Display Sheet Music in Windows Application

[GammaS]

I am developing a Visual Basic program using Visual Studio 2010 in conjunction with Finale's MusicXML export Function. Once I export an XML file from Finale, I would like to use this file to display the music In the Windows application I am developing. I am new to using XML files and I understand this might be a bit afar from this forum's topics, but even just knowing if this is possible would be a big help. Could you point me in the right direction to get started? I am a long time user of Finale. My current Version is Finale 2012. I would appreciate any help you can offer. Thank you,
GammaS

[Mogens Lundholm]

I have made a program to play the Music Xml. I have made some diagrams for the state
machine.

My consideration is this.

Music Xml is described in the DTD (Document Type Definition - this link:
http://www.musicxml.com/for-developers/musicxml-dtd/).

I have used the attached diagrams to make a state machine reading Music Xml
A better approach would be to make a program to convert the DTD to a state machine.

Such programs may even already exist. I am considering making a program to make this
state machine out of the DTD.

I have noticed this while working with my program: Reading Midi files, you work and
suddenly it works and you are finished. The Midi format is simple and the base is the
notes to be played. But Music Xml is very big and complicated and you can never say that
you are finished, all the time there will be new things coming up. Music Xml is seen
from a note sheet - music is graphics.

This forum has people working with Music Xml. Tell us about your experience and
tools to process the Music Xml file. My next step might be to make a program reading the
Music Xml description (DTD) and make a state machine out of it.

Regards
Mogens

[Cecilio Salmeron]

Hi GammaS,

MusicXML is just a representation format, it is analogous to an html file. To render an html page it you need a you need a rendering engine (a browser). Analogously, to render a MusicXML score you need a specific music score rendering engine.

Therefore, you have two options: finding a library that will provide you all functions needed for rendering MusicXML (i don't know about any) or developing it by yourself (a really complex task).

I'm currently working on an free open source library (BSD 2-clause) for rendering music eBooks, not only scores but also images and texts
(http://www.lenmus.org/en/lomse/intro). It currently supports MusicXML scores but its development state is just very preliminary. It currently only supports very simple scores. In my the web site you could find examples and tutorials on how to use the library in your application (sorry, no specific example for Visual Basic!). See, for instance http://lenmus.org/en/lomse/tutorial-1-win32. Maybe the tutorials are not up to date.

You are welcome to join this project if you are interested. I am alone working on this and creating a working group of three-four developers would be ideal!

Send me a PM if you are interested or have questions!

Regards,
Cecilio

[Michael Good]

As Cecilio mentions, developing a MusicXML renderer is a complex task. Depending on your needs, timeframe, and budget, you may want to consider licensing one of the available MusicXML rendering toolkits. I've seen both of these work well in commercial products. They are:

• Music Notation SDK
• SeeScore SDK