Re: To hide a time signature

[Mats Bengtsson]

Marcus Macauley wrote:
> > If you had followed the link at the bottom of that page to 
> > "item-interface", you
> > would have found the solution much quicker. Always remember that the 
> > information
> > presented for each graphical object is just a subset of the full 
> > documentation of all
> > the available properties. To see it all, you need to browse through 
> > all the links to the
> > interfaces.
>
> Indeed, I discovered those links soon after I posted. But the 
> particular link you mention, "item-interface", doesn't seem to offer 
> much help here. It mentions the "break-visibility" setting, but so 
> does the TimeSignature page itself, and it didn't take me long to find 
> it on the TimeSignature page. True, the "item-interface" page explains 
> it at greater length, though.
For example, it tells you that there is a predefined macro all-invisible 
that can
be used.

> What I still don't understand is the "stencil" setting (which Kieren 
> suggested as an alternative), which I now see is listed on the 
> "grob-interface" page (linked from the bottom of the TimeSignature 
> page), but there it appears under "Internal properties" and not under 
> "User settable properties". That seems to imply that "stencil" is not 
> "user settable", though Kieren's example suggests that it is. Also, 
> whether or not "stencil" is "user settable", the "grob-interface" page 
> offers no clue as to what values/syntax it might take. The entry reads:
Yes, I already reported that problem to lilypond-bug in my previous email.
> BUT, now I notice something I didn't see before. At the bottom of the 
> list of "user settable properties" is:
>
> transparent (boolean)
>    This makes the grob invisible.
>
> "transparent": That sounds awfully familiar! It's wonder I couldn't 
> see it before -- it's like I was looking right through it.
If you search the index of the manual for "transparent objects", 
"removing objects",
"hiding objects" or "invisible objects" you will find a link to some 
more information
on the "transparent" property in the manual.
> Sure enough, the following line works like a charm:
>
> \once \override Staff.TimeSignature #'transparent = ##t
As is explained in the manual, this will not do exactly the same thing 
as your
previous solution, since the transparent time signature will still 
occupy some
space (which is usually not desirable for this situation).

  /Mats