RobinL

There is way by using a feature of VFI (Verify File Integrity) under File > Maintenance to get TMG to update all the paths. I cannot recount the details (from memory) but I am sure someone else will reply with details. There is also a tool called Pathwiz! that is designed to handle these kinds of problems. However, my main reason for replying is - - making the paths relative does solve the problem for all cases, it just makes other cases impossible. Ideally, the user should be able to use absolute or relative paths (relative to what - it is not always the project folder you know!). If a user keeps his images on a DVD then it needs to be an absolute path, if he keeps them in a picture store on another drive it could be relative to base folder, or it could be relative to the project folder itself, or to the TMG install folder. I don't dis agree that relative path would useful but the user needs to be able to also set that base folder for that relative action.

Terry, At the first level, I don't think that it would require much additional work, but an ideal outcome would require some further adjustments (which would also solve some other International users problems where they see some untranslated English ) I see 5 areas that need to be discussed. 1) Installed Definitions 2) User Interface (the on-screen view) 3) Data Entry and Editing (user-defined templates/styles) 4) Reporting 5) Configuration, Preferences and Prompts 1) Installed Definitions This is largely what has been done by amalgamating the US and UK set of styles, source categories, etc. So this needs to be an available base. 2) User Interface (the on-screen view) This is largely already working as desired for an International version. The only area that has some problems is in the use of Styles - see the next section. 3) Data Entry and Editing (user-defined templates/styles) It is in the use/definition of place and name styles, and of the construction of custom tags where the user could use some on-screen guidance and warnings. So here are some thoughts: - Place style output templates can have embedded text (prepositions, etc) which will need to change from language idiom to idiom - the preposition problem keeps turning up even in the US discussion on TMG-L and here. Therefore, like the Sentence aspect of the Master Tag Type list, a user should have the ability to set the output templates for each language in the Place Style Definition. - Place style entry validation You might like the validate LAT/LONG to be turned off only for the UK Place styles, but left active for US Place styles. The "Validate LAT/LONG" should apply on a place style basis and not a global setting in Preferences. Other validations, like a possible Postal Zip validation, could be similarly apply on a style by style basis. - Place style field labels (both custom and in-built) - there is no translation feature for the field labels (an issue that I know has come up in using "US Standard Place" style in the Dutch and German language interfaces of TMG). It also comes up because some words are spelt differently in US and UK English (e.g. Neighborhood and Neighbourhood). To overcome this, the Place Style definition screen needs to incorporate a Language setting capability for the field labels. (TMG would provide these translations for its native Place Styles.) - Similar changes need to be made to the Name Styles definition area. - There may be equivalent problems that I have not addressed here. 4) Reporting This largely working as desired for an International version. 5) Configuration, Preferences and Prompts There are minor adjustments in the way Preferences can be set (e.g. the moving of the validate LAT/LONG to the Place style definition). The most important change would be in the way the user wants to be prompted. In Preferences > Current Project Options, the user could nominate which languages they wish to keep up to date as they modify sentences, styles, etc in this Project. Then for TMG to issue an optional prompt (on [OK] but not [Cancel]) of say - the Tag Definition Screen - the Custom Place Style definition screen - the local Tag Sentence definition screen "You have not modified the content for the other languages: English UK, English2 [Continue] [Re-Edit]" [Continue] would accept the current action, while [Re-Edit] would return the focus to the previous screen. You would not see this prompt very often anyway - these are not common actions. BUT it would be important to remind the user about this data consistency. Of course, if the user only nominated one language they would never see the prompt. There may need to be a Preference setting "show UK tags" like the "show LDS tags" to make it easy to get back to a "pure" US Version state. All of these enhancements/adjustments would have no impact on the US user, but would make it considerably easier for users to exchange projects, and to update data for multi-lingual projects. With these changes, all users would have the choice of how they want to operate on a particular project, and Wholly Genes would no longer need to brand versions (except for bundling and marketing purposes).

Reindex doesn't report errors. Optimise collapses out records that are no longer being used and again doesn't report errors. Both of these will/can change the way the data is accessed (either in aberreantly getting the wrong record to display or to omproove the speed of the operation). VFI is checking the structure of the records and in some cases checks that the links between the parts of the data are valid, and does sometimes report fixing errors, but it doesn't list what it has modified. So try VFI then Optimise (which also does a Reindex), possibly several such sequences. If the problem persists then probably you will need to send a backup of the project with an explanation to TMG Support.

