Skink version 0.9c, 8 Jan 2002
Wil Macaulay wil@syndesis.com http://celticmusic.ca

Skink is a java application which supports the abc 1.6 standard. It can open, edit, save, and display abc files.

My goal was to have a lightweight abc editor that can be used as a portable tunebook on a laptop to display tunes so that I can practice when I travel, as well as a basic abc display program that I can run under Solaris to look at abc files that arrive in my mailbox. As a result, I focused on creating a legible staff display that is small enough to be usable on a laptop with an 800 by 600 screen.

Skink is freeware. I may decide to make it shareware in the future, depending mostly on how much work it ends up being to support on multiple platforms. With the release of Mac OS X and the iBook, any Java program can easily create PDF quality output and print it. I have moved my major development environment from a ThinkPad with Win NT 4 to an iBook under OS X. Java version 1.2 has good enough printing support that I thought it worthwhile putting in a print menu selection; I will be working on making printing better in the next release.

This version of Skink is still a pre-release but is more stable and usable than the last one. It has been tested under Mac OS X 10.1.2, Windows NT workstation version 4 with Java 1.3.1, Solaris 2.7 under Java 1.2.2, Solaris 2.8 with Java 1.2.2 and 1.3.1 and Macintosh under MacOS 9.04 and MRJ 2.2. (Java 1.1 with Swing)

The Macintosh OS 9 version is available at http://www.geocities.com/w_macaulay/Skink.hqx

The Windows/Unix version is at http://www.geocities.com/w_macaulay/skink.tar.gz

The Mac OS X version is at http://www.geocities.com/w_macaulay/Skink.dmg.gz

I _strongly_ recommend at least Mac OS X 10.1.1 for Skink to run properly.

Version 0.3 was run on Linux under JRE 1.2.2 (thanks to Laura Conrad) and on Windows 98 with JRE 1.2.2 (thanks to Steve Mansfield).

A Java runtime environment is necessary to run Skink; you can get one at http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.2/jre/ If you are running a previous version of java (1.1.6 or better) you will need the Swing classes to run Skink. Upgrade if you can (Solaris or WinXX) to at least 1.2.2. Mac OS X ships with JRE 1.3 and I have no reason to believe it would not work on any other platform.

NOTE: Skink is an application, not an applet - it needs to be because it manipulates files. It will not run under your browser, you need the JRE.

Installation
Basic installation instructions (Mac OS X)
Unstuff the DMG and mount it by double-clicking. Drag Skink to the Applications folder

Basic installation instructions (Macintosh)
Ensure you have MRJ 2.2 (comes with MacOS 9.04, can be downloaded for MacOS 8.0 and higher). Unstuff Skink.hqx Doubleclick on Skink - note that Stuffit Expander may unstuff the skink.jar file into individual class files - these can be safely ignored or deleted.

Basic installation instructions (Windows and Unix):
Install JRE 1.2 or better (1.3.1 recommended, see above) Unpack the gzipped tar file into a new directory. under Windows: cd to the directory, enter Skink at the command line, or double click on Skink.bat from the windows file explorer. Skink.jar is an executable jar file - if you have Java 1.2 or later then double-clicking on Skink.jar will start it up. under Unix or Linux (java 1.2 or greater) cd to the directory, java -jar Skink.jar

Getting Started
The abc notation is described at http://www.gre.ac.uk/~c.walshaw/abc/
Example abc files are found in the Samples subdirectory.
When skink first starts up, you will see three window panes and a menu bar. The rightmost pane is the 'tune tree pane', the top left pane is the 'staff pane' and the bottom left pane is the 'abc pane'

Entering abc
abc notation is entered in the abc pane in one of the following ways:
Displaying staff notation
Once the abc notation is in the abc pane, select "Show Tunes" from the Abc menu (note that if you have opened an existing abc file from the menu, this step is unnecessary). In the tune tree pane you will now see a folder icon with the name of the file, with all the tunes in the file below it.

Click on a tune to display the notation in the staff pane. Control-click on several tunes to display them all at once, or click on the folder icon to show all tunes (this may be slow if you have a large number of tunes in the file). You can scroll the staff pane to show more tunes, or resize the window or the pane. You can also use the arrow keys in the tune tree pane to scroll through the file a tune at a time. As you do this, the abc pane will also scroll to show you the abc notation of the tune you are looking at.

Printing
Skink will print the tunes that are selected in the tune tree pane; if you have selected the entire file by clicking on the the folder icon it will print all the tunes.

Displaying/printing multiple files
If you want to print multiple tunes in a particular order, select the first tune and then use (Macintosh) cmd-click or (windows) ctrl-click to select the next tune. Tunes will be displayed in the order you click, and printed in the order they are displayed.

Finding and Fixing errors
If an error is detected when you choose "Show Tunes" from the Abc menu, Skink will display an error message, then will position the insertion point just after the point at which the error was detected. Fix the error and then "Show Tunes" again.

Multi-Voice abc
Some abc packages support multiple voices in abc files; Skink does not as yet. Wait for it...

Enjoy!
Wil Macaulay, Jan 2002

 =====================================
Version 0.9c Jan 8 2002
New Features and Bugfixes
- basic documentation - support for inline K: and M: fields ([K:D][M:3/8])
- better printing support on Solaris and Windows (but see problem list)
- better chord support: handle the (obsolete) +abc+ syntax for chords, and fix a problem with displaying chords with accidentals in them.
- keyboard shortcuts for standard menu commands (edit and file menus)
- fix various layout problems: guitar chord alone on a line, grace notes within chords, header fields (such as W:) with no associated text
- on error, insertion point goes to correct column as well as row
- major speed up on long files
- K:HP now always has stems down for notes, stems up for gracenotes

Limitations and Known Problems
- on Solaris 2.8, there are problems with printing. These don't seem to happen under 2.7. Single page files don't print, multi-page files have the first two pages printed on top of each other, and treble clefs are printed wrong.
- Multi voice (V:) is still not supported
- still problems with interaction between slurs and other constructs. For example: ((3abc) works, (3(abc) does not ({abc}de) works, {abc}(de) does not c<(b a) does not parse
- w: fields are not lined up with music
- no support for text layout in chords ("_xx", "^xx" etc.)
- on the Mac under OS X 10.1 and below, if you drag an abc file onto Skink when it is not yet running, it will start up but not open the file. If you drag the file on when Skink is running the file will be opened. This is a known bug in OS X, and needs to be fixed by Apple.