Finale Forum

Is JW Lua out of beta? I googled it, but it took me to a page where all of the options were beta versions.

JW Lua Beta 0.54 is the latest version. As you probably found out, it's available here : http://www.finaletips.nu/index.php/down ... ta-version in various versions (Mac, PC, 32 bit, 64 bit).

JW Lua is technically still in beta, though with the exception of a couple known bugs and a few missing features, it's very complete and stable. For all intents and purposes, you can consider it out of beta.

The only real issue right now is that not a ton of people have adopted it. For the most part, there's a few places you can find scripts. Other than that, you'll have to code your own.

https://nickmazuk.com/Resources/JWLua
https://elbsound.studio/jw-lua-scripts.php
http://finale-logiciel-aide-gravure-mus ... 5#indexlua
http://jwmusic.nu/jwplugins/wiki/doku.p ... ickscripts
http://jwmusic.nu/jwplugins/wiki/doku.p ... ullscripts

If you're interested in learning how to code in JW Lua, I'm in the middle of creating a series on both OFNOTE and my YouTube channel, so choose the medium you prefer.

http://www.rpmseattle.com/of_note/learn ... on-to-lua/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0pRaD9 ... dex=2&t=0s

And if you just want a quick guide to getting started with JW Lua, check out this article:

http://www.rpmseattle.com/of_note/final ... th-jw-lua/

Nick Mazuk wrote:The only real issue right now is that not a ton of people have adopted it.

Very true. It's quite a learning curve, but it's absolutely worth it.

I look forward to your tutorials, Nick. Thanks!

I hadn't looked at the Lua plugin in a long time, so I checked one out concerning an issue that I have a fix for, but most users are not aware how to really fix the issue.

The plugin is one listed on the elbsound website Lua script page. It is number 2, and addresses the Jazz Font issue where the dot is too far to the right on a dotted eighth rest. The plugin moves the dot just fine, but doesn't address the real issue. Once the file is saved and then closed and reopened (or if you Revert to the last saved version), the dot goes back to where it was. So, the plugin is useless, as the one step needed to "fix" the dot so it's new position is permanent is not included in the plugin.

If I knew how to repair the plugin myself, I would. However, I don't have that knowledge.

Zuill

Once the file is saved and then closed and reopened (or if you Revert to the last saved version), the dot goes back to where it was.

That's (probably) the Finale bug, that JW Lua can't fix either. It just seems to not save the position in the file.
It looks like a similar bug in Fin2014/2014.5 where articulations were (sometimes) hidden in the parts when reopening the file: when saving the file they were only hidden in the score, not in the parts. I think that one was fixed in v25.
Have you checked the dot saving problem also in v25 and v26?

JW Lua is very complete and stable

I can confirm this. Although there are some open issues most problems can be solved with JW Lua. An old bug list from 2017 (meanwhile there are a few more bugs) can be found here: https://elbsound.studio/download.php?f= ... shList.pdf

Our Perfect Layout and House Style Plug-in (which was developed for automatically creating the Music Font Comparison and for doing the automatic font conversion for our music font package) use nearly all available JW Lua classes. So yes, you can solve nearly everything in Finale with JW Lua.

If you have a coding problem with JW Lua, write to the JW Lua mailing list.

For regular users (who don't intend to create new scripts), JW Lua is simple to use. Just place the existing scripts that you found in the appropriate folder, restart Finale and you are ready to go. There are dozens of useful scripts out there (look at Nick Mazuk's post).

what is "the appropriate folder"?

In your Plugins folder. I created a subfolder (which appears in the plugins menu) named "JW Lua" in which I placed the plugin itself and all the scripts. I use a Mac, but I assume that there is a Plugins directory in the PC Version.

awesome, thank-you.

some of us are... ummm... REALLY not that computer savvy

Most people I know put JW Lua and all their JW Lua scripts in /Plugins/JW Lua. You have to create the JW Lua folder yourself.

Especially once you start adding new scripts to the plugin menu to act like plugins, it can get really chaotic so it's useful to have them organized in their own folder.

Nick Mazuk wrote:Most people I know put JW Lua and all their JW Lua scripts in /Plugins/JW Lua. You have to create the JW Lua folder yourself.

Especially once you start adding new scripts to the plugin menu to act like plugins, it can get really chaotic so it's useful to have them organized in their own folder.

I tried that, and a message popped up saying I didn't have permission to do that. It wanted to put things elsewhere. I found a folder in my downloads folder, and asked the Lua plugin to look there, so it's now up, and running. I was able to add the Jazz Font Move Dots script (using copy/paste) to the folder.

Now, about the Jazz Font Dot script, I would love to see if Lua can do what I am able to do with the JW Change plugin regarding getting the extra command I need in the Lua script. The whole programming paradigm is a bit beyond me. I think I can at least learn something. The step that the Lua script is missing, in the JW Change plugin is in Rests/Placement. The setting is Default-Centered on staff. I am not sure the programing command that the Change plugin uses, so I don't know how to get the Lua script to duplicate that.

Can anybody help?

Zuill

I tried that, and a message popped up saying I didn't have permission to do that. It wanted to put things elsewhere. I found a folder in my downloads folder, and asked the Lua plugin to look there, so it's now up, and running. I was able to add the Jazz Font Move Dots script (using copy/paste) to the folder.

Interesting. I know on macOS at least you may need to authenticate with an admin's username and password to create a new folder there. I don't know exactly how Windows works in that regard, though.

As far as the Jazz Font Dotted Eighth Rest issue, I have come to the conclusion that using the JW Change plugin is a thousand times easier than using the Lua Script. With the Change plugin, it not only repositions the dot, but makes it stick. And it takes 2 simple steps, which can be combined once applied, for future use. I guess I should stick with what's known and what's easy.

Zuill