Terry, Your point about sentences being setup correctly is a good one. I did check some of the tags and it now proves that I did not look long and hard enough. Looking at the Census 1841 tag is a good example. It has roles Principal, Witness, Head of Household, Member of Household and Neighbor. In the hybrid version as I set it up, English UK sentences are there as you would expect. BUT ... the English US sentences use the default construction for the Principal and Witness (not very pretty), while the 3 specific roles have blank English US sentences. It would not take long to edit these UK tags to have correct English US sentences for all their roles. A user could easily do that in [Edit] of that tag from the Master Tag Type List for each tag in turn. Once this has been done for the new tags, the backup of the revised project for repeated use as a template. However, I do not agree with you about trying to output a narrative in both languages. I would expect the user of the hybrid version would want to do _exactly_ that - produce an output for US consumption and another for UK, Australian, NZ, etc consumption. It will take some user discipline to remember to create sentences for *all* roles in both UK and US English when ever a custom tag is created or whenever the local sentence for a tag is modified (Must do all relevant languages not just the current report language). But it is "do-able" within the features available to the user. I am sure that this topic will evolve further. It would be very nice if Wholly Genes recognised that there was a need for an "International English" version that gave the user easy access to the combined resources for multi-country input and reporting. Such a version could make this discussion obsolete.

Thanks Siobhan for confirming that our methods are largely identical. There is one "got you" that users of the UK version can't currently avoid (working on this one ). Because the UK Standard Place style is a Custom Style, then if you merge data sets that have very similar origins, you can end up with a duplication of Place Styles like "UK Standard Place" and "UK Standard Place 1" that may refer to the same set of place values (e.g the same place entered in both starting points). This has an added complication in cleaning up the Master Place List and in triggering the warnings about 2 equal places having different Place Styles. BTW: This is a problem of both UK and US versions because of the way the File > Data Set Manager > Merge Data Sets feature operates with custom styles. It just happens that in the UK version you are forced to use Custom Place Styles from the outset. Most US users use the US Standard Place Style and this does not have this problem. Say a US version user who created their own Custom Place Style then used it in two projects. When, at a later time, a data set from each Project was merged into a single project and then finally merged into single data, set this Custom Style problem would also occur. This extra factor could be avoided by an adjustment to the handling of equivalent custom styles when merging data sets. I am hoping that the developers will see merit in making it easier for UK users and other users of custom styles.

As explained in the Wholly Genes TMG UK page that I referred to earlier, there are differences in the two versions (US and UK). These differences are *all* associated with configuration settings and configuration data files that are made active to the user. As Siobhan states, it is possible to create a hybrid version that is essentially the US version with some UK data files added. Using such version will give the best of both worlds but will not give all (but most) the features and settings of the UK version. WARNING What follows should not be considered if you are not computer literate and reasonably familiar with the Advanced features of TMG. I started with 2 computers one with the UK version installed the other with the US version installed. I created a single person project in the UK version, backed it up on that UK version machine and restored it on the US version machine. (This method would show if any files were missing between installations.) I then examined the UK project in the US version. Start out with a TMG6 US version (**with Language Module**) installed. Then File > Restore a backup from the UK version, like this 63Kb file Please also read the DISCLAIMER and METHOD OF USE sections before attempting this procedure SUMMARY The following is a summary of what I found (in the same sequence as the list on the Wholly Genes TMG UK version description page): [*] Splash screen still says US version. [*] To run the TMG screen Interface in the UK English then you must File > Language > English (UK) to change this. [*] The 5 new UK-oriented timelines are not available in the US version - (There is a fix for this - by copying the appropriate 15 files from a UK version install to a US version install, then restarting TMG.) [*] The internal spell checker is not augmented with 200+ UK spellings (not a serious loss as you can use the MS Word one that has this option). [*] You have set some Preferences according to your needs, like - File > Preferences > Current Project Options > Advanced > Places: Default country to United Kingdom for automatic use of Chapman codes, etc - File > Preferences > Program Options > Prompts; Validate LAT/LONG so that can use this field for OSGrid references. - File > Preferences > Current Project Options >Advanced > Other; Currency character needs to be set if you want the GBP symbol. [*] The UK Sample project can be opened on and backed up from a UK install. That backup can be restored on the hydrid version and hence available. [*] It is possible to substitute the quick tips and electronic Users Guide from the UK version but it doesn't necessary to do this when you will be already be working in mixed environment (you can only have one set of quick tip files anyway.) [*] This hydrid version has the advantage of *not* disabling the File > Preferences > Program Options > Custom Styles settings - BUT this gives the user more control and also the responsibility to set them appropriately for the creation of new Projects. [*] The 82 Custom UK Source Categories are now available [*] The "UK Standard Name" and "UK Standard Place" styles are available for selection. [*] Some additional UK Custom tag types are added for selection. METHOD OF USE Once you have backed up this "UK_Dummy" project, you can use it as the basis of creating future projects that can have both US and UK characteristics (source, name and place styles, etc). Copy the UK-Dummy to a new project name, then File > Merge Projects into this project as a second data set from an another TMG project or from another File > Import path, