Create new song

Found under: Settings > Song actions > Add songs > Create new song

OpenSongApp works best with OpenSong formatted songs obviously.  It will help you import and convert ChordPro, iOS / OnSong files and text files into OpenSong format.

OpenSongApp will also let you view PDF/Image files as songs, but you will not be able to edit the song content, transpose the chords, etc.  OpenSongApp will give you the option of extracting text from a PDF/Image file and try to convert it to OpenSong format.

To create a blank song from scratch, you can click on 'Create new song'.  This then opens up the 'Edit Song' page which you should read if you are unsure of how to format an OpenSong song.

OpenSong songs are XML files, which usually don't end with the .xml file extension.

There are multiple xml tags referring to song properties, such as title, key, lyrics, etc.  Song files created in OpenSongApp are fully compatible with the desktop OpenSong software, however, some special xml tags are ignored.

You don't have to manually work with the xml file, although it is worth knowing what it should look like!  

A typical song file structure is shown below.  Italicised lines are only used by OpenSongApp and are ignored by the desktop version of OpenSong.

XML song file structure

<song>

    <title>The song title</title>

    <author>Author</author>

    <copyright>Copyright</copyright>

    <presentation>Order of sections</presentation>

    <hymn_number>Hymn number</hymn_number>

    <capo print="true">Capo fret</capo>

    <tempo>Tempo</tempo>

    <time_sig>Time signature</time_sig>

    <duration>Length of the song in seconds for autoscroll</duration>

    <predelay>Time in seconds to delay the start of autoscroll</predelay>

    <ccli>Song ccli number</ccli>

    <theme>Theme/Tag for this song (for searching)</theme>

    <alttheme>Alternative themes/tags</alttheme>

    <user1>Additional user field</user1>

    <user2>Additional user field</user2>

    <user3>Additional user field</user3>

    <key>Key</key>

    <aka>Also known as (for searching)</aka>

    <midi>Midi commands sent when the song is loaded</midi>

    <midi_index>Midi reference for this song (not yet implemented)</midi_index>

    <notes>Sticky notes for the song</notes>

    <lyrics>LYRICS AND CHORDS</lyrics>

    <pad_file>Information about which pad file should be used for this song</pad_file>

    <custom_chords>Custom chord fingerings used in this song</custom_chords>

    <link_youtube>Web address for song on YouTube</link_youtube>

    <link_web>Web address for information about this song</link_web>

    <link_audio>Link to a media file for this song (can be used as pad)</link_audio>

    <loop_audio>Should audio file/pad loop</loop_audio>

    <link_other>Link to any other file associated with this song</link_other>

    <abcnotation>ABC notation for music score</abcnotation>

    <abctranspose>ABC transpose setting</abcnotation>

</song>

Please be aware that any content inside xml tags has to be XML safe.  This means it can't have the < > characters and any ampersands (&) must be HTML encoded to &amp;  When you edit a song inside the app, the app will fix any non safe characters (< is converted to &lt; > is converted to &gt; and & is converted to &amp;).  If you edit the XML file manually, please remember to only use XML safe characters!