the xml issues so quickly with the recent updates.
That’s really helpful.
Thank you.