Re: can InstrumentName padding centered according to the longest instrument name?

[Kieren MacMillan]

Hi Abraham,

> Fantastic work, David!

+1

> This would make an excellent addition to the core code, IMHO.

+1

> The only thing that I would further request (and this applies to 
> instrumentName in general) is that the indent variable automatically adjust 
> itself to be larger to compensate for names that run into the left margin 
> (and sometimes off the page entirely!).

Really, “left-margin” could (should?) be from the left edge of the physical 
page to the left-most bit of printed material (i.e., the left-most bit of 
SystemStartDelimiter or instrument name, whichever is farthest left). Right 
now, it’s “left-margin + short-indent [indent, resp.]” to the left-most 
SystemStartDelimiter of the system [first system, resp.], with the instrument 
name(s) added almost as an afterthought.

> It just seems like the kind of thing that should automatically happen

I could see it being VERY expensive, though: the margin could potentially 
change dramatically, depending on whether a given system is on one page or 
another. Think about french-ed systems, changes in shortInstrumentName, etc.

Of course, I would love to see Lilypond improved to Do The Right Thing™, 
whatever we determine that to be.  =)
In the meantime, David’s excellent solution has saved me a lot of manual 
tweaking to instrument names in my current engraving.

Cheers,
Kieren.
________________________________

Kieren MacMillan, composer
‣ website: www.kierenmacmillan.info
‣ email: address@hidden