Configuration file contents - Delegates

Delegates are interfaces to external tools to turn non-ChordPro content into something that ChordPro can handle. The non-ChordPro content is included in the song between {start_of_...} and {end_of_...} directives.

ChordPro currently provides two delegates:

• abc, the popular ABC music notation, and

• ly, the Lilypond music typesetter.

Configuration settings for these delegates can be set the config file under "delegates":

"delegates" : {
    "abc" : { ... },
    "ly"  : { ... },
 },

ABC

The ABC delegate collects the ABC music data and prepares it for the ABC tool to turn it into an SVG image.

Selecting the ABC tool

The ABC delegate supports two methods:

• QuickJS, a JavaScript interpreter.

• A program similar to abcnode that comes with some ABC tools.

ChordPro will first try to find an abc2svg program in the executable path. If this is found it will be used to process the ABC data. The program will be executed with a single argument, the name of a file that contains the prepared ABC data, and it should produce the SVG image on standard output.

Alternatively, if the QuickJS program qjs can be found in the executable path, ChordPro will use this internally to produce the SVG image.

In the ABC configuration the setting handler can be use to modify the tool selection. If set to "abc2svg" selection proceeds as described above. If set to "abc2svg_qjs" ChordPro will always use the QuickJS interpreter.

ABC configuration

    "abc" : {
        "module"   : "ABC",

        // Default handler "abc2svg" uses program (if set),
        // otherwise embedded QuickJS or external QuickJS.
        // Handler "quickjs_xs" uses embedded QuickJS only.
        // Handler "quickjs_qjs" uses external QuickJS only.
        // Handler "quickjs" uses internal or external QuickJS.
        // Please stick to the default unless you know what you
        // are doing.
        "handler"  : "abc2svg",
        "program"  : "",		// specify program tool

        "type"     : "image",

        // The preamble is a list of lines inserted before the ABC data.
        // DO NOT MODIFY unless you know what you are doing!
        "preamble" : [
           // Get rid of as much space as possible.
           "%%topspace 0",
           "%%titlespace 0",
           "%%musicspace 0",
           "%%composerspace 0",
           "%%infospace 0",
           "%%textspace 0",
           "%%leftmargin 0cm",
           "%%rightmargin 0cm",
           "%%staffsep 0",
           // Use ChordPro fonts for lyrics and chords.
           "%%textfont pdf.fonts.text",
           "%%gchordfont pdf.fonts.chord",
        ],

        "preprocess" : { "abc" : [] },
        "omit"     : false,
    },

• module: The (perl) module that implements this delegate.
  This must be "ABC".

• handler: The module function that handles this delegation.
  Default value is "abc2svg" to let ChordPro decide.
  Unless program is set, ChordPro will use QuickJS, either built-in or via an external QuickJS interpreter.

• program: The program to use if the handler is "abc2svg".
  This program should take one argument, the ABC file, and write the SVG data to its standard output.

• type: The result produced by the delegate handler.
  This must be "image", this delegate produces an image that will be embedded in the ChordPro output.

• preamble: A series of ABC directives that are prepended to the ABC data to make sure that the generated image can be nicely embedded in the ChordPro output.

• preprocess: A preprocessor of the ABC data.
  See Parser for a description of preprocessors.

• omit: If true, no delegation will be handled. In other words, the contents of {start_of_abc} … {end_of_abc} is silently ignored.

ABC using ChordPro fonts

ABC directives can refer to ChordPro fonts with a pdf.fonts. prefix. See the preamble in the ABC config above for some examples.

ABC using arbitrary fonts

When arbitrary fonts are used in the ABC data it is important that ChordPro knows these fonts as well. For each of these fonts an entry must be made in the font registry.

For example, in the ABC the music font Bravura is used. The corresponding ChordPro font registry would be:

"pdf" : {
    "fontconfig" : {
        ...
        "bravura" : {
            "" : { "file" : "Bravura.otf" }
        },
        ...
    }
}

See also ChordPro Implementation: Fonts.

Lilypond

The Lilypond delegate collects the Lilypond music data and prepares it for the Lilypond program lilypond to turn it into an SVG image.

Lilypond configuration

    "ly" : {
        "module"   : "Lilypond",
        "handler"  : "ly2svg",
        "type"     : "image",

        // The preamble is a list of lines inserted before the lilypond data.
        // This is a good place to set the version and global customizations.
        "preamble" : [
            "\\version \"2.21.0\"",
            "\\header { tagline = ##f }",
        ],

        "omit"     : false,
    },

• module: The (perl) module that implements this delegate.
  This must be "Lilypond".

• handler: The module function that handles this delegation.
  This must be "ly2svg".

• type: The result produced by the delegate handler.
  This must be "image", this delegate produces an image that will be embedded in the ChordPro output.

• preamble: A series of Lilypond directives that are prepended to the Lilypond data to make sure that the generated image can be nicely embedded in the ChordPro output.
  Note that Lilypond directives start with a backslash, which has a special meaning in JSON data. Two consecutive backslashes will be interpreted as a single backslash without special meaning.

• omit: If true, no delegation will be handled. In other words, the content of {start_of_ly} … {end_of_ly} is silently ignored.

Connecting Lilypond and ChordPro fonts

This is similar to ABC using arbitrary fonts.