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Report


The Report dialog (reached via the File->Report menu item) allows the user to produce a report file containing information about the recorder fingerings displayed by the program. You have a choice of producing a report about the current note, the current octave, or all the notes.

A report can be in either "text" format or "wordprocessor" format. Text format produces a .txt file. The fingerings are given using the fingering "language" used on Nicholas Lander's website The Recorder Home Page (http://www.recorderhomepage.net/). The wordprocessor format produces an .rtf file. The fingerings are shown with small pictures of recorders, somewhat similar to the screen recorders, but horizontally positioned. See below for further discussion of the 2 formats.




Options for Both Formats

Both types of reports have the following options:
  • Create report for the current note, the current Octave, or all Notes.
  • If the Include Textual Data checkbox is not checked, only the fingerings shown by the recorder pictures themselves will be written to the report. No information contained in Info Buttons or Message boxes on the screen will be written. If the Include Textual Data checkbox is checked, all information contained in Info buttons and Message boxes will be written.
  • If the Use "note obtained with trill fingers UP/DOWN" wording checkbox is not checked, the Trill Position indicator (see Fingerings), will be shown on the report as a cryptic "v" or "^" after the fingering, just as in the program's display. If it is checked, this full wording will be used.
  • If the Open Report in Associated Application checkbox is checked, Recorder Digits will write the report and then execute the application program "associated" with the extent (i.e. ".txt" for the text report, ".rtf" for the word processor report) of the report. This is exactly like double-clicking on the report file in Windows Explorer. This makes it much easier to print a report - you can produce it in Recorder Digits and print it immediately in the application that automatically starts up.


    Text Format Report

    The text format report is just plain text. The fingerings are given using a special text fingering language. Here is a sample text report generated for Note A, octave 1:

    Note: A, octave 1
    0 123 45--  
    No Alternates

    Here is an explanation of the fingering language used here:
    Numbers 0 thru 7 represent the thumb plus all the fingers used 
    on the recorder. A number means the hole in that position is 
    closed. A dash means the hole in that position is open.

    / = for thumb hole, means pinched
    / = for regular holes, means partially closed
    / = for holes 6 and 7, means only one of the double holes closed
    * = asterisk following a number means trill this hole
    X = the foot hole (the bell end of recorder) is closed with knee (if the hole is open, no indication is given)

    Examples:
    0 123 4567 X = thumb and all fingers closed, foot closed with knee
    - -2- ----   = 2nd finger of left hand closed, all others open
    0 1-3 45/-   = finger 6 half-holed
    0 1/3 4567   = finger 2 partially closed
    - -23* ----  = trill with 3rd finger left hand
    0 123 45/*-  = trill with half-holed 3rd finger of right hand


    Option for Text Report: Reformat Long Lines Checkbox

    Because Info button and Message box information can be up to 200 characters long, you have the option of reformating it as it is written to the text report, so that multiple lines are written (i.e. "word wrap" is employed), with about 70 characters per line. This option is desirable if you are going to load the resulting report into a text editor such as Notepad. However, if you are going to load the text report into a wordprocessor (e.g. Word), it is better to leave this option unchecked, since the wordprocessor will perform the word wrap on the long lines for you. You might want to use the text report with a word processor instead of the wordprocessor report (below) if you wanted to save ink by not printing recorder pictures.

    The Reformat Long Lines Checkbox is only activated if the Include Textual Data checkbox (see above) is checked.


    Word Processor Report

    New with 2.70, the report can be in Rich Text Format (.rtf), a wordprocessor format that is compatible with almost all wordprocessors (e.g. Word, OpenOffice, WordPerfect, WordPro, Easy Office, WordPad, etc). The advantage to this report is that it contains pictures of the recorder fingerings, not just a textual representation. The layout of the report is similar to the text report, although page breaks are supplied between octaves, and note names are in bold text. 

    Depending on the wordprocessor, the recorder pictures may not look too good on the screen. Each recorder is made up of 9 small pictures placed side-by-side. With some wordprocessors, you can see the breaks between each hole. However, if you print the report, it should look good. If not, please let me know (see Support and Feedback).

    In Microsoft Word, for the recorder pictures to appear correctly on the layout screen, you must have certain View options set correctly. Using the menu, go to Tools>Options. In the dialog that pops up, select the View tab. In the dialog, make sure that in the Formatting Marks section, the "All" and the "Hidden text" boxes are unchecked.  Note that this does not affect any printing - which will be produced correctly regardless - but only affects what you see on the screen.

    Option for Wordprocessor Report: Recorder Color

    You can choose the color of the recorder pictures used on the report. There are currently 5 choices, as shown above in the screen snapshot of the Report dialog box. The Black and White recorder pictures are useful for Laser printers and also to save color ink cartridges. Trill holes are shown with a checkered pattern, not colors.


    Notes About Both Types of Reports
  • Unlike the File->SaveBuiltin menu selection (see Getting Started - Saving Built-In Fingerings), which by definition saves to a file the fingerings built into the program (even when an external file is loaded), File->Report creates a report for whatever fingering information is currently displayed by the program, including information from an external file (see External File - Loading).
  • The report that gets produced takes into account the state of the Display Trill Fingers Checkbox - i.e. if the box is unchecked, the report will not show any trill indicators (asterisks for the text report, colored or checkered holes for the wordprocessor report).
  • Blank lines are placed between each box position on the screen display, including between each Message box, which on some external files may not be appropriate - especially with Ken Wollitz's external file, which has large amounts of text. Before printing such a report, you should manually combine the lines until it looks correct.
  • The Create Report For All Notes option adds 1 or 2 pieces of additional information to the report which are not included in the Current Note or Current Octave reports. For the Text Format report, at the bottom, it puts a few examples of how the fingering language works, similar to the examples shown above. Also, for both Text and Wordprocessor format reports, if an external file is loaded that has External ReadMe information (see External ReadMe - Using), the textual information from it will be added to the bottom of the report (but only if the Include Textual Data checkbox is checked).
  • Some external files display pictures on the screen (e.g. Normtril has a music example picture on the Octave 1 E note, on the 2nd screen "page" (alternate trill). The wordprocessor report does not include such pictures. However, you could manually insert such pictures into the rtf file while editing it with the wordprocessor, before printing it. Any pictures used by external files are .bmp files located in the Recorder Digits directory.
  • When you produce a report, the Windows Save dialog box will pop up and you can enter a filename and also pick the directory where you want the report to go. I have noticed that on my system the default directory for the Text Format report is the Recorder Digits directory, while the default directory for the Wordprocessor format report is the MyDocuments directory. This is a Windows thing, not controlled by Recorder Digits itself. It has to do with the extent of the file (.txt or .rtf) and how your system is set to handle such files. I noticed that after I had saved an RTF report in the Recorder Digits directory (by walking the directory tree and finding that directory), after that, whenever I saved a later wordprocessor report, it now defaulted to the Recorder Digits directory, even on subsequent executions of the program. Very strange.