WIDesigner Release Package and Sample Files - edwardkort/WWIDesigner GitHub Wiki

Introduction

A WIDesigner release comes as a .zip file that contains a folder/directory tree. Extract the contents of the .zip file to a suitable place on your computer hard drive. In most cases, this is the only necessary step in the installation. The top level contains the executable .jar file for WIDesigner: WIDesigner-n.n.n.jar. In most environments, you can launch WIDesigner by double-clicking on this .jar file. The top level also contains some text files that describe the release and additional steps that may be necessary if you are running Unix/Linux, or a Java version greater than 8.

Below the top level are the following subfolders/subdirectories:

  • lib-n.n: Contains .jar files for library components that WIDesigner release n.n uses.
  • FluteStudy, NafStudy, ReedStudy, WhistleStudy: These contain sample data files for each class of instrument.
  • constraints: Contains constraints data files for the WIDesigner optimizers, in subdirectories FluteStudyModel, NafStudyModel, ReedStudyModel, WhistleStudyModel.

For each of the study models, the sample directory contains at least two subdirectories: instruments and tunings.

instruments contains XML data files for sample instruments of the instrument class. These samples are a good starting point for creating your own instruments. When you create your own instrument from a sample file, be sure to save it using File-->Save As... so you don't overwrite the original sample file.

tunings contains XML data files for tunings relevant to the instrument class. Again, you can use these files as a starting point for creating your own tunings, but be sure to save your tuning using File-->Save As... so you don't overwrite the original sample file.

For some study models, the sample directories include other subdirectories, for fingerings, scales, symbols, and temperaments. The sample files in these subdirectories contain subsets of the information in a tuning file. The Tuning File Wizard can read these samples when you are building a full tuning file from component parts. Page 2 of the wizard reads and writes symbols, page 3 reads and writes temperaments, page 4 reads symbols and temperaments, page 5 reads and writes scales, page 6 reads and writes fingerings, page 7 reads scales and fingerings, and reads and writes tunings.

WIDesigner uses the constraints directory, as specified on the WIDesigner Options, for opening and saving constraints files via the File menu. The WIDesigner release includes a few sample constraints files for particular optimizations. You can create your own constraints files using File-->Create default constraints and File-->Create blank constraints.