Re: Selectively remove some staves consisting only of rests

[Kieren MacMillan]

Reggie,

>> You don’t have to; I select staves and have them appear
>> and disappear as desired all the time.
> 
> * Then why can't Andrew? Why did he post in the first place?
> Why is a hack the only answer solution?

In an application where you type r8 when you want to output the visual 
representation of an eighth note rest in the Western musical notation system, 
what does 'hack' mean exactly?

In my set of include files, I have defined \showStaff and \hideStaff and other 
similar and related layout functions. As a result, I can write code like

    c1 1 1 1 \break
    \hideStaff d1 1 1 1 \break
    \showStaff e1 1 1 1

and have complete control over which staves appear on any given system. (In 
reality, I do layout-level manipulation via the edition-engraver, but that’s a 
separate discussion, and would simply cloud the issue here.)

I don’t consider that a "hack"; it’s simply a function I’ve written to be used 
in an application where basically every thing I use (\score, \time 4/4, \key c 
\major, \flat, etc.) is a function [pace David K, who would rightly object to 
this well-intentioned but misleading way of describing the situation].

Have you looked at the definition of \time (as in \time 4/4)? Would you 
describe "\time" as a "hack"? Perhaps what you mean by "hack" is that *you* 
don’t currently have access to \hideStaff and \showStaff functions?

> Even those who work on the code have said in the past posts
> that certain areas of the program are in need.

Of course; that will likely always be true.
But "in need" and "so bizarre" are hardly synonymous.

> You think that 100% of Lilypond makes total logical sense "under the hood"
> and also in the user's viewpoint?

Please point out where I said — or even implied — anything of the sort.

> * Andrew does not know how to do it either. So now what? 

(a) You figure out how to do it yourself; or
(b) You ask others, and they help; or
(c) You don’t get done what you want to get done.

If you want *me* to help, you’ll need to scale back on the "Lilypond is 
ridiculous" tone that pervades every post I’ve seen you submit to the list.

Cheers,
Kieren.
________________________________

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