[itsme]

Supposed I imported a ChordPro file from a guitarist who has notated it with {capo: and I want to play it without capo.
Changing or removing {capo: in MobileSheets text editor has no effect.
Expected behaviour: it should be possible to edit {capo: settings on the fly.
I guess {capo: is only considered during import.

[Zubersoft]

Yes, that is correct, it is only processed during import at the moment, as otherwise if you changed the capo setting in MobileSheets, then edited the file for a different reason, it would overwrite the capo changes you had made in MobileSheets, as MobileSheets doesn't know what you changed so it processes the entire file as a whole. This is the problem with mixing settings you can control from both MobileSheets and the file. I could simplify it and only drive it through the file, but that would then require every user to go in and manually edit files which is not as nice as just dragging a slider in my opinion, but causes other issues like what you are facing.

Mike

[itsme]

The chords in the file, {key: and {capo: imho are to be seen as a combination that defines how a song is notated and what's the resulting sounding key. It should be handled in the same way and it should be possible to edit that combination completely within MobileSheets. Suppose we have imported a song notated as a ChordPro file and during a rehearsal it turns out that it should be played in a different key. There's a transpose UI in the file editor that changes the chords in the file, {key: follows accordingly. It doesn't make sense that {capo: cannot be changed.

[Zubersoft]

Capo can be changed in the text display settings. Key is different because the key directive is specifying what the original document key is. If you are saying capo should define the original document capo and then the capo in MobileSheets should be applied on top of that like a transpose, I think that would lead to a terribly confusing experience.

Mike

[itsme]

This came up in a real situation: a song in Bb, notated by our guitar player in Bb with {capo: 3. It displays for him with G chords. Correct, everything fine so far. We're at a rehearsal, our mandolin player had imported the guitar players sheet at home without thinking about capo settings. Both guys have the ChordPro file already imported, MobileSheets on Android with MS managing the files, no chance to access the original score, no internet connection. The mandolin won't use a capo, sees the score in G but needs to play in Bb. How can we deal with this situation? This was the "terribly confusing experience" that you mentioned.
Supposed we find out during the rehearsal, that this song should better be played in A or in C. Chords in the file can easily be changed in MobileSheets editor. Both guitar and mandolin want to play without capo. How can we deal with this situation?

[Zubersoft]

Just go to the text display settings and tap the eye icon for the capo. The capo is then just a display field and doesn't adjust the transposed key of the song. Or just clear the capo. That doesn't seem difficult to do in the UI.

Mike

[itsme]

Okay, the display settings is what we are looking for. Not really intuitive, but knowing that makes it really easy to deal with the situation.

[itsme]

Maybe it's better to avoid writing a {capo: setting into the file and use only the capo slider in the display settings dialog.

[Zubersoft]

Yes, I would agree with that most of the time. I have considered moving the capo setting to the transpose dialog, but I don't want to clutter that up or make it confusing.

Mike

[itsme]

Great idea. There's plenty of space on the transpose dialog and that's definitely where a capo setting belongs to.

[Zubersoft]

The only potentially confusing thing is that the capo setting is informational only if the eye icon is toggled off. The capo indicator (if enabled) will still show the capo value, but it won't transpose anything. So I would have to copy the slider and visibility icon over to the transpose dialog, and this nuance would be a little confusing, as adjusting the capo value would do nothing if the eye icon is turned off as far as the transposed key. Also, the capo is applied on top of the transpose, so users would have to understand that the resulting key will not be displayed on the transpose dialog if they change the capo.

Mike