#1776 [MusicXMLXMLHandler] "Note type \"sixteenth\" not supported, replaced by a quarter note."

[musewhirl]

A strange log entry, not seen before. I believe I've imported XMLs like this with version [5d7344] before, but I could be wrong since it's been a while. As it stands the log entry makes no sense, but could just be wording.

For testing, I imported an XML with a single 1/16 note at the start of a single bar composition:

<measure number="1">
  <attributes>
    <divisions>960</divisions>
    <key>
      <fifths>3</fifths>
      <mode>major</mode>
    </key>
    <time>
      <beats>4</beats>
      <beat-type>4</beat-type>
    </time>
    <clef>
      <sign>G</sign>
      <line>2</line>
    </clef>
  </attributes>
  <note>
    <pitch>
      <step>E</step>
      <octave>5</octave>
    </pitch>
    <duration>240</duration>
    <type>sixteenth</type>
  </note>
</measure>

Importing that causes the log entry. But the 1/16 note is fine...in fact, everything looks fine for the import in RG itself i.e. the note is not changed to a quarter note.

While investigating, I exported a similar single composition from RG, and RG added the rests to fill the measure in the XML file. When that was imported, no error. So, the error must be trying to refer to the missing rest notes in the XML file to fill the measure? But I've never seen that before, unless new logging was added.

I tried some other combinations of 1/16 notes exported from RG, but I get the feeling that it may always export out so that it can import in without the log entry. On the other hand, my XML did not originate with RG so maybe that is why the log entry appears. I've had, and still have, no issues with it and other XMLs generated with:

<!DOCTYPE score-partwise PUBLIC "-//Recordare//DTD MusicXML 4.0.2 Partwise//EN" "http://www.musicxml.org/dtds/partwise.dtd">

So, the XML file I used was generated by external software as MusicXML 4.0.2, while RG supports MusicXML 2.0. In fact, as far as I can tell, the XML file is still valid for MusicXML 2.0's DTD, which RG supports (may be worth double checking):

This may boil down to:

1. Specifying more clearly which note is at issue (e.g.note and/or rest)
2. Whether this log entry is just an INFO/WARNING or an ERROR?
3. And whether the "not supported" means by RG or MusicXML 2.0.

And obviously there are the consequences, which I could not actually see in my case.

[Philip Leishman]

As far as I can tell "sixteenth" is not a valid note type in MusicXML - it should be "16th"
The warning from the Rosegarden import seems quite adequate - the invalid string is given and this can be searched for in the xml file.
I guess somehow in the import process the note is then transformed into a semiquaver - maybe over the duration.
So:

1. I think giving the invalid string is good enough to find the problem.
2. This is a WARNING.
3. The "not supported" means Rosegarden thinks this is invalid MusicXML data.

[musewhirl]

You're right...it's not the note, but the string sixteenth which has never been valid MusicXML, so the general "not supported" makes sense. However, I didn't interpret the sixteenth in the logs as a string found in the file, even though it had quotes around it in the log. And there in the file right next to it the string eighth which was fine. I just interpreted the whole thing as the general human meaning i.e. a note of duration 1/16, sixteenth or semiquaver. It kind of looked like RG didn't support...well...sixteenths in general, which made no sense. So, even the wording in the log is fine, but it doesn't undo the immediate interpretation of a human.

Having seen sixteenth written for just about forever, I was still a little skeptical and so I tracked the definition to the W3C consortium:

https://www.w3.org/2021/06/musicxml40/musicxml-reference/data-types/note-type-value

Of course, that is MusicXML v4.0, so I wondered whether it had changed from MusicXML v2.0 and ran into a problem I experienced years ago...It was like someone erased the actual v2.0 xsd from the internet! All you can see is new definitions added between versions when I just wanted to see the xsd file "as it originally was". Well, knowing it was released in 2008, the internet archive's Wayback Machine rode to the rescue: https://web.archive.org/web/20080513092123/http://www.musicxml.org/xml.html. Under the DTD Index for notes, finally what I think is the original definition of a note type, even from MusicXML v1.0:

Type indicates the graphic note type, Valid values (from
shortest to longest) are 256th, 128th, 64th, 32nd, 16th,
eighth, quarter, half, whole, breve, and long. The size
attribute indicates full, cue, or large size, with full
the default for regular notes and cue the default for
cue and grace notes.

Then in v4.0's history for v3.0 for "New Values and Definitions":

Added 1024th, 512th, and maxima values to the <type> element.

Now all of the facts are available, and in this case RG even replaces the disallowed sixteenth with 1/16, and everything sounds the same anyway, I can probably live with the blast of all those entries for every 1/16 note in the compositions from those old XML imports. I guess the WARNING must be something added recently.

Feel free to close this one.