LyricViewer Version 1.1.13
Copyright 2004 by David Piepgrass
Last Major Version Released November 28, 2001
Last Minor Version Released February 12, 2004

Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Licence
3. How to use
4. Notes
5. Lyric File Format
6. Conclusion


1. Introduction

This is a simple program that manages a list of lyrics for songs.  The lyrics are stored on disk in a simple text file format.

2. Licence

You are permitted to use this program and its source under the terms of the GNU GPL.  See copying.txt.

3. How to use

To start the program, double-click LyricViewer.exe.

This is a do-it-yourself product.  Type in the information about the song in the various fields, then type or paste the lyrics into the main area at the bottom of the window.  Create new lyrics using "Song | Add New" or pressing Ctrl+N.  The songs you've created are listed in the combo box at the top of the window.  All the songs are stored in a single file which you can save or load using the File menu.  You can cycle through the songs using Alt+PageUp and Alt+PageDn.

Once you have a lot of lyrics, you'll want to be able to
1. Start the LyricViewer and load the lyric file quickly, and
2. Find the song you want quickly.

There are two ways to accomplish (1).
- Shortcut approach: create a shortcut to LyricViewer.exe and put it someplace convient like the desktop or quick launch bar.  Then, right-click on the shortcut and choose properties.  The "Target" field on the properties box should show the full path to LyricViewer.exe; append the full path of the lyric file you want to use in quotes.  For example, if the lyric file is C:\Music\Lyrics.txt, the target field should be changed to something like:
	"C:\Program Files\LyricViewer\LyricViewer.exe" "C:\Music\Lyrics.txt"
- File association approach: Think of a unique extension for your lyric file and rename it to use that extension.  For example, you might name your lyric file music.lyrics (i.e. extension .lyrics).  Then, double-click on the file.  You will be asked to select a program with which to open the file; browse to the location of LyricViewer.exe and it.  After that, any time you double-click that file (or any other file with that special extension), LyricViewer will be used to open it.

To find the song you want quickly, press Ctrl+F to bring up the "Find Song" box.  This box is designed so that you don't need to use a mouse (although you can, of course).  Start typing words that are in the artist or song title.  The songs that match appear immediately, and the first song found is selected.  If more than one song is found, use the up/down arrow keys to select the right song, then press Enter to show the song.  You can search the lyrics too by typing a star (*) anywhere on the search line (except within quotes).  To find an exact phrase, enclose it in quotes (note: the punctuation you use, if any, must match that in the song).  For example, to find REM's Man on the Moon, you might type:
	"make the list"*

4. Notes

This program is written in VB6 and needs the VB6 runtime DLL, which is available on my web site (the address of my web site can be found at the end of this document).  Place the DLL in your system folder; if you don't know where that is, then place it in the same folder as LyricViewer.exe.

You can sort the lyric list with Tools | Sort.

You can merge two lyric files with File | Merge.  The merged file retains the file name of the file you opened first (with File | Open). I use this function when I happen to update the lyric file separately on my laptop and desktop computers.  I use qFileSync (also on my web site) which tells me when I have conflicting updates.  When a conflict happens, I load one copy of the lyrics, merge in the other copy, then invoke Tools | Find Duplicates to eliminate the songs which are in common between the files.

5. Lyric file format

For some years I collected lyrics from various songs into a text file for quick access, and this program natively reads the text file I made.
I used to get lyrics from www.lyrics.ch, which used to be a great site for getting lyrics until the cops raided them for violating the copyrights of the music empires.  Anyway, that site spit out web pages of the format:

Artist
Song Title
Album

<Lyrics>

The basic lyric file format is simply this, with each song separated by two blank lines.  When the program sees two blank lines, it is interpreted as the start of a new song; the first paragraph of the new song is considered the 'header'.  The header contains everything except the lyrics.  In order to specify information besides the artist, song title, or album in the header, named fields are used in the form:

FieldName: Value

Here is an example header:

Weird Al
King of Suede
Comment: (parody of "King Of Pain" by The Police)

Colons in the header fields are preceded by backslashes to indicate that they come from the user.  Backslashes are converted to double-backslashes.  Blank lines (in the header or in the lyrics) are written out as a backslash if necessary to prevent misinterpretation.

6. Conclusion

I'm outta here!

- Qwertie (David Piepgrass)
qwertman@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/Qwertie256
