chords
An easily customizable Kotlin multi-platform View to display guitar (and other stringed instrument) chords. Simple to use and beautifully designed.
This library has been updated significantly from it's original version and the process is detailed in this blog post which was featured in Android Weekly issue #398.
Building the library
The library is provided through Bintray. Checkout the releases page to get the latest version.
Repository
repositories {
maven {
url = uri("https://dl.bintray.com/chrynan/chrynan")
}
}Dependencies
Core Kotlin Common:
implementation("com.chrynan.chords:chords-core:VERSION")Core Kotlin JVM:
implementation("com.chrynan.chords:chords-core-jvm:VERSION")Core Kotlin JS:
implementation("com.chrynan.chords:chords-core-js:VERSION")Android Library:
implementation("com.chrynan.chords:chords-android:VERSION")Using the library
There are a few main components to using the library:
ChordWidgetis theChordViewimplementation that displays the chord.ChordChartis a class that represents information about the chord chart that will be displayed.Chordis a class that represents the markers on a chord that will be displayed.
Creating an instance of ChordWidget
Android:
<!-- Specify an exact size (MATCH_PARENT, MATCH_CONSTRAINTS, DP value). -->
<com.chrynan.chords.widget.ChordWidget
android:id="@+id/chordWidget"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />Kotlin JS:
val widget = ChordWidget(htmlCanvas)Assigning a ChordChart to a ChordWidget
chordWidget?.chart = ChordChart(
fretStart = FretNumber(1),
fretEnd = FretNumber(2),
stringCount = 6,
stringLabels = setOf(
StringLabel(string = StringNumber(1), label = "e"),
StringLabel(string = StringNumber(2), label = "B"),
StringLabel(string = StringNumber(3), label = "G"),
StringLabel(string = StringNumber(4), label = "D"),
StringLabel(string = StringNumber(5), label = "A"),
StringLabel(string = StringNumber(6), label = "E")))Creating a Chord using the DSL
val chord = chord("G") {
+ChordMarker.Note(
fret = FretNumber(3),
finger = Finger.MIDDLE,
string = StringNumber(6)
)
+ChordMarker.Note(
fret = FretNumber(2),
finger = Finger.INDEX,
string = StringNumber(5)
)
+ChordMarker.Open(string = StringNumber(4))
+ChordMarker.Open(string = StringNumber(3))
+ChordMarker.Note(
fret = FretNumber(3),
finger = Finger.RING,
string = StringNumber(2)
)
+ChordMarker.Note(
fret = FretNumber(3),
finger = Finger.PINKY,
string = StringNumber(1)
)
}Assigning a Chord to a ChordWidget
chordWidget?.chord = chordNote: This library doesn't try to coerce values to fit into a chart or exclude values that exceed the chart bounds. If the ChordChart and Chord have inconsistent values, the ChordWidget may look peculiar.
It's important for the user of the library to properly handle coordinating the different components.
Parsing Chords from other formats
The ChordParser interface takes in an input type and outputs a ChordParseResult. This interface can be implemented for different format input types. There are a couple provided ChordParser implementations.
AsciiChordParser:
AsciiChordParser parses a String input of an ASCII Chord Diagram and outputs a ChordParseResult containing a Chord.
val chordDiagram = """
C
e |-----0------|
B |-----1------|
G |-----0------|
D |-----2------|
A |-----3------|
E |------------|
""".trimIndent()
val parser = AsciiChordParser()
launch {
// parse() is a suspending function and needs to be called from another suspending
// function or a coroutine
val result = parser.parse(chordDiagram)
val chord: Chord = result.chord
val stringLabels: Set<StringLabel> = result.stringLabels
val baseFret: FretNumber? = result.baseFret
}ChordProParser:
ChordProParser parses a String input of a Chord Pro (Chord or Define) Directive and outputs a ChordParseResult containing a Chord.
val chordDiagram = "{define: Bes base-fret 1 frets 1 1 3 3 3 1 fingers 1 1 2 3 4 1}"
val parser = ChordProParser()
launch {
// parse() is a suspending function and needs to be called from another suspending
// function or a coroutine
val result = parser.parse(chordDiagram)
val chord: Chord = result.chord
val stringLabels: Set<StringLabel> = result.stringLabels
val baseFret: FretNumber? = result.baseFret
}Customizing the appearance
ChordWidget implements the ChordView interface which contains properties to alter the appearance of the view.
ChordView:
interface ChordView {
...
var fitToHeight: Boolean
var showFretNumbers: Boolean
var showFingerNumbers: Boolean
var stringLabelState: StringLabelState
var mutedStringText: String
var openStringText: String
var fretColor: ColorInt
var fretLabelTextColor: ColorInt
var stringColor: ColorInt
var stringLabelTextColor: ColorInt
var noteColor: ColorInt
var noteLabelTextColor: ColorInt
...
}Updating properties directly on ChordWidget:
chordWidget?.noteColor = Color.BLUE
chordWidget?.openStringText = "o"Note: That in Kotlin JS, you have to explicitly call the render() function after updating properties on the ChordWidget.
