What's the point of \book{...} ?

[Mats Bengtsson]

Hi,

I'm still very confused about the use of \book{...}.

- One motivation provided in the manual is to combine \score{...}
  and \markup{...} blocks, see "10.1.12 Multiple movements" and
  input/regression/score-text.ly. However, these examples work
  just as well without \book{...}, so that's not a reason to
  use \book.

- From trial and error, I have found that if you have several
  \book{...} in the same file, then each \book will result in
  a separate output file.

- From the mailing list, I have learned that if you use a \book{...}
  in a musical example in a lilypond-book/LaTeX document, then the
  full score will be typeset in a single .eps file instead of a
  separate .eps per score line. However, as has been pointed out,
  then the height of the typeset score has to be set (using what
  paper variable? textheight doesn't exist anymore!), otherwise
  the score will not fit on the page.

So, the only good reason to use \book that I have found is the
second item, namely to be able to get several output files from
the same .ly file, but maybe I have missed the point.

It seems that Graham is just as confused about this issue as
I am, so we would appreciate if Han-Wen or Jan could share their
insights.

   /Mats


--
=============================================
        Mats Bengtsson
        Signal Processing
        Signals, Sensors and Systems
        Royal Institute of Technology
        SE-100 44  STOCKHOLM
        Sweden
        Phone: (+46) 8 790 8463                         
        Fax:   (+46) 8 790 7260
        Email: address@hidden
        WWW: http://www.s3.kth.se/~mabe
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