Guide

Editing a chart

The editor is the file. Stagehand does not keep a second, cleaned-up copy. Spaces you type in a chord line are still there when you reopen it.

Open the editor

• On a chart, tap the pencil (Edit song).
• In attachments, tap Edit Chords and Lyrics.
• In the library, tap Create New Song on the Add Songs sheet (or the + button). The title of the editor is New song until you save.

An existing chart opens as Edit song.

Title, artist, key, topics

The disclosure row Title, artist, key, topics is a shortcut. Typing there writes the matching lines into the file, in the style the file already uses. A ChordPro file gets {title:}, {artist:}, {key:} and {topic:}. A plain-text file gets header lines such as Key:. Stagehand does not convert one style into the other.

Topics are comma-separated. They drive the by-topic index. You can also manage the topic list from Utilities → Editors.

The original key you set here is the file’s key. The target key and capo you use while performing stay outside the file. See Key, capo and transpose.

The text

The body is a monospaced text view of the raw chart. Chords in ChordPro sit in square brackets. A chord attaches to the lyric character that follows it.

{title: Amazing grace}
{key: G}
{start_of_verse}
A[G]mazing [G/B]grace, how [C]sweet the [G]sound
{end_of_verse}

Section markers become the badges on the page. A problem the parser can point at is listed above the text as Line … plus the message, so you can fix it before you leave.

Plain-text and OnSong-style charts use a header block and section labels instead of directives. The shapes are in Chart files. Either way, saving does not reflow your lines.

Key bar

Above the keyboard is a bar of the chords that belong to the song's key, such as D Em F#m G A Bm A7 in D. When the key changes, so do the chords. Tap one to put it in the text in brackets. [ ] inserts a pair of brackets with the cursor between them, or puts brackets around the words you selected. #, b, / and | type that character. The four arrows at the right move the cursor one character left or right, or one line up or down. Hold one to keep moving.

Tap + to add a chord of your own, such as D/F#. It follows the key like the others. Long press an added chord to remove it. The bar belongs to you, not to the chart, so added chords are never written into a file. The bar shows with the on-screen keyboard.

Editor tools

• Rewrite into key (the piano button) changes every chord in the chart to the key you pick, and the chart's key line with it. When you pick a key, or change the Key field, Stagehand asks whether to change the song's chords, only change the key value, or cancel. This changes the file. The key and capo you play in, set on the song, do not. It is one step of Undo.
• Text tools (the hammer): Search and replace changes every match and says how many. Chords Over Lyrics shows the chords on their own line above the words while you edit. The chart is still saved with bracketed chords, and a bracketed bar pattern may be split into separate chords when you switch.
• Undo and Redo buttons.

Preview

On iPad, the preview sits beside the editor. On iPhone, a segmented control switches Edit and Preview. The preview uses the same reader as the song view, including your current key, capo and formatting.

Each line of the text is edited in the direction the chart draws it, so an Arabic line is typed right to left even though it begins with a chord. Lines that start with { stay left to right.

Save and cancel

1. Tap Save to write the file into the current library and return to the chart.
2. Tap Cancel to leave without writing. A new song that you cancel is not added.
3. If the file cannot be saved, an alert explains why and leaves you in the editor.

After a save, the library list updates. Search can find the new lyrics without the chord brackets.

PDFs

A PDF has no ChordPro text to edit. Its title, artist, key and topics are stored in the library index, because they cannot be written into the PDF. Set them from the PDF’s own metadata editor. The key is used for the by-key index only. The page is not transposed.