Editing Capella (notation program) (section)

==Technicalities==
The file format of ''capella'' evolved from a proprietary digital encoding ([[filename extension]] *.cap) to an open, [[XML]] text based format called CapXML with extension *.capx. There are CapXML 1.0 and 2.0 formats. Each *.capx file is a [[Zip (file format)|ZIP]] archive containing the actual XML with filename ''score.xml''. CapXML differs from [[MusicXML]] in various aspects, one being that in CapXML the basic node is the [[chord (music)|chord]] which can have one or more notes, whereas in MusicXML the notes of a chord are single nodes which have to be put into relation with one another.<ref name="CapXML_Barcelona"/> Capella can import and export MusicXML files.

Documentation of CapXML and the binary CAP file format, as well as of the programming interface is available for download at the Capella website.

Capella provides a programming interface for [[Python (programming language)|Python]] scripts with a set of [[Class (computer programming)|Python-classes]] providing the ''capella'' object hierarchy. Python scripts can be used as a plug-in to the ''capella'' program or run stand-alone, i.e. within a Capella editing session or externally, directly on the file or group of files. CapXML scores can, of course, be directly processed by any XML-aware software.

Capella-programmer Bernd Jungmann used the Python scripting to produce a [[Braille]]-interface to Capella for blind users with a [[refreshable Braille display]]. Braille printing is possible using the [[German Central Library for the Blind#Braille music facilities|''MakeBraille'' service]] of the [[German Central Library for the Blind]] (DZB - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Blinde) in Leipzig, which accepts CapXML and MusicXML files as input, and offers its service for private, non-commercial uses only.