Re: Choose paper size and layout with command line options?

[Knute Snortum]

On Sun, Aug 7, 2022 at 4:03 PM M Sun <chris.corsair@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I’m writing a sheet targeting two different paper sizes, with some
> layout adjustments. My goal is to be able to specify (maybe
> indirectly) the paper size in command line, without changing the
> lilypond file itself. My initial set up was this:
>
>   \version "2.23.2"
>   #(set! paper-alist
>     (cons '("kobo" . (cons (* 15.7 cm) (* 20.9 cm))) paper-alist))
>   #(set-global-staff-size 18)
>   \paper {
>     top-margin = 0
>     bottom-margin = 0
>     left-margin = 5
>     right-margin = 0
>   }
>   #(set-default-paper-size "kobo")
>   \score { \new Staff {a b c}}
>
> As you can see this is a cramped layout for a small paper size. Now I
> also want a version with a normal layout on us-letter size, so I
> removed the set-global-staff-size line, and the paper block, and
> changed the paper size to “letter”. The file became this:
>
>   \version "2.23.2"
>   #(set! paper-alist
>     (cons '("kobo" . (cons (* 15.7 cm) (* 20.9 cm))) paper-alist))
>   #(set-default-paper-size "letter")
>   \score { \new Staff {a b c}}
>
> These worked. But like I mentioned my goal is to be able to switch
> between these two setups in command line, without changing the file.
> My idea was to set a variable in the command line using “-e”, and in
> the file choose the layout and paper size based on the variable.
> Here’s my code:
>
>   \version "2.23.2"
>
>   #(define (configOutput spec)
>     (cond
>      ((eqv? spec 'letter) (set-default-paper-size "letter"))
>      ((eqv? spec 'kobo)
>       (set! paper-alist
>        (cons '("kobo" . (cons (* 15.7 cm) (* 20.9 cm))) paper-alist))
>       (set-global-staff-size 18)
>       #{ \paper {
>       top-margin = 0
>       bottom-margin = 0
>       left-margin = 5
>       right-margin = 0 }
>       #}
>       (set-default-paper-size "kobo"))
>      (default nil)))
>
>   #(use-modules (guile-user))
>   #(configOutput output-spec)
>
>   \score { \new Staff {a b c}}
>
> Then in the shell I ran a command like this:
>
>   lilypond -e "(define-public output-spec 'kobo)" test.ly
>
> This produced the output with the “kobo” paper size. Or I could change
> that “kobo” to “letter” and it’d produce with the “letter” paper size.
>
> This *almost* worked, except that the \paper block didn’t take effect.
> This is where I’m lost. How should I make this work?

I believe it's as easy as:

lilypond -dpaper-size="kobo" test.ly

--
Knute Snortum