musescore-todo-list

A todo-list plugin for MuseScore. You can never have too many todos.

MuseScore 4 Update: See the note for MuseScore 4. ❤️

In short this plugin helps you:

• Organise your score-editing workflow.
• Find TODOs and FIXMEs easily.
• Navigate to the points of trouble without hassle—well, except having to insert text at said points in the first place.

In software development, todos are commonly added to source code as reminders to the poor developers toiling away writing code. Todos come in many forms: bugs to be fixed, issues to be resolved, feature requests, etc. Sometimes when composing, we may also find ourselves lost in a sea of todos, struggling to remember what we wanted to change in a particular measure. Or perhaps someone's reviewing our score, and they wish to leave short comments. Or maybe we're just waiting for the right inspiration to hit.

Examples of todos:

• TODO: Explore different chord progressions for this transition.
• TODO: More brass to this section.
• FIXME: Playback sounds wonky.
• TODO: Revise counterpoint.
• TODO: Add bowing articulation to strings.
• TODO: Confirm with friend if this part is playable.

This plugin aims to increase the quality of life of composers, arrangers, transcribers, and well—anybody who edits scores. The typical usage would be to add TODOs/FIXMEs as staff text via Ctrl+T or Cmd+T, and note down your thoughts and ideas before they disappear. The plugin will then automatically refresh and display the curated list of TODOs on a dock.

Installation

Either...

1. Obtain the QML plugin file directly (MS3 / MS4), OR
2. Download a zip of the project and locate the appropriate subfolder (ms3/ or ms4/, depending on your version).

Then move the file/folder to your MuseScore plugins directory. Refer to the MuseScore Handbook (MS3 / MS4) for detailed a guide on installing plugins.

Usage

1. To add TODOs, first create a text element using one of the following methods:

   1. drag from the palette,
   2. select the option from the menu (Add > Text > Staff/System Text), or
   3. use the shortcut; Ctrl + T / Ctrl + Shift + T on Windows/Linux; Cmd + T / Cmd + Shift + T on Mac.

   By default, only Staff Text and System Text are checked for TODOs. This can be modified in the settings.

2. Begin the text with a pattern such as TODO, todo, FIXME, or fixme. The plugin will only display texts which have this prefix.

   By default, only the words TODO and FIXME will match. This can be modified in the settings.

3. Keep typing the rest of your TODO. The display panel on the right should update automagically with your text.

   The automagic may be disabled by unchecking the Continuous Refresh option.

Settings

The plugin is configurable in multiple ways:

• Continuous Refresh. Set true for the plugin to update the to-do list whenever the score is updated. May be slow for humongous scores.

  Note: If you're encountering immense lag when modifying text on large scores, try turning off the Continuous Refresh option, and manually pressing Refresh to update the display.

• Filter Regex. A regular expression to filter text elements. Case-insensitive. By default, the regex is ^(todo|fixme). This matches texts that start with todo or fixme.

• Filter Case Sensitivity. Whether the matching should be case-sensitive.

• Filter Elements. Comma-separated list of MuseScore Element Types to filter. By default, only Staff Text (42) and System Text (43) are filtered.

For reference, here's a list of text element types from the MuseScore API:

Name	MS3 Code	MS4 Code
Tempo Text	41	46
Staff Text	42	47
System Text	43	48
Rehearsal Mark	44	52
Instrument Change	45	53
Staff Type Change	46	54

(Todos in lyrics are currently not supported.)

This plugin should (in theory) work in MuseScore versions 3.5 and up.

MuseScore 4

As of writing, the MuseScore 4 (MS4) plugin environment is still a work in progress. Nevertheless, a version for MS4 is available, with the following limitations:

• Dialog. Docked plugins are currently unavailable, forcing the plugin to be a dialog.
• Fixed dimensions. Currently, the dialog width/height are fixed. On some resolutions, the dialog box may be too small or big. I've added a couple options to modify the dimensions. You may need to reload the plugin afterwards.
• Jank text input UI in settings. QML TextField doesn't work for now, so please bear with it.

Also, FYI note that the ElementType codes have changed between MS4 and MS3. See the above table.

Development

Pull requests, translations, and bug reports are welcome.