Updating properties using a ViewModel and Binder:
val binder = ChordViewBinder(chordWidget)
val viewModel = ChordViewModel(
fretColor = Color.BLACK,
fretLabelTextColor = Color.WHITE,
stringLabelTextColor = Color.BLACK,
stringColor = Color.BLACK,
noteColor = Color.BLACK,
noteLabelTextColor = Color.WHITE)
binder.bind(viewModel)Note: That in Kotlin JS, there is a convenience function ChordViewBinder.bindAndRender() which will bind the properties from the ChordViewModel to the ChordWidget and call render().
Updating properties in Android XML:
<com.chrynan.chords.widget.ChordWidget
android:id="@+id/chordWidget"
android:layout_width="200dp"
android:layout_height="300dp"
app:stringLabelState="label"
app:showFretNumbers="false"/>Available Android XML Attributes:
<attr name="fretColor" format="color"/>
<attr name="fretLabelTextColor" format="color"/>
<attr name="stringColor" format="color"/>
<attr name="stringLabelTextColor" format="color"/>
<attr name="noteColor" format="color"/>
<attr name="noteLabelTextColor" format="color"/>
<attr name="mutedStringText" format="string"/>
<attr name="openStringText" format="string"/>
<attr name="showFingerNumbers" format="boolean"/>
<attr name="showFretNumbers" format="boolean"/>
<attr name="stringLabelState" format="enum">
<enum name="number" value="0"/>
<enum name="label" value="1"/>
<enum name="hide" value="2"/>
</attr>
<attr name="fitToHeight" format="boolean"/>
<attr name="fretLabelTypeface" format="reference"/>
<attr name="noteLabelTypeface" format="reference"/>
<attr name="stringLabelTypeface" format="reference"/>Selectable Chord names in Text using Android Spans
The library comes with a ChordSpan which allows the pairing of text with a Chord. And when the ChordSpan is selected, a listener is alerted with the Chord.
Adding a ChordSpan to a TextView:
val text = SpannableString("G")
val span = ChordSpan(chord, this) // "this" refers to the listener
text.setSpan(span, 0, 1, Spannable.SPAN_INCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE)
textView?.text = text
// Need to specify LinkTouchMovementMethod as the movement method for clicks to work
textView?.movementMethod = LinkTouchMovementMethod()Using DSL functions to add a ChordSpan to a TextView:
val textBuilder = buildSpannableString {
+chordSpan(chord, listener)
+chordSpan("G", chord) {
// Handle click event
}
+styledChordSpan(chord, listener) {
this.backgroundColor = Color.BLUE
}
}
textView?.text = textBuilder
// Need to specify LinkTouchMovementMethod as the movement method for clicks to work
textView?.movementMethod = LinkTouchMovementMethod()Listening to Chord selected events:
class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity(),
ChordSpan.ChordSelectedListener {
override fun onChordSpanSelected(chord: Chord) {
// Perform action with chord
}
}Customizing the ChordSpan appearance:
ChordSpan extends from TouchableSpan which inherits from TouchableSpanView and has the following customizable properties:
var backgroundColor = Color.TRANSPARENT
var selectedBackgroundColor = Color.TRANSPARENT
var textColor = Color.BLUE
var selectedTextColor = Color.BLUE
var isUnderlined = false
var isUnderlinedWhenSelected = false
var textTypeface = Typeface.DEFAULT
var selectedTextTypeface = Typeface.DEFAULTThese properties can be changed on the span:
span.textColor = Color.REDPassing Chords between Android components
The model classes are not Parcelable because they are in a Kotlin multi-platform module and don't have access to Android Framework classes. But the Android library module does have wrapper classes that handle the serialization and de-serialization of the Chord and ChordChart models.
These classes are ParcelableChordWrapper and ParcelableChartWrapper. To pass Chord and ChordChart between components, such as, in a Bundle, just wrap them with their respective wrapper models.
arguments =
Bundle().apply {
putParcelable(KEY_CHORD, ParcelableChordWrapper(chord))
putParcelable(KEY_CHART, ParcelableChartWrapper(chart))
}Then retrieve the wrappers just as you would with any other Parcelable object.
arguments?.getParcelable<ParcelableChordWrapper>(KEY_CHORD)
arguments?.getParcelable<ParcelableChartWrapper>(KEY_CHART)For convenience, there are extension functions on the Bundle and Intent objects which handle the wrapping and unwrapping of the Chord and ChordChart objects.
Bundle:
arguments =
Bundle().apply {
putChord(KEY_CHORD, chord)
putChordChart(KEY_CHART, chart)
}
val chord = arguments?.getChord(KEY_CHORD)
val chart = arguments?.getChordChart(KEY_CHART)Intent:
intent.putChord(KEY_CHORD, chord)
intent.putChordChart(KEY_CHART, chart)
val chord = intent.getChordExtra(KEY_CHORD)
val chart = intent.getChordChartExtra(KEY_CHART)There is also a convenience ChordAndChart class (with similar Parcelable extension functions) for when both a Chord and a ChordChart need to be passed between Android components together.
val chordAndChart = ChordAndChart(chord = chord, chart = chordChart)
// Bundle
arguments = bundle.putChordAndChart(KEY_CHORD_AND_CHART, chordAndChart)
arguments?.getChordAndChart(KEY_CHORD_AND_CHART)
// Intent
intent.putChordAndChartExtra(KEY_CHORD_AND_CHART, chordAndChart)
intent.getChordAndChartExtra(KEY_CHORD_AND_CHART)Samples
Checkout the sample modules for examples on using the library.
License
Copyright 2020 chRyNaN
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.

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