MusicXML import: option to make imported D.C./D.S. jumps take repeats on the return (`Jump.playRepeats`)

Your idea

Add an opt-in on MusicXML import that sets the existing "Play repeats" property (Jump.playRepeats) on the jumps it creates, so that a D.C./D.S. return re-takes repeat barlines. The default would stay exactly as today (returns without repeats); the option would just let pipelines that need the other convention request it — most naturally as a CLI flag mirroring --musicxml-infer-text-type, and/or a MusicXML import preference. (Maintainers' call where the option should live.)

Problem to be solved

Some notation applications play D.C./D.S. returns with the repeats taken. NoteWorthy Composer, for example, always honours repeat barlines on the return. When such a score is exported to MusicXML and imported into MuseScore, that playback intent is silently lost: imported jumps always use MuseScore's "returns without repeats" convention, so the exported MIDI is short by one or more repeats.

MusicXML itself has no element or attribute for this choice — it is a property of the originating application's playback convention, not of the document — so the importer cannot infer it per-score. It needs an explicit opt-in. The capability is otherwise fully present in MuseScore: the Jump element already has a "Play repeats" property that playback and MIDI export honour; import is the only place the choice cannot be expressed.

Prior art

• MuseScore already fully supports this behaviour — it just can't be reached from import. The Jump Properties panel has a "Play repeats" checkbox (playRepeats), and playback/MIDI export have long honoured it. This is documented in the handbook (Jump and Marker properties) and was reconfirmed in #28511, which was closed by pointing the reporter to that existing checkbox — i.e. it is established, intended functionality, not a recent or speculative one. The only gap is that there is no way to set it during MusicXML import, so a batch conversion would have to hand-edit every jump in the UI.
• The two conventions are both legitimate, which is exactly why an opt-in (rather than a behaviour change) is the right shape. As noted by a maintainer in #28511: not taking repeats on a D.S. is the norm in classical music, while taking them is more common in lead sheets (where the repeat is part of the form). MuseScore's default correctly follows the classical convention; this request only asks to make the other, already-supported convention selectable on import.
• Other notation software sits on the other side of that split: NoteWorthy Composer always replays repeats on the return, with no per-jump toggle. A converter currently has no way to carry that intent into MuseScore.

Additional context

Scope. The option should set playRepeats on every imported jump it applies to — D.C., D.S., D.C. al Fine, D.S. al Fine, D.C. al Coda, D.S. al Coda — not special-case one variant. The importer creates all jumps at a single point, so this is uniform.

Dependency. This builds on #33802 (Import explicit MusicXML sound jump attributes regardless of inferTextType, open PR). playRepeats can only be set on a jump the importer actually creates; on stock builds an imported jump currently exists only via --musicxml-infer-text-type text inference, not from the explicit <sound dacapo/fine/…> attributes a converter emits. #33802 should land first. Until then the words-only repro below works on stock builds with --musicxml-infer-text-type.

Reproduction / proof. Attached is a 3-measure score — ‖: C — D :‖ with Fine at m.2, then E with D.C. al Fine:

• dc-return-with-repeats.musicxml (words only): MuseScore4 --musicxml-infer-text-type -o out.mid dc-return-with-repeats.musicxml
• with-sound.musicxml (carries <sound dacapo/fine>; requires #33802): MuseScore4 -o out.mid with-sound.musicxml

Current export is C D C D E C D (return without repeats); the desired opt-in result is C D C D E C D C D (return with repeats).

Both ends are already proven:

• Playback side — adding <playRepeats>1</playRepeats> to the jump in the .mscx by hand (inspect-playrepeats.mscx) and exporting gives exactly the desired sequence.
• Import side — a one-line change at the jump-creation point that sets playRepeats(true) makes with-sound.musicxml import as a DC_AL_FINE jump with playRepeats() == true (and the default path leaves it false). The only missing piece is the user-facing switch.

So the change is small and self-contained; the open question is purely where the option should live.

samples.zip

Checklist

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