Printing lectionary?

Question

Does anyone have experience with printing lectionary readings? “Bible Module” looks intriguing, but there’s no “hover-over help”, and when I click on “Choose” my Paratext projects folder opens… I don’t know what to do from there.

I’ve tried using the “Multiple Books” option, with limited success. I started with a test selection (Year A, first Sunday of Advent):
ISA 2:1-5 PSA 122 ROM 13:11-14 MAT 24:36-44
which worked somewhat OK (there were strange fragments and widow / orphan issues with book names). Then I appended another selection to the first:
ISA 2:1-5 PSA 122 ROM 13:11-14 MAT 24:36-44 ISA 11:1-10 PSA 72:1-7,18-19 ROM 15:4-13 MAT 3:1-12
but this has me stymied… The PDF begins at ISA 11, includes PSA 72 twice, does ROM and MAT, and then repeats beginning at ISA 11, PSA 72 x2, etc.

If anyone has experience with this, I’d appreciate your help!

Answer 1

Paul,
I think the best way to work with a lectionary is in the Bible Modules tool. I’ve seen some files floating around, but on my computer I don’t have anything in the _Modules folder. However, I have several .lcf files in the \cms directory. These are written in html code, but can easily be changed to sfm (which is what the Bible Module is looking for) with simple search and replace. Let me know and I can send you some samples.

Comments

Your mention of “files floating around” prompted me to head to the Paratext support site and see if anyone had posted anything there. Indeed, they have: [Link Removed]. RCL.zip (Revised Common Lectionary) looks promising. So does “Revised Common Lectionary - English” (https://lingtran.net/dl1125) at LingTranSoft Wiki | Example Modules. There’s a video linked at the lingtran site that guided me through the initial setup. I think I’m on my way–thanks for priming the pump!

Answer 2

Hi Paul,
Just to let you know that you’ve uncovered a (recently introduced) bug. It should just work to type in a bunch of references as you did:

ISA 2:1-5 PSA 122 ROM 13:11-14 MAT 24:36-44 ISA 11:1-10 PSA 72:1-7,18-19 ROM 15:4-13 MAT 3:1-12

…but it obviously didn’t. We’ll work on fixing that ASAP; but as Phil Leckrone pointed out, you may be better off longer term learning how to use a Module file – especially as you can add bridging material etc.

Note that there are actually 3 ways of doing a module:
i) Creating the module within Paratext using one of the XXA…G books and then selecting that XX? book within PTXprint using the Single Book option
or
ii) Typing in the list of Books chapters and verses [currently broken!]
or
iii) Creating the module specification (something like myLectionary.sfm) and then telling PTXprint to print directly from that specification

There are subtle differences between each of these approaches, and you might discover them.

Comments

Fun! Or not… But helpful, perhaps. Thanks for doing the work of fixing it.

I’ve been playing with the other methods of printing the Module. When I try the “Single Book” method, I get this error: [language] XXB line: 4256,1: orphan marker \q2 | Run the Basic Checks in Paratext, etc.

How would I go about finding line 4256,1?

Answer 3

There might be an easier way, but I just tested this (on a much shorter Module), and it worked:

Set your Module View to Standard Output. Then you can run the Markers check from the Project Menu > Basic Checks. It reports any blank markers found in the visible text of the Module. Clicking on a List link can be a problem in a Module because chapter & verse markers aren’t consecutive, but it did jump to the first blank \s1 marker in my module and then to the first blank \q2 marker. So you might be able to find and correct any blank markers you have by correcting as many as you can see and then rerunning the check.

Note: You have to correct any errors in the Scripture Books referenced in the Module, not in the Module book (XXB). When doing this I find it helpful to open a second window of my project and open the Module book to Scroll Group B.

Answer 4

Thanks for the tip, Kim – it’s good to know I can run Basic Checks in Standard Output view. I don’t think I would have figured that out myself…

Running the marker check didn’t help me find the problem, though. A number of things were flagged (e.g., opening \qt with no closing [although there definitely is a closing \qt*…]), but no blank \q2. :-\

I’ve been able to use Paratext’s built-in Print Draft tool; it hasn’t refused to output a PDF, so at least I’ve got an option. Is it possible that PTXPrint is flagging things that aren’t really issues?