John Stark

I have thousands of coordinate place elements that contain data with the format

nnnnnnAnnnnnnnA

[space]

text qualifying the accuracy of the coordinates

Migration to V8 fails to translate the coordinates into the new decimal format, presumably because of the additional text.

I would prefer to leave the coordinates elements in my current format and have them imported to V8 successfully, but failing that, I can move the additional text to Field 10 which is currently unused. I assume migration would then work OK?

So, how do I do this. I don't know FoxPro, but in the data structures I'm familiar with I could achieve this in seconds. I can't find any way in TMG to do this, other than by hand which will take weeks if not months. Not an option. I assume the data is in the _pd.FTP file. If so, how can I get at it and edit it? (Buying FoxPro for £600/900$ is also not an option, especially for a technology in its death throes).

(i've had a look at John Cardinal's TMG utility, but can't see a solution there).

Not yet. I've held off in case someone from WG wanted to experiment - I've lots more mergers to do.

I have merged 2 individuals. Both dissappeared from my database, and a person from another datset was displayed.

To aid investigation, I repeated the process, and logged my actions:

1. I selected an individual 1:11005 and chose the 'merge 2 individuals option' and selected 1:24108
   
2. I was offered the choice of 1:24108 and 2:24108. (Why is this choice always offered when merging between datasets is not permitted?)
   
3. I chose 1:24108
   
4. The merge screens were displayed. 2:15876 was on the left and 1:24108 was on the right
   
5. I cancelled
   
6. I repeated steps 1-3
   
7. This time 1:11005 was displayed on the left and 1:24108 on the right
   
8. I checked the name of 1:11005, unchecked the name of 1:24108 and merged
   
9. 2:15876 was displayed in the person details not 1:11005
   
10. I selected 'Last Viewed person'. 1:11005 was displayed.
    
11. I selected F2. 2:15876, not 1:11005 was displayed in the Expanded Picklist
    

I tried again:

1. I selected 1:11010,
   
2. After this person was displayed, I hit F2 and selected the following entry 1:24852
   
3. Having checked that this was the correct person with which I intended to merge, I selected 'Last Viewed person'.
   
4. 2:5210 was displayed.
   
5. I selected 'Last Viewed person'. Nothing happened. I repeated this several times but 2:5210 remained displayed
   
6. I hit F2 and was returned to 1:11010 in the Expanded Picklist, not 2:5210
   
7. I selected 1:11010 from the picklist and this person was displayed.
   
8. I selected 'Last Viewed person'. Nothing happened. I repeated this several times but 1:11010 remained displayed
   
9. I hit F2 and was returned to 2:5210 in the Expanded Picklist, not 1:11010
   
10. I scrolled through the Expanded Picklist to find 1:11010
    
11. It wasn't there. But 1:11005 (the missing ID from my first merge) was there, with the Name from 1:11010. And when I checked the tags, the data belonged to neither the original 1:11005 nor 1:11010 !!!
    

Clearly, there's major problems here.

Thanks for that, Terry. As I don't use Second it looks as though I'll have to continue entering an acknowledgement in the description. Seems an odd oversight. I've looked for a WishList to add this to, but couldn't find one. Is there one on the Forum or WG Website?

What is the best way to record source citations for an exhibit?

I haven't discovered a way of linking an exhibit to an entry in the Master Source List. For example, if I acquire data and exhibits, say a photo, I can attach a source citation to the data, but not the photo. Is there a way of linking the photo to a source?

Thanks Michael. Unfortnuately, the problem persists whatever the setting of the of the Validate LAT/LONG value.

I have a major problem with my coordinates. I think I know the cause, if these assumptions are correct:

• Coordinates will be displayed throughout TMG in the format chosen in the Preference setting, except for Tag Entry
  
• The Tag Entry screen will always display the coordinates in the first of the digital format options in the Preferences settings
  
• Irrespective of the chosen Preference setting, coordinates can only successfully be entered and edited using the first of the digital format options
  
• Any coordinate value entered in the Tag Entry screen not conforming to the first of the digital format options will not be treated as a valid coordinate
  
• TMG will fail to convert (without awarning) any coordinates that do not precisely match an expected format.
  

I have almost 1000 address coordinates which have not been converted on migration to V8. I suspect this is because I add additional data after the coordinates to indicate how accurate they are. For example 001122N0001122E (street), 001122N0001122E (district centre), 001122N0001122E (precise), etc., etc. This technique works in all the mapping sites and TMG7, but not apparently in V8.

