Re: Determining what parameters exist for an item

[Kieren MacMillan]

Hi Harm,

> Well, it is the _actual_ default. KeyCancellation _can't_ have
> a general default of X-extent for all possible KeyCancellations…

Obviously.  =)

But the benefits of the function are both general (“Get a list of every 
settable property for this grob.”) and specific (“Get the property values for a 
particular instance of this grob.”) I suppose we could spoonfeed the user more 
by somehow highlighting/mentioning in the output which are general/fixed values 
and which are specific/instance/relative values… but having this function 
already puts us well ahead of where we were a few hours ago.

> Well, we have the \offset-function ...
> No clue about possible limitations, though

The \offset function behaves in a “user-inconsistent” manner — by which I mean, 
there is undoubtedly a perfectly logical/technical reason why it works in 
certain cases and throws errors in others, but users don’t (or at least 
shouldn’t) care why they see “inconsistent” [sic] behaviour.

Simon says:
> Oh, it would be great if we could use \offset for such cases.


+1
But I know it may not be possible.

One case where a lack of \offset-ability drives me crazy is explicit 
system/staff positioning: as far as I know (and queries to the list have 
confirmed), there is no way to “nudge” a system (e.g.) up 1 staff space. So 
there’s a lot of trial-and-error in those situations.

Best,
Kieren.
________________________________

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