Drag-and-Drop

You can use the drag-and-drop feature to work with Microsoft DirectMusic Producer components. The simplest example of this is dragging part of a component to share with another component of the same type, such as dragging a pattern from one style to another, or dragging a chord from one chordmap to another.

More advanced examples of using the drag-and-drop feature involve placing entire components within other components, such as dragging a style from the project tree to the style track of a segment, or dragging a band from within a style to the band track of a segment.

In most cases, dragging an item from one place to another in the DirectMusic Producer window creates a copy of the item, leaving the original intact. If the original is not left in place, you can hold the CTRL key and drag the item to create a copy in the new location and leave the original item intact. You can use this method throughout DirectMusic Producer to duplicate an item or group of items.

Important Do not set a component in one project to refer to a component in a different project. This can be a risk to the data in your files.

Following are some examples of time-saving, drag-and-drop actions:

• Drag an object beyond the left, right, upper, or lower edge of the project tree or an editing window to scroll the window and display hidden regions.
• Drag a chord from a chordmap to a segment, to another chordmap, or to another measure in the original chordmap.
• Drag a band from the project tree to the band strip of a style or a segment.
• Drag a band from the Bands folder of a style onto the icon of a motif in the project tree, or drag a band from a motif onto the icon of a style.
• Open a style using the Style Designer and drag a band from the Bands list to the icon of another style in the project tree.
• Drag a groove or embellishment marker from the groove track of one segment to another.
• Drag a pattern or motif from one style to another, or press CRTL and drag the pattern or motif within the same style to create a copy with a new name.
• Drag a pattern in the project tree from the pattern folder to the motif folder of a style.
• Drag selected notes in a pattern or a sequence to move them, or press CTRL and drag the notes to place a copy on a different beat or measure.
• Drag selected chords in the Chord Path window of a chordmap to move them, or press CTRL and drag the chords to place a copy on a different beat or position in the Chord Path window.

When you click an item to drag it, a faint dragging icon appears; this icon moves with the cursor. The icon usually appears as a semitransparent rectangle with an icon or other symbol that represents the item you are dragging. For example, the following illustration shows the dragging cursor with the icon of a band being dragged in the project tree.

As you drag items around, you will recognize the appearance of the dragging icon as confirmation that you are moving the item you want to move. When you drag an item in the project tree, and hold the dragging cursor over another component, the internal icon and folders contained in the subcomponent are displayed in the tree.

You will also occasionally see a small plus (+) sign in the dragging icon rectangle. This indicates that a copy of the item will be made if you drop the item in the location beneath the cursor. For example, you might intend to drag a band from a style to a segment. Without querying you, DirectMusic Producer automatically creates a copy of the band and places it in the segment, exactly as if you had pressed CTRL while dragging the band.

If the icon or symbol for the item you are dragging changes to include a "not allowed" symbol, then the cursor is pointing to a destination that cannot accept the dragged item. For example, the following illustration shows a band being dragged onto the icon of a chordmap. A chordmap cannot contain a band, and so the icon of the band has a "not allowed" symbol over it.