MEI export | VHV documentation

MEI files can be generated from Humdrum data and saved to the local file-system.

Drag-and-drop MEI files

The VHV interface can load MEI files by dragging and dropping them from the desktop onto the VHV page. If you also also press the shift key while drag-and-dropping MEI data, it will first be converted into Humdrum data, and then the Humdrum data will be placed in the text editor.

Note: The MEI-to-Humdrum conversion is not advances as the MusicXML-to-Humdrum converter, so more complex MEI data may not convert to Humdrum properly yet.

Conversion of MEI data into Humdrum

If MEI data is displayed in the text editor, you can use the Edit menu option “Convert to Humdrum” to convert the MEI data into Humdrum data, which replaces the MEI data in the text editor.

Viewing MEI data in the text editor

VHV dynamically converts Humdrum data into MEI data in order to produce graphical music notation. The conversion to MEI is usually done behind the scenes, but this data can be viewed in the text editor by pressing alt-m. To return to the Humdrum-data view press alt-h.

MEI / humdrum toggle example — Humdrum data converted into MEI with alt-m and then back again to Humdrum with alt-h.

The MEI data can be edited, and the notation editor contents will be updated to reflect the changes (alt-f may be useful when editing the MEI data). You can click on a note in the notation editor, and the corresponding MEI element for the note will come into view; however, graphic editing commands will not work with MEI data.

Warning: Going back to the Humdrum view with the alt-h command will cause any changes in the MEI data to be lost.

Export by copy-and-paste

MEI data can be selected in the text editor and copy-and-pasted into another text editor in the operating system; otherwise, the next section describes how to save the MEI data to a local file.

Downloading MEI files

While viewing MEI data in the text editor, type alt-s to save the context of the text editor to a file called data.txt. The file will be saved wherever your browser saves files, such as in Documents.

Below is a demonstration of converting Humdrum data into MEI data by pressing alt-m and then saving it so a file on the local disk with the alt-s keypress:

MEI save example — MEI content displayed with alt-m and then saved with alt-s.

Loading MEI files by drag-and-drop

The VHV interface can load MEI files by dragging and dropping them from the desktop onto the VHV page:

MEI import example — MEI file imported by drag-and-drop into VHVV.

Try downloading the same MEI file and loading it into VHV in a similar manner (usually save by right-clicking on the link and then choose save link as).

Warning: The graphical notation editing commands cannot be used when MEI data is loaded into the text editor since these commands operate on Humdrum data only.

Copy-and-paste MEI data into text-editor

MEI data can be copy-and-pasted from another source into the VHV text editor. Notation will be generated dynamically from the MEI data and will be updated as the MEI content is changed, but typing <span=”keypress”>alt-h</span> will not convert the MEI data into Humdrum data.