Presently with Band-in-a-Box 2018 a user can check a checkbox that permits multiple instances of Band-in-a-Box to be open at the same time.

However, the feature is not as effective as it can be because a copy and paste function is not included.

The addition of being able to move bar information between open chord sheets would greatly enhance how useful Band-in-a-Band can be.

One question for discussion is what data should be selected; chords or both chords and F5 settings?

Another question is should the feature enhancement just be copy and paste or should there also be a way to cut and paste between instances? If there should be cut and paste what happens to the bars the data comes from?

Hi Jim,

I hadn't even noticed that this wasn't possible.

Passing this one along, good call.

Cheers
Kent
PG Music

Thanks, Kent. We’ve had several discussions about this recently, including some workarounds. I’m glad you’re on the case.

http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=465218#Post465218

There are plenty of programs out there that already set the standard so this shouldn't be too hard. Copy everything and paste everything that is related to the cell. Or, and I hesitate to even dream of this, do it like Excel and allow pasting of various options.

Thanks Kent for passing this along. We do hope the developers believe it's worthy of the same consideration.

+1



Another +1 for Kent.

Yeah - that would be REALLY nice to be able to cut and paste between open instances of the windows. It would save me SOOO much time either rekeying in chord progressions or entire sections of an arrangement.

If this feature is added, it will be interesting to see if the rare corrupted song can be rescued by copy/paste to another instance of BIAB.

Or if the corruption follows so the location of the corruption can be narrowed down to the location of a selected bar or bars. That is part of the reason I was hoping there would be some discussion about how to handle cut and paste versus copy and paste.

Imagine if someone discovers bar 13 is corrupted. Then the user can decide to stop moving data or continue on. But, why would you need to continue on if all the data in bar 13 was erased and bar 13 was now an empty bar?

Yes, good thinking Jim. This feature offers lots of potential features depending on how it’s implemented.

+1

This feature shouldn't be on the wish list, it should simply work. It's a pretty standard feature in any other program I use.

I agree Cerio, but as you know here, if you want even a basic feature, it's better to request it !
We don't always understand all the things ....

This is still the best place and way to request features.

Cerio, I agree with you but, for whatever reason, Band-in-a-Box does not use the Windows clipboard feature to temporarily store data outside an application so Ctrl-C to copy and Ctrl-V to paste does not work between multiple instances of Band-in-a-Box.

I hope you will respond with a +1 to support this wishlist request.

I know, right? It is like buying a car only to find out some industry standard "feature" like interior lighting has simply been omitted! Yeah, the car still works but...

For blatantly obvious things like this it would be appropriate for PGM to simply post "Whoops, it will be fixed asap!"

<< The addition of being able to move bar information between open chord sheets would greatly enhance how useful Band-in-a-Band can be. >>

<< For blatantly obvious things like this, this feature offers lots of potential features depending on how it’s implemented. >>

Just as I was blatantly oblivious to how color coded bars would greatly speed up the work flow for modern users in a post in the BIAB for Windows forum, I find myself in the same sad shape with the two notated comments above.


I've spent the afternoon thinking of potential benefits this feature could greatly enhance any current use that I task Biab to provide. It is absolutely elementary and fast to copy/move/paste within a single session of Biab. The Control Z command allows me to experiment to my hearts content with variations of chords, keys, tempos, pushes, shots and rests and exit back to the settings that I began my experimentations at. The Save As command allows me to save as many versions of my experiments as I want.

Honestly, at my age, the thought of keeping track of two or more identical looking sessions, multiple styles, dozens of instruments on various tracks, dozens more of hidden F5 bar settings I've made across 510 bars or more is a daunting task. Not to mention losing track to the bar I've selected to paste 100 chords in the bar...... of which session??? ... ;=)

I don't mean for my query to derail this request in any manner but I do need a reason to give it a plus one with my current lack of understanding.

1) Because if a song file becomes corrupted, or if I go WAY off on a tangent, it may be easier to copy and paste bars of chords between chord sheets than reconstructing what little part I want to keep.

2) If copy and paste worked, there is no assurance that F5 settings would transfer. Will it? Should it? Should a pop up window open to offer choices for what data is copied? I think these are all questions worthy of consideration and discussion.

3) My mind is a terrible thing to waste. Some might even say my mind is already wasted! Cut and paste would save brain neurons.

1) Because if a song file becomes corrupted, or if I go WAY off on a tangent, it may be easier to copy and paste bars of chords between chord sheets than reconstructing what little part I want to keep.

Or simply open the last backup you saved before you tangented or your file corrupted.

2) If copy and paste worked, there is no assurance that F5 settings would transfer. Will it? Should it? Should a pop up window open to offer choices for what data is copied? I think these are all questions worthy of consideration and discussion.

My remarks are directed at you guys asserting this feature, when added, will greatly enhance unnamed, obvious benefits not about questions worthy of consideration and discussion. I believe if you run into issues and have to reboot your project, the best and most convenient option is to open your last known backup. Working in a new session from a known and good backup is more comforting than copy/pasting and hoping it fixes the issue don't you think?

3) My mind is a terrible thing to waste. Some might even say my mind is already wasted! Cut and paste would save brain neurons.

At our age, no guarantees. I don't think copy/paste is of any benefit. See my last paragraph in my previous comment. It directly addresses brain neurons.

Yes, of course, nothing against that, it's just that I really think that basic features like Copy / Paste, Undo, Save / Save as and things like that should simply work properly in any Windows program by default.

Anyway, +1

Bump

Bump

Here is the basic feature of Copy / Paste that allows moving song data between different BIAB projects. Includes title, Style, feel, tempo, key signature, Part Markers, lyrics and Chords. According to the Save special window, the whole song or a range can be saved to the clipboard or a text file.

I would rather have a tabbed (multiple) projects within a single BIAB session.... and copy between those "tabs". Clicking on tab, brings that project forward, with all the settings, etc. It should be much easier to work in one environment (cut, copy, paste) I hope that makes
sense.

RustySpoon#, Multiple project tabs is an interesting idea.

Charlie found how PG Music read what was written in 2018 and sometime between then and now implemented a cut, copy and paste feature that moves data between multiple instances of Band-in-a-Box.

In the earlier posts questions were raised about how will PG Music manage what data, and how data moves, between multiple instances of Band-in-a-Box. The answer is PG Music created a BiaB clipboard to store data and a clipboard window for the user to select what data is managed. The window also allows data to be selected for a range of bars or the whole song and to save data in a text (txt) file.

Prior to bumping this post I looked at the editing functions in 2023 Band-in-a-Box to see if anything like cut, copy and paste between instances was implemented. I did not think to look at the File functions.

So, once again Charlie Fogle can say, "Band-in-a-Box can do that!" I agree it can and more so I'm marking this thread as resolved.

> So, once again Charlie Fogle can say, "Band-in-a-Box can do that!" I agree it can and more so I'm marking this thread as resolved.

Great!