How can I create an index for a song book

Hi, how can I create the index for a song book? I have one number and title each, but not all of it together.

Hi there- welcome to the Language Software Community!

Did you try the Song Book setting?

That gives your app a really nice interface that will order your songs by number, or by alphabetically. (See tabs on the top of the screen.)

Also, in RAB, you can go to Help > 2. Building Apps to get a PDF with more documentation.

Please let me know if that works for you.

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Thanks. yes I did it. But I was told to open a new book for each song. Could that be the problem? Should I open chapters? But I don’t know how.

Thanks for the info. If you have created a new book for each song, that would indeed create issues. All the songs should be in one book (unless you want to have multiple songbooks in one app.)

Are you using Microsoft Word or Standard Format Markers (SFM) to format your source text? I recommend using SFM, because it gives you more control. See pages six and seven of the aforementioned PDF for more information. For an example of SFM formatting for a songbook, you can see mine here:

Note that it makes use of an introduction, so you will need to scroll down to about line 60 before you see the first song.

You can also find more information about Unified SFM (USFM) here:

Let me know how it goes.

Thanks a lot !

I have tried with Word now, I have finished successfully. What is Standard Format Makers and where could I get this? Finally I had to correct some mistakes, with the other programm that should be easier to avoid mistakes.

It’s my first App, so I will have to learn much more.

Annette

Hi there,

I’m glad to hear that things are working out!

Here is some information about USFMs:

Standard Format Markers have been used for many years within the Bible translation community as a method for identifying the unique textual elements which exist within an electronic scripture document. SFMs start with a backslash character “\” and end with the next space. Over time, many local “standards” for SFM use were developed, adapted, and used, for supporting the varied requirements of Bible translation and publishing projects around the globe.

You can read more about the history of USFM from this quote’s source.

RAB uses this same system to format all the content. Even when you use Microsoft Word, RAB converts the file into USFM “under the hood.” If you want to start working in USFM, you can get to this converted format here:

Here is a discussion detailing the most common Standard Format Markers used in RAB:

If you take a look at my aforementioned GitHub file, you can see you most often only need to use a small handful of markers to format a songbook.

I hope this helps.

@Alex_Larkin Thabk you so much for sharing solution. helped me a lot