4/18/2006 8:48:52 AM

1.  What is the relationship between display properties accessed through (Right click on song n > Edit Song > Display Properties > see Display Properties Menu) and (Right click on song n > Set Item Background > Settings > see Display Properties menu)? 

2.  Are these on the same level in the hierarchy?

3.  Real world example:  Change of font color of two songs' lyrics within the same  program.  For one song I could change the font color via Edit Song > Display Properties.  For another song within the same program  I had to change it via Set Item Background > Settings > Display Properties, which I discovered only by searching and experimentation. 

Why?


Thanks.

4/18/2006 8:55:52 AM

Settings on the program item should override setting from the song database.

When you edit the song to change the properies, you are changing it in the song database.

When you right click on an item in the program and select Edit Display Properties, you are changing the display properties just for that song within that program. Same if you right click and Set Background.

i'm not sure why it wouldn't work the same for both songs, unless one song already has a display property set within the program whcih overrode the database settings.

4/18/2006 9:43:46 AM

Mr. Wizard, in your real world example, the two display properties are the same thing.  There are multiple paths into those and you've listed two of them. 

The normal display properties hierarchy goes like this:

Item Specific Display property > Program Display Property > Global Display Properties.

So the Item Specific Properties (which is what you are setting when you right click on a program item) overrides any other settings you may have made. 

4/18/2006 10:17:25 AM

I'm not quite sure I understand the question.  Are you saying that you right clicked the song and then went to edit display properties on it to change the font and that method worked on 1 song and not the other one?  What display properties was the other song using?  Its own, global display properties or the program display properties? 

4/18/2006 1:45:50 PM

Your No. 1 is a good question, and it may not be a hierarchical situation.

When performing the second procedure (Settings, or Edit Item Display Properties) on a song after it has been inserted into a program, and that already has properties set, the properties all show up in the dialog box, and if you set any different properties, they are applied to the program item, not the database.

But when performing the first procedure (Edit Song) on the same song in the same program, none of the properties known to be set in the program item are shown in the dialog box (assuming you haven't previously set some properties in the database). Note you can also Edit Song from the Songs Database panel (instead of the Program Panel). Note also that for some songs this procedure will not bring up that dialog box at all. If you see the statement Display Properties are not supported for this song it may be because the song exists in the SongSelect database, which doesn't have enough fields to contain all of the display properties, whereas songs in the SSP or User Hymns database does. Alternatively, it may occur when the copy of the song in the database is protected, I don't know which applies for sure.

So that makes me wonder whether the first procedure is attempting to apply Display Properties to the copy of the song right in the database but not the program, whereas the second is applying them only to the program item but not to the database. Someone from R-Technics should probably confirm or refute this.

This likely explains your No. 3.

4/18/2006 11:40:32 PM

If a program-item-specific display property is set for song text color, it will override the same setting in the song-specific display property. Its possible this got set earlier and made it appear that the song-specific display property was not working.

4/24/2006 3:00:46 PM

I only change display properties within a specific program. Every song has the same Global Display properties, unless I physically change it within a specific program. The answer to your first question is yes. That is exactly right.

4/24/2006 3:21:31 PM

Reece, I don't mean to sound totally ignorant, but could you please clarify the nomenclature a bit for me.

What is the difference between a song-specific display property and a program-item-specific display property?
Thanks!

4/25/2006 12:51:00 AM

song-specific display property: These are stored with the song data itself. You can alter these properties using the Song Properties window.

program-item-specific display property: These are set by right-clicking on a program item and selecting Edit Item Display Properties. Changing these properties does not modify the original song data.

4/25/2006 4:46:09 AM

This is the rule I think we stumbled on accidentally but now know for certain!

Thanks...

5/5/2006 3:40:13 PM

Ok, I tried that. Guess what? ANY changes I made to the song within a song program directly and immediately affected the song in the database. ANy changes I made in the database directly and immediately affected the song in the program, regardless of the song in the program's properties.

I put a song in a jprogram, right clicked, Edit Song >panel that said SONG PROPERITES song title > Display Properties > Song Text > Lyrics > font color.

I right clicked on the SAME song IN THE DATA BASE and chose Edit Song. What I saw was a panel that at the the top in the lblue bar said "SONG PROPERTIES song title." I made the same change, just a different color. So, in the database the font color was yellow. In the song program the font color was red. The change in the data base directly affected the song in the program. The change to the song in the program directly affected the song in the data base. I tried the same thing with font style and it did NOT matter where I made the change. It affected the song in the database AND the song in the song porgram. I tried saving the program and opening a new program. The song in the DATABASE still had the font color and style that I had set in the test program. The song in the database no longer had the global properties.

So, now I know my database can be corrupted/modified by any changes made to any song within any program.

5/5/2006 7:01:13 PM

When you are in the actual program, instead of clicking on "edit song properties", you click on "edit display properties".  That will only affect the song within that program.  Whenever you click on the edit song properties button, that will affect the song in the program and the song in the database. 

5/8/2006 10:00:26 AM

THANK YOU, Karen! A clear explanation at last!