Import Chord Progressions From Text File

It would be very cool to have a feature to import chord progressions from a text file! This would provide a really quick and easy way to enter a song into BIAB. I was thinking of a format something like this,

C/Dm/ F//G7 Am/G/ F///
Em/// F/// Em/// F///
C/// //// FCGC /F/C

and when the text file imports it would just set up a new BIAB file with the correct number of bars and the chords already in the right places.

Hi there,
Was there any progress on this issue?

I also think its a very important feature that will make BiaB a much more dominant app.

You can import ABC into Biab so you can just format the text to ABC by using find replace in a text editor.

If you copy the text below and save it as Song.abc then Biab > File > Open Special > ABC Notation.

Code:

L:1/8
X:1
T:Demo
L:1/8
K:C  
Q:1/4=120
R:Song Name
M:4/4
| "C" z8 | z8 | z8 | "G" z8 |
| "G" z8 | z8 | z8 | "C" z8 |
| "Am" z8 | z8 | "Dm" z8 | z8 |
| "E7" z8 | z8 | "Am" z8 | z8 |
| "C" z8 | z8 | z8 | "G" z8 |
| "G" z8 | z8 | z8 | "C" z8 |

Originally Posted By: Pipeline

You can import ABC into Biab so you can just format the text to ABC by using find replace in a text editor.

If you copy the text below and save it as Song.abc then Biab > File > Open Special > ABC Notation.

Code:

L:1/8
X:1
T:Demo
L:1/8
K:C  
Q:1/4=120
R:Song Name
M:4/4
| "C" z8 | z8 | z8 | "G" z8 |
| "G" z8 | z8 | z8 | "C" z8 |
| "Am" z8 | z8 | "Dm" z8 | z8 |
| "E7" z8 | z8 | "Am" z8 | z8 |
| "C" z8 | z8 | z8 | "G" z8 |
| "G" z8 | z8 | z8 | "C" z8 |

Didn't work for me. When I tried the import I got a cryptic BIAB error message. "There are no valid ABC format files in Song.abc"

Sorry try it again I left some lines out:

L:1/8
X:1
T:Demo
L:1/8
K:C
Q:1/4=120
R:Song Name
M:4/4
| "C" z8 | z8 | z8 | "G" z8 |
| "G" z8 | z8 | z8 | "C" z8 |
| "Am" z8 | z8 | "Dm" z8 | z8 |
| "E7" z8 | z8 | "Am" z8 | z8 |
| "C" z8 | z8 | z8 | "G" z8 |
| "G" z8 | z8 | z8 | "C" z8 |

So from what I can see L: in the length 1/8

z8 bar
z2 beat
z4 2 beats

| "C" z2 "Am" z2 "G" z4 | "Am" z8 | z8 | "G" z8 |
| "G" z4 "C" z4 | z8 | "G" z8 | z8 |

so bar 1 is C beat 1 Am beat 2 G beat 3 for 2 beats

bar 5 G beat 1 for 2 beats C beat 3 for 2 beats

JJJ:

What would be the advantage of a text file over (say) just entering those chords
into a grid sheet and saving it as (say) "myTemplate01".

You would have to go find the text file anyway, to import it.
Might as well just go find the template?

Am I missing something?

LLOYD S

I just thought users wanted to import song text chords off the internet without having to type them all in ?

Originally Posted By: Lloyd S

JJJ:

What would be the advantage of a text file over (say) just entering those chords
into a grid sheet and saving it as (say) "myTemplate01".

You would have to go find the text file anyway, to import it.
Might as well just go find the template?

Am I missing something?

LLOYD S

It is a lot faster to just type in a text editor than to load BIAB and type everything in.

Originally Posted By: Pipeline

I just thought users wanted to import song text chords off the internet without having to type them all in ?

This is another benefit to this feature.

Originally Posted By: Pipeline

Sorry try it again I left some lines out:

L:1/8
X:1
T:Demo
L:1/8
K:C
Q:1/4=120
R:Song Name
M:4/4
| "C" z8 | z8 | z8 | "G" z8 |
| "G" z8 | z8 | z8 | "C" z8 |
| "Am" z8 | z8 | "Dm" z8 | z8 |
| "E7" z8 | z8 | "Am" z8 | z8 |
| "C" z8 | z8 | z8 | "G" z8 |
| "G" z8 | z8 | z8 | "C" z8 |

Thanks! That worked!