(As an aside, I do this for the benefit of future researchers. I often glean precise locations from high detail historic maps to which others may not have access).

So, can you suggest how I might assimilate my old coordinates into V8? Life's too short to consider manual reformatting

Place mapping does not work with any map supplier / latitude-longitude formation.

I have V7 working on one PC and the look-up works OK.

I have tried looking up the identical reference on another PC with V8 and none of available mapping sites can recognise the latitude-longitude co-ordinates.

I have discovered the new co-ordinate format options available in V8. I have set each one in turn and tried all the look-up options. None work.

A dataset contains a Place Style with no name, only the data set number being shown.

Selecting <Edit> with this style highlighted produces a sequence of error messages including:

1. Function argument value, type, or count is invalid 33 GETPARTID
   
2. Subscript is outside defined range 33 GETPARTID
   

With the errant place style highlighted, selecting <Delete> produces the warning that 783 places will be reset to the default style.

How can I identify these. and correct or delete the Place Style if necessary?

The default US Place Style is identical to the UK Place Style.

As a default style, I am unable to edit it

What's the best way to fix this?

I have been able to set up my own USA style, identical to what should be the default US style, OK for new entries, but my existing US addresses will be wrong.

John,

this is not totally clear to me. Please forgive me asking.

 

Are you saying that this exactly identical sentence producing output text which flows over two lines works for another person.... say when you use it for another person in your project and scroll the sentence preview then TMG does not crash?

Hello Vera,

The sentences were not identical. Jim Byram has asked for evidence and I will be sending this to him soon.

Thank you for your interest.

JAS

Jim,

I'm having problems with email. I will respond as soon as I can.

JAS

John,

 

Works perfectly for me in the current test build even with only one line of the preview showing.

Works OK for me too on another person. Restesting the original entry still crashes the program.

Increase the height of the screen by dragging the bottom border down and the preview will show several lines and you'll have no need to scroll.

Understood. It's not a problem for me - I was more concerned about the cause of the crash. I'm happy, but let me know if you want more details of the circumstances for future reference.

TMG7UK consistently crashes when scrolling a sentence preview.

Circumstances:

vpf9rerr.log

Fatal error: Exception code=C0000005 @ 2008.05.06 12:55:31 PM. Error log file: C:\Windows\System32\vfp9rerr.log

Called from - tmgmain line 556 {C:\Program Files\The Master Genealogist v7\tmg\programs\tmgmain.prg c:\program files\the master genealogist v7\tmg7.exe}

Fatal error: Exception code=C0000005 @ 2008.05.06 01:30:09 PM. Error log file: C:\Windows\System32\vfp9rerr.log

Called from - tmgmain line 556 {C:\Program Files\The Master Genealogist v7\tmg\programs\tmgmain.prg c:\program files\the master genealogist v7\tmg7.exe}

Fatal error: Exception code=C0000005 @ 2008.05.06 01:34:43 PM. Error log file: C:\Windows\System32\vfp9rerr.log

Called from - tmgmain line 556 {C:\Program Files\The Master Genealogist v7\tmg\programs\tmgmain.prg c:\program files\the master genealogist v7\tmg7.exe}

John,

 

This is from a FTM import?.......

 

Jim

Unfortunately no. Its a legacy from when I first started using TMG when I was feeling my way. I run a one name study and currently have over 70,000 people documented (to varying degrees of completeness) with lots more to come. Not sure how many events I have (a TMG List of Events crashes because the report is too large), but I would guess somewhere between ¼ and ½ million and I expect it to expand significantly. If I don't rigorously standardize in order to automate my website, I won't be able to cope, so I may as well bite the bullet now. Not sure how I will proceed on the website front (current thinking is to learn PHP and provide a database search) but I may well have a go with Second Site.

I don't think so. It may be a bit easier to find and access all those tags from the Master Place List .......

 

....After relocating the occupations you will have to Optimize (File > Maintence menu) to get them out of the Master Place List.

Thanks Terry. That's what I'm doing, but I've still got many thousands of entries to amend!

By the way, great new book! If I'd had something like that when I first started I wouldn't be wasting so much of my life trying to put things right.

I have a large number of Occupation tags where occupation is recorded in an address field.

