Re: music function to be included somewhere in scm/*

[Abraham Lee]

On Tue, Dec 20, 2016 at 7:41 AM, Paul <address@hidden> wrote:

> Hi Knut, Werner, Alexander, and everyone,
>
> On 12/20/2016 08:47 AM, Knut Petersen wrote:
>
>> Hi Werner!
>>
>>>       (length-limit-or-forced-length ,ly:dimension? "An automatically
>>>> generated lyric extender is suppressed if it would be shorter than
>>>> this length. A forced lyric extender is given this length if
>>>> possible.")
>>>>
>>> Sorry, but I strongly dislike collapsing two properties into one, even
>>> if the values for the two properties are always the same.  So please
>>> use `collapse-length' (`suppress-threshold', etc.) and
>>> `forced-length'.
>>>
>>
>> I'll implement whatever the majority agrees upon.
>>
>> Nevertheless: two parameters would obfuscate the fact that
>> the internal logic would always decide to use only one  of those
>> lengths and to ignore the other.
>>
>> For the case of two parameters I like best:
>>
>> (forced-length ,ly:dimension? "A forced lyric extender
>> is given this length if possible.")
>> (collapse-length ,ly:dimension? "An automatically generated
>> lyric extender is suppressed if it would be shorter than
>> this length.")
>>
>> Paul?
>>
>
> I'm fine with using two properties, as Werner prefers, and as in this
> suggestion from Knut.
>
> When I suggested using fewer properties I didn't fully understand all the
> details.  (The music I typeset rarely involves lyric extenders.)
> Alexander's explanation and further discussions have helped me get it, but
> I hadn't had a chance to reply sooner.
>
> Thanks again for working on this,
>

Yes, thanks for making this possible! It will be a great addition.

One question I have about having the two properties is how will the two be
reconciled in actual use? In other words, if collapse-length is larger than
forced-length, will there still be the same amount of space between
syllables even without the extender (to the amount of forced-length)?

Maybe the question I really have is this: what does "given this length _if
possible_" mean and what governs this possibility? I can totally understand
how they work individually, I'm just trying to understand how I can use
them well together since it seems that forced-length contradicts
collapse-length.

Thanks,
Abraham