I concede that it would be a lot faster to type in the chords to a word processor (or glean them from the 'net) and then import them into BIAB,
than to type the chords into the BIAB chord grid.

But what happens when you want that same chord sequence to be in a different key?
Then you have to re-type, re-import, rather than use the BIAB transpose button.

Just sayin'

LLOYD S

Originally Posted By: Lloyd S

I concede that it would be a lot faster to type in the chords to a word processor (or glean them from the 'net) and then import them into BIAB,
than to type the chords into the BIAB chord grid.

But what happens when you want that same chord sequence to be in a different key?
Then you have to re-type, re-import, rather than use the BIAB transpose button.

Just sayin'

LLOYD S

Once you import you can just use BIAB's transpose function, right? Why would you need to type any chords and import again?

Aaahhh, of course!

+1 for the initial request - and even more so if it could decipher pdf score sheets in the same manner!

Originally Posted By: Icelander

+1 for the initial request - and even more so if it could decipher pdf score sheets in the same manner!

+1

Originally Posted By: Icelander

+1 for the initial request - and even more so if it could decipher pdf score sheets in the same manner!

+1 for both in that.

Cheers.
Mike.

Even the paid programs that attempt to read chord symbols from PDF files don't always get it right. That would be an incredible leap forward for BIAB to offer it.

I agree. Since it already exports into chordpro format, I would recommend refining this feature and then making import from that format a breeze too.

Biab Text Chord Import

Here's some ABC Chord Import info to allow text chord import:

ABC Notation Header Info

So G=1bar Em=1bar F=1/2bar G=1/2bar F=1/4bar Em=1/4bar G=1/bar F=1/4bar....
So if you save that in Notepad to Pop Song.abc it will import into BB > Open Special ABC Notation..
(BB2019 has an ABC Import bug at the moment and should be fixed soon but earlier versions work)

See also OpenSong and OpenSong Import v1.3

If you have text chords you can copy & paste bar, half bar, quarter bar, start or end in the space between the text chords
eg.
G Em F G F Em G F
G
G Em F C
......

4/4
1bar >" z8 | "
1/2bar >" z4 | "
1/4bar >" z2 | "
empty bar > z8 |
start >|: "
End > :|

Code:

X:1
T:PopSong
L:1/8
K:G  
Q:1/4=120
R:Rhythm
M:4/4
|: "G" z8 | "Em" z8 | "F" z4 "G" z4 | "F" z2 "Em" z2 "G" z2 "F" z2 |
| "G" z8 | z8 | z8 | z8 |
| "G" z8 | "Em" z8 | "F" z8 | "C" z8 |
| "G" z4 "D" z4 | "Em" z8 | "D" z4 "Bm" z4 | "C" z4 "D" z4 |
| "G" z8 | "FMaj7" z8 | "C" z8 | "C" z8 |
| "G" z8 | "FMaj7" z8 | "C" z8 | "G" z8 |
| "G" z8 | "Em" z8 | "F" z8 | "C" z8 |
| "G" z8 | "FMaj7" z8 | "C" z4 "Am" z4 | "G" z8 :|

Code:

X:1
T:PopSong2
L:1/8
K:D  
Q:1/4=120
R:Rhythm
M:3/4
|: "D" z6 | z6 | "A" z6 | z6 |
| "A" z6 | z6 | "D" z6 | z6 |
| "D" z6 | z6 | "A" z6 | z6 |
| "A" z6 | z6 | "D" z6 | z6 |
| "G" z6 | z6 | "D" z6 | z6 |
| "Bm" z6 | "A" z6 | "D" z6 | z6 |
| "G" z6 | z6 | "D" z6 | z6 |
| "Em" z6 | "A" z6 | "D" z6 | z6 :|

You could even create an AutoHotKey script to paste them in with shortcut keys on your keyboard or create a AutoHotKey GUI like the Chord Picker Tool to add them with the click of a button.