STOP PRESS: Bell View is now upgraded to version 3.2.1. Methods of up to 12 bells may now be audibly rung!

Bell View is an interactive method explorer for church bell ringers. Its features include

• Library of over 250 methods, including all those in the current edition of Diagrams
• Methods displayed using traditional blue (or other colour) lines
• Simple touches with bobs and singles displayed row by row
• Methods can be exported to HTML for viewing or printing by a web browser
• Availability of other export formats: plain text, comma separated value, postscript, PDF and PNG
• Methods can be rung audibly using bell sound samples – the ones that come with it are our bells!
• A powerful underlying API, Change Ringing Engine, which works out the rows – it can be used interactively to unleash more advanced features.

Bell View is written in Python and will work on almost any computer that can run Python, including Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X and Unix-like systems (such as the Raspberry Pi). Mobile phones and tablet devices are not supported.

Installing Bell View

If Python is not already installed, the latest release of Version 3 should be obtained from www.python.org

If running on a Windows PC, start the Command Prompt (which may be found in the Windows System folder of the Start Menu), and then type in the following commands, pressing Enter at the end of each:

pip install --user playsound
pip install --user crengine bellview
python -m crengine -z
python -m bellview -z

If running on an Apple Mac, start Terminal (which may be found in the Utilities subfolder of the Applications folder) and then type in the following commands, pressing Enter at the end of each

pip3 install --user pyobjc
pip3 install --user crengine bellview
python3 -m crengine -z
python3 -m bellview -z

To start Bell View running, double-click the Bell View icon on the desktop!

For more detailed installation instructions; including how to install on a UNIX/Linux machine, please refer to the Installation Guide.

Upgrading from a previous version

Before upgrading Bell View, the existing CRE folder needs to be moved because the newer version requires different resources. The easiest way is to rename it to say CRE_old. The CRE folder may be found in your user account/profile e.g. for username “fred” it is C:\Users\fred\CRE on Windows, or /Users/fred/CRE on Mac OS X.

To upgrade on Windows, start the command prompt and run

pip install --upgrade --user crengine bellview

Or on Mac OS X, start the Terminal and run

pip3 install --upgrade --user crengine bellview

Documentation

The following documentation are available in PDF format:

Installation Guide
Bell View Manual
Change Ringing Engine Manual

Licensing

While I retain the copyright of Bell View and Change Ringing Engine, I am making them available at no cost to anyone who wishes to use it. Bell View and Change Ringing Engine come with absolutely no warranty; therefore I will not accept responsibility for the consequences of using this software (If your computer crashes or your peal is lost then it isn’t my fault). Full terms and conditions are at the end of the manual.

If you really like Bell View and find it useful, then please consider making a donation to the St Wilfrid’s Development Appeal, to future proof our church building – the only Grade 1 listed building in Harrogate.

Support

Please use the contact button at the top of the page for comments, reporting bugs etc. Please bear with me if I take a while to answer as developing bell ringing applications is not my day job!

Jonathan Wilson
3rd January 2021