Re: two-column dialogue markup function(s)

[Kieren MacMillan]

Hi David,

> By using a non-predefined name for that kind of thing.

Hmmmm… I was trying that, and getting “undeclared variable” warnings.
Anyway, it seems to work now.

%%%%  BEGIN SNIPPET

\version "2.17.97"

#(define-markup-command (mm-feed layout props amount) (number?)
(let ((o-s (ly:output-def-lookup layout 'output-scale)))
  (ly:make-stencil "" '(0 . 0) (cons 0 (abs (/ amount o-s))))))

#(define-markup-command (put-mm layout props dir amount arg)
(ly:dir? number? markup?) (interpret-markup layout props
  (markup #:put-adjacent Y dir arg #:mm-feed amount)))

#(define-markup-command (dialogue layout props charname text) (markup? 
markup-list?)
  #:properties ((column-width 40)
                (bline-skip 2.2)
                (char-skip 3.5)
                (f-size 9))
  (interpret-markup layout props
    #{ \markup \abs-fontsize #f-size \override #`(baseline-skip . ,bline-skip) 
\line {
         \bold \concat { #charname : }
         \hspace #1
         \override #`(line-width . ,column-width) \put-mm #DOWN #char-skip 
\wordwrap #text } #}))

\markup \fill-line {
  \hcenter-in #54 \left-column {
    \dialogue Cop { Much better. Now, miss— }
    \dialogue Jill { Oh, you can call me ‘Jill’, officer! }
    \dialogue Cop { Of course I can, miss. I understand you were at the scene 
of the crime— }
    \dialogue Jill { Oh no, I wasn’t actually there. I read it! }
    \dialogue Cop { Fine, miss. I understand you ‘read’ the scene of the crime— 
}
  }
  \hcenter-in #54 \left-column {
    \dialogue Jill { And then I imagined the whole thing, just like my Grandma 
taught me to do when I was too young to read. }
    \dialogue Cop { So essentially you were at the scene of the crime. }
    \dialogue Jill { I guess you could say that… Oh, it was horrible. Just 
awful, officer! Those poor little pigs! }
  }
}

%%%%  BEGIN SNIPPET

Next questions:

1. Is there an easy way to make the dialogue block left-aligned (i.e., as if it 
were “tabbed” in a word processor)? I could hand-code an \hcenter-in width 
based on the widest character name, but would love a more automated solution.

2. Any other improvements anyone can think of? I’d like to make this function 
(-set) dead-simple for others to drop in and use.

Thanks,
Kieren.