Unicode characters can't be inserted into lyrics boxes

[MRoth1910]

Issue type

UX/Interaction bug (incorrect behaviour)

Description with steps to reproduce

1. Add notes
2. Begin to add lyrics.
3. Use Unicode Hex Keyboard
4. Attempt to enter character
5. "No Note selected" message pops up.

Supporting files, videos and screenshots

Screen.Recording.2024-09-23.at.17.47.23.mov

unicode_mwe.mscz.zip

What is the latest version of MuseScore Studio where this issue is present?

4.4.2

Regression

Yes, this used to work in a previous version of MuseScore 4.x

Operating system

macOS 15.0 Sequoia

Additional context

I probably should have reported this earlier but did not. I've had this issue since at least 4.1 on macOS Ventura 13.4.1.

The problem is that (for example) Latin texts, particularly ecclesiastical Latin with Gregorian chant in modern notation, depend on accented letters available with Unicode but not the basic keyboard (e.g. the glyph in question ǽ (U+01FD) as syllabic accentuation is not absolutely determined by the number of syllables particularly in words of three syllables, to say nothing of languages where there is nothing optional about the diacritic or accent mark.

A related trouble is that copying and pasting moves the cursor to the next note (syllable). This is also infelicitous, but could be ignored if Unicode entry were to be supported again.

Checklist

• This report follows the guidelines for reporting bugs and issues
• I have verified that this issue has not been logged before, by searching the issue tracker for similar issues
• I have attached all requested files and information to this report
• I have attempted to identify the root problem as concisely as possible, and have used minimal reproducible examples where possible

[evertvanaart]

I can confirm that this is reproducible. It's not just for lyrics either, this seems to happen for any text edited directly on the sheet (as opposed to e.g. via a field in the properties tab), for example for (sub)titles, composer name, expression text, etc.

To reproduce, enable the Unicode Hex Input keyboard on OSX, edit any text field, and type e.g. "01FD" while holding down Option/Alt. Specifically, it's the "1" that causes the "No note selected" dialog to pop up. In fact, any digit other than zero seems to trigger this, if I input e.g. "00AA" the character does get added correctly.

Normally Option/Alt + a digit adds an interval to the selected note, so I'm guessing that's what it is trying to do, and the dialog is triggered because no note is selected while editing text.

[evertvanaart]

Looks like it really is trying to insert intervals.

@MRoth1910 as a workaround, you could disable the shortcuts for entering intervals ("Preferences" > "Shortcuts" > search for "Enter interval", double-click on the shortcut to clear it). I've verified that this makes it possible to input hex codes containing non-zero digits.

Digging deeper, it seems the shortcut-related code is getting triggered even though it shouldn't be. For example, when using a regular keyboard and editing text, Alt+1 inserts a special character ("¡") without triggering ShortcutsInstanceModel::doActivate(), but when using the hex keyboard this function is triggered on Alt+1. I think this might be a Qt issue, but I'm not sure.

More generally, there's a lot of other shortcuts that will pop up an error message when editing text, basically any shortcut that uses cmd/windows or option/alt (for example, Cmd+K to enter a chord symbol while editing another piece of text). I'm wondering if these shortcuts should be disabled while editing text, as far as I can tell the only shortcuts that make sense during lyric input are Space and Shift+Space.

[SirPL]

I'm facing similar problem when inserting lyrics in Polish on Windows 10:

1. Change MuseScore Studio language to Polish.
2. Change OS Keyboard Layout to Polish (Programmer).
3. Create a piece with some notes.
4. Press Ctrl + L to add lyrics to those notes.
5. Press Alt Gr + Shift + S to write uppercase Ś.

Expected result: Ś is written
Actual result: noting happens

Also, whether a character can be inserted using keyboard shortcut depends on MuseScore Studio language.

When using MS in Polish I am able to write lyrics with ę by pressing Alt Gr + E. Using the same shortcut when writing lyrics in MS running in English (US) opens a dropdown menu instead.