I wish to remove all occupation descriptions from the Master Place list and put them in the memo field of each Occupation Tag.

Is there an easy way to do this, rather than having to change each Occupation Tag individually?

Many thanks for your efforts in resolving this.

John,

 

In your Sort 1 example, I don't see those marked as errors. Your specification, as listed in your first message, was to sort first on given name, second on surname, and third on date. In each of the examples you marked in red, the surnames differ, so that over-rides the date order.

Sorry Terry, I didn't make this clear. Each example highlighted in red should have been sorted before the entry above. (I highlighted line 60 in error).

I have experimented with different sort orders / output formats, and have been able to produce a difference between the screen output and Excel. The attached screenshots of Excel output show 4 different sort orders.

Sort 1 is the intended sort order on fields 2, 3, and 4, as previously discussed. Sort errors are highlighted in red.

Sort 2 is the same as the first with the addition of a sort value of 4 in field 1, the ID. Results appear to be identical.

Sort 3 sorts on the date field only. The results suggest that the date field is being treated like a text string instead of a date. There appears to be an implied sort order to field 2, but not field 1.

Sort 4 The implied sort on field 2 can be over-ridden by specifying a secondary sort on field 1

If the output of sort 4 is directed to screen, it appears to be correct

This sort to an ASCII file also appears to fail as per sort 3

Output to Database format also fails in the same way. I can't check output to RTF or Word as I always get a Win16 Subsystem error.

I have rechecked screen output for Sort 1.

This appears to be correct. Although I checked the original screen output many times, I didn't keep screenshots and I'll have to accept the probability that I must have made a mistake when I claimed they were wrong. Somewhat galling if so, and I apologize.

But why is TMG failing to perform a calender sort for me when outputting to other formats, and why is it working for others? Some difference in the setup of our machines, perhaps?

John,

 

<snip>

To get a correct sorting result you need to set the value in the Sort Order column for line 1 (ID number) to 0 (zero)!!

As long as you don't do that TMG will always sort (i.e. identical Given names / Surnames) according to the ID number and since on the web-site the ID number isn't shown that wasn't obvious immediately in case of "John Hewison's data".

I can't set the sort to 0 - I can enter it but it resets to blank when I exit the field. I'm sure you are correct in your observation that the ID is being used. I have experimented with various sort options and will document the reults in a separate post.

Hertzlichen Dank.

Is your collate sequence in Preferences set to something other than 'General'?

 

File / Preferences / Current Project Options / Other / Collate sequence

It's set to 'General'

<snip>

 

I see that your project has been optimized but you need to run Validate File Integrity. You will get a very high count of problems fixed but almost all of that is housekeeping. I'm looking at issues beyond what VFI fixes.

I have followed your advice:

- produced an Excel file. Dates were mis-sorted

- re-inexed, optimised, VFI

- produced another Excel file and compared. Problem persists.

[in both cases, data was not passed through any of my macros (and I have double checked the code to ensure that I don't invoke a sort, just in case)].

- output then directed to screen. Problem persists.

Although a solution does not seem imminent, may I mention that I appreciate the time and effort you are expending on my behalf!

I have placed a backup of the project on my website. URL = http://www.johnstark.org/Downloads/TMG.

I again replicated the problem this morning. The report concerned was List of People - conguration name "Website - Births 1770-1779" using filter "births 1770-1779"

Output was to Excel then processed by Excel and Word macros to produce a webpage. The results can be seen in http://www.johnstark.org/fh/hewitson/hewit...-1770-1779.html. An example of the problem is the entries for John Hewison, which are not in the specified date order. (Note that I did not perform any sorting with the macros - output is in the order produced by TMG).

Feel free to hang onto the data for future testing if you wish to.

A screenshot of the report definition is attached.

Can I sort by Birth Group* tag; Date ? It doesn't seem to work.

I have 6 output columns:

1. ID Number

2. NameGroup* tag; SortGiven

3. NameGroup* tag; SortSurname

4. Birth Group* tag; Date

5. Birth Group* tag; Place

6. Birth Group* tag; Coordinates

Column/Sort Order

2 = 1

3 = 2

4 = 3

The sort on columns 2 and 3 works, but not on column 4.

I have tested swapping the sort orders, but the date sort never works.

I have tried variations in the date format using Preferences.

I have also tried directing output to screen and to Excel.

I am using TMG UK latest version.