RE: lilypond-user Digest, Vol 94, Issue 1

[Richie Gress]

I think \book is the bast way to do it, but I think that the files need to be arranged a certain way. Your hymn layout is like this:
=====
%hymn1.ly
\version %ver
\header { }
\footer { }
\score { }
=====
so your "tie-it-all-together" file would look something like this:
======
%tietogether.ly
\version
\markup { (contents of your title page) }
\bookpart { \include "hymn1.ly" }
\bookpart { \include "hymn2.ly" }
                     %   ...&ct
======
You may want to look into the documentation to learn more about bookpart... have you tried it yet? I believe it to be easier than \book.
> Message: 4
> Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:03:33 -0500
> From: Christopher Meredith <address@hidden>
> Subject: Best practices for book output?
> To: address@hidden
> Message-ID:
> <address@hidden>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> I may be in over my head. What I am trying to do is produce a hymnal.
> After much experimentation, I have settled upon a layout I like that I
> am using on a per-hymn basis. I have abstracted these portions of my
> input files and created header.ly and footer.ly. For each individual
> hymn, I then use \include to incorporate the header and footer so I
> have a consistent layout which can be globally updated as needed.
>
> Eventually, I want to compile these into a book. I have experimented
> with lilypond-book but so far am completely lost. On a whim I tried
> making a book.ly and simply using \include to reference all my hymns.
> The output was pretty close to what I would like, except I think I
> would need to figure out how to fix the distances between certain
> elements because the auto placement often settles on undesirable
> results.
>
> My first question, therefore, is how I should approach this situation;
> creating independent files (with titles and footers) for eventual
> assembly into a book. I can share samples of my input files if it will
> help.
>
> My next question is whether there is any way that I can assemble
> something of an index. For each hymn I have a variable definition
> section at the top that looks like this:
>
> Title = "I Will Sing My Maker's Praises"
> Writer = "Paul Gerhardt, 1659"
> Translator = ""
> Composer = "Johann Schop, 1641"
> Arranger = ""
> Tune = "SOLLT' ICH MEINEM GOTT"
> Meter = "8 7.8 7.8 7.7 8.7 7"
>
> I would really like to be able to create an index such as that found
> in most hymnals to look up selections by any of the criteria listed
> above. Can this be done?
>
> Thanks all in advance for your help. I'm loving lilypond. I've learned
> so much and still haven't scratched the surface!