Re: Windows Media Player alternatives for midi playing?

[Aaron Hill]

On 2021-10-30 12:42 am, Pablo Cordal wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Until now, I use WMP to play the midi compiled in lilypond. I have 
> coolsoft
> virtualmidisynth installed with a sf2 of my taste and no problem,
> everything works fine.
>
> The problem: WMP blocks the midi file while (and after) it's playing, 
> so if
> I modify something in lilypond and I want to hear it, I have to close 
> WMP,
> then compile, go to the folder and reproduce again.. and I'm composing 
> so I
> do it a LOT of times.
>
> Question: anybody knows a mid player with does not block the file, so 
> it
> loads the file each time for playing it?

I ran into the same issue as you and found the easiest option was to 
simply force Windows to kill any open WMP instances within my build 
script so I would not have to remember to manually close it first.  
Below is what I use with Visual Studio Code as my IDE of choice and 
Lilypond running within WSL.  The main part you'll be interested in is 
right near the beginning of build.sh.

==== .vscode/build.sh ====
#!/usr/bin/env bash

close_wmplayer=1
format=pdf
crop=0

function build {
  # NOTE: Windows Media Player locks files it has opened.
  # This prevents LilyPond from generating a new MIDI file.
  # The workaround is to forcefully close all instances of
  # the player to ensure the build process works reliably.
  if (( $close_wmplayer == 1)); then
    taskkill //im wmplayer.exe 2>/dev/null
    close_wmplayer=0
  fi

  for file in $1; do
    args=( -dno-point-and-click )
    (( $crop == 1 )) && args+=( -dcrop -dno-print-pages )
    case $format in
      ps) args+=( --ps ) ;;
      pdf) args+=( --pdf ) ;;
      png) args+=( -dresolution=300 --png ) ;;
      svg) args+=( -dbackend=svg ) ;;
    esac
    args+=( "$file" )
    echo "# wsl lilypond ${args[@]}"
    wsl lilypond ${args[@]}
  done
}

while :; do
  case $1 in
    --ps|--ps-crop) format=ps; [[ "$1" =~ -crop$ ]] && crop=1 || crop=0 
;;
    --pdf|--pdf-crop) format=pdf; [[ "$1" =~ -crop$ ]] && crop=1 || 
crop=0 ;;
    --png|--png-crop) format=png; [[ "$1" =~ -crop$ ]] && crop=1 || 
crop=0 ;;
    --svg|--svg-crop) format=svg; [[ "$1" =~ -crop$ ]] && crop=1 || 
crop=0 ;;
    -?*) printf 'WARN: Unknown option (ignored): %s\n' "$1" >&2 ;;
    ?*) build $1 ;;
    *) break
  esac
  shift
done
====

==== .vscode/tasks.json ====
{
  // See https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=733558
  // for the documentation about the tasks.json format
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "tasks": [
    {
      "label": "LilyPond (PS)",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": ".vscode/build.sh",
      "args": [
        "--ps",
        "${relativeFile}"
      ],
      "group": "build",
      "presentation": {
        "echo": true,
        "reveal": "never",
        "focus": false,
        "panel": "shared",
        "showReuseMessage": false,
        "clear": true
      },
      "problemMatcher": "$gcc"
    },
    {
      "label": "LilyPond (PS, cropped)",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": ".vscode/build.sh",
      "args": [
        "--ps-crop",
        "${relativeFile}"
      ],
      "group": "build",
      "presentation": {
        "echo": true,
        "reveal": "never",
        "focus": false,
        "panel": "shared",
        "showReuseMessage": false,
        "clear": true
      },
      "problemMatcher": "$gcc"
    },
    {
      "label": "LilyPond (PDF)",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": ".vscode/build.sh",
      "args": [
        "--pdf",
        "${relativeFile}"
      ],
      "group": "build",
      "presentation": {
        "echo": true,
        "reveal": "never",
        "focus": false,
        "panel": "shared",
        "showReuseMessage": false,
        "clear": true
      },
      "problemMatcher": "$gcc"
    },
    {
      "label": "LilyPond (PDF, cropped)",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": ".vscode/build.sh",
      "args": [
        "--pdf-crop",
        "${relativeFile}"
      ],
      "group": "build",
      "presentation": {
        "echo": true,
        "reveal": "never",
        "focus": false,
        "panel": "shared",
        "showReuseMessage": false,
        "clear": true
      },
      "problemMatcher": "$gcc"
    },
    {
      "label": "LilyPond (PNG)",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": ".vscode/build.sh",
      "args": [
        "--png",
        "${relativeFile}"
      ],
      "group": "build",
      "presentation": {
        "echo": true,
        "reveal": "never",
        "focus": false,
        "panel": "shared",
        "showReuseMessage": false,
        "clear": true
      },
      "problemMatcher": "$gcc"
    },
    {
      "label": "LilyPond (PNG, cropped)",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": ".vscode/build.sh",
      "args": [
        "--png-crop",
        "${relativeFile}"
      ],
      "group": "build",
      "presentation": {
        "echo": true,
        "reveal": "never",
        "focus": false,
        "panel": "shared",
        "showReuseMessage": false,
        "clear": true
      },
      "problemMatcher": "$gcc"
    },
    {
      "label": "LilyPond (SVG)",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": ".vscode/build.sh",
      "args": [
        "--svg",
        "${relativeFile}"
      ],
      "group": "build",
      "presentation": {
        "echo": true,
        "reveal": "never",
        "focus": false,
        "panel": "shared",
        "showReuseMessage": false,
        "clear": true
      },
      "problemMatcher": "$gcc"
    },
    {
      "label": "LilyPond (SVG, cropped)",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": ".vscode/build.sh",
      "args": [
        "--svg-crop",
        "${relativeFile}"
      ],
      "group": "build",
      "presentation": {
        "echo": true,
        "reveal": "never",
        "focus": false,
        "panel": "shared",
        "showReuseMessage": false,
        "clear": true
      },
      "problemMatcher": "$gcc"
    }
  ]
}
====


-- Aaron Hill