GSoC '24 - Dynamics Popup - Part 2

[ketgg]

This is the second part of the main pull request: #23038, which adds drag handles to dynamic to create hairpins and the shift key functionality to change hairpin type while dragging.

PR for part 1 is here: #24125

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[avvvvve]

While testing, I noticed a hiccup in how I designed the "press shift to swap hairpin direction" functionality.
There's a conflicting long-existing behavior (at least since 4.0.2) where when you hold shift while dragging the end of a spanner (like a hairpin), you can "lock" the element from resizing while dragging the location of the anchor point.

Screen.Recording.2024-10-22.at.6.57.26.PM.mov

I didn't account for this in the design, thus the shift-to-swap-direction behavior was built as a toggle: press AND release shift to swap direction while dragging.

It strikes me that only allowing swapping the hairpin direction while dragging is pretty limiting. What if I just want to swap the direction without changing its position?

It would be simpler to just have a shortcut for "mirroring" a hairpin when it's selected. We already have the shortcut "Mirror notehead" defined as Shift + X. We could extend this shortcut to apply to hairpins and rename it as such, something like "Mirror element (noteheads; hairpins)". If this would be useful for other element types we could make them work with this shortcut too.

A downside of doing this would mean that if you have a range selection containing noteheads and hairpins, and want to mirror noteheads but not hairpins, you'd have to deselect the hairpins first. Seems like an uncommon scenario though.

@bkunda @oktophonie @cbjeukendrup Let me know what you think of that change!

[cbjeukendrup]

@avvvvve Perhaps we could call this new command "Flip horizontally" and rename the old one to "Flip vertically". That's perhaps a bit more abstract but therefore also a bit more general.

[avvvvve]

@cbjeukendrup Actually we already have both shortcuts, but they do specific things:

• 'Flip direction' (X) flips the vertical stem direction of a note
• 'Mirror notehead' (Shift + X) makes the notehead appear on the other side of the stem

You're right that we lose some specificity with "Flip vertically" and "Flip horizontally" but I think it would make more sense to do that than to have several shortcuts for flipping different types of objects.

We'll just have to make sure it's documented properly in the handbook.

[MarcSabatella]

You probably realize this, but just in case: the "flip vertical" command ("X") isn't just for note stems, but also flips text and articulations from above the staff to below or vice versa.

[cbjeukendrup]

Rebased.

[Tantacrul]

This is really coming together! Excellent stuff. What's left to implement before this feature is done? I recall quite a few things we included in the design stage but unsure of the final scope agreed upon for the first release.

For example:

• Hairpins cleverly know to switch around if going the wrong way (eg: P>F -> P<F)

[Tantacrul]

Oh, another was:

• When you create a hairpin and release it - where it doesn't attach to a dynamic, the popup appears to let you quickly choose a destination dynamic. That would make this truly brilliant.

[ketgg]

@Tantacrul They are implemented in the 3rd part of my pull request: #24152

[Tantacrul]

@Tantacrul They are implemented in the 3rd part of my pull request: #24152

Amazing! Can't wait to try it all out when everything is rebased / built. Thanks so much for this wonderful contribution!

[avvvvve]

@cbjeukendrup @ketgg Issues since rebase & the addition of typing to add dynamics:

These issues are also present in Dynamics Popup - Part 3

---

Issue 1: Adding dynamics from palette
When you CLICK a dynamic in the palette to add it, both the handles and the popup appear (expected)
When you DRAG a dynamic into the score to add it, the popup appears but the handles do not. The handles should appear too.

dynamics-handles-dragclick.mov

---

Issue 2: Crash when dragging handle

1. Open a new blank score
2. Add a dynamic to measure one (either via palettes or the shortcut)
3. Click the dynamic again to make the handle appear (this step shouldn't be necessary if we fix Issue 1)
4. Drag the handle to the right
5. Crash

It seems to only crash if those are the very first steps you do in a new score.

dynamics-handle-crash.mov

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Also, as discussed above, holding shift to flip the direction of the hairpin while dragging results in some strange behavior. I'd suggest we remove that functionality from this PR, and later in a separate PR we can add the ability to flip a hairpin horizontally via a new shortcut. I'll log an issue for that.

[cbjeukendrup]

@avvvvve All points should be resolved now!

[bkunda]

One little point:

It would be nice if the user didn't have to deselect then reselect the dynamic for the drag handles to appear.

Is it possible to make them appear concurrently with the input text box, or alternatively after pressing ESC?

GMT20250122-001708_Clip_Bradley.Kunda.s.Clip.01_22_2025.mp4

[cbjeukendrup]

Merging this "as is" as discussed; let's move on to part 3

[Tantacrul]

@cbjeukendrup awesome! btw: can you keep me posted about this popup and the copying and pasting work, which I can see you are actively working on also? Want to keep testing and weighing in on both. Cheers!