Bell Ringing Software Available on this Site

THE METHOD WORKSHOP

The main features of this program.

• View / Print Method diagrams for any method.
• View / Print Blue line diagrams.
• Any bell can be your Blue line bell.
• The CCCBR method libraries are supplied as standard, or enter notation for unclassified methods.
• Handles methods from Minimus to Maximus.
• Enter touches, quarters and peals and prove they are true.
• View / Print all the lead ends in the touch.
• Learn the order of work and places for any bell in a plain course or touch.
• Ring a plain course or touch on real bells. For methods above Major, download the extra 12 bell tower samples. (Bedford) See bottom of page.
• Design your own method by modifying an existing method or template.
• Has a built in help file and status line to showing problems in the composition.

SCREEN SHOT

METHOD SELECTION

Using the Quick Action toolbar button New Diagram opens a dialogue box. There are four choices. Popular Methods contains Doubles, Minor, Triples and Major methods commonly found in the Ringing World Diary. For other methods classified by the Central Council, click the Use Library button. There are thousands of methods in their library. For those that are not, the Enter Notation button allows those to be input too. The last option is to Pick a template and modify it on screen to create your own method.

The library files are a snap shot of the Central Council's library in Jan 2008. Some of the files contain thousands of Methods, on the selection screen type in the first few letters of the method name required to scroll it into view. Workshop now has limited support for plain courses of Principles. (eg Stedman)

METHOD DIAGRAM

Customised diagrams can be viewed on screen and their characteristics adjusted before being printed on paper. Any working bell can be the Blue Bell. Clicking on the main screen column head sets the Blue Bell. A covering tenor can be drawn in odd bell methods if this helps your learners. The chart colours are set by the Menu OPTIONS / PREFERENCES. The margins and page orientation is set from Menu FILE / PRINT SETUP. The layout of the leads in columns may be adjusted from the Menu EDIT / CHART LAYOUT and from within the Print Preview screen.

BLUE LINE DIAGRAM

Like the method diagram, this can be previewed before printing. There are three different size options for the diagram and the user can choose to include the path of the treble too. The diagram configuration is controlled by the Menu OPTIONS / PREFERENCES.

TOUCH INPUT

Clicking on the Quick Action toolbar button Call Touches Opens up a large dialogue box. The right side allows simple touches to be input as plain, bobbed or single leads. The left side handles touches called by coursing positions, like Middle and Home. Multipart touches can be input too.

Any number of touches of the method can be created. Each may be printed. Needless to say, the touches are proved for truth. This is done as they are entered, so detecting any problems before going too far.

Another feature is the Watch button, this shows the work of any bell. It may be used to translate a touch written for the heaviest working bell to lighter one. Another use is to see which bells are observation bells.

PRINTING A TOUCH

Every lead end is shown, to save you manually expanding the touch. The call is shown to the left of the lead end and if they are defined, the course positions are shown for the conductor bell. A line is drawn under every course end. This print may be helpful if you are calling a quarter from the diary and wish to see the work beforehand.

SAVING THE COMPOSITIONS

Your creations may be saved for future use, or distribution to others. Any number of touches in a method can be saved into a single file that is compatible with all email systems. The file can be reloaded and modified or added too later.

LEARN THE LINE

Useful whether it be Bob Doubles or Bristol Maximus. There are many different ways to use this screen. You can learn a plain course or a touch, from any bell with or without seeing the blue line. The display has three parts. A red horizontal bar and number shows your last change. Above the bar is a history area, it shows the changes you have just made. This may be turned off if you don't need to see it. Below the bar is the preview area. It shows the work of a plain course. If learning a touch and a call is made, the area updates to show the new work. This area may be turned off, but when off, a click in the window turns it on for one change, answering the "Where am I" question.

Notes of Windows Vista Users

The program has been revised so that it works with Windows Vista. If you tried Version 2.07 or earlier and it didn't work please try this new version. The older versions tried to write files in places that improved security does not allow access and the old help format was not recognised. All these problem have been addressed with Version 2.08, released 20-Jan-2008

Download Instructions

To minimise download time, all the programs on this site are kept as small as possible.

If you are not familiar with downloading programs, please Click Here for detailed instructions.

In the panel below this text. Click on the section of the panel containing the underlined file name. This is an installer for this application.

Once fully downloaded, install the Bell Ringing Program. You don't need to be on-line. Find the file you downloaded with Windows Explorer, double click the Icon which looks like this. The installer will instruct you what to do. When completed, you may delete the downloaded file or copy it to another computer.

Scroll up to the top of this page for links to my other Change Ringer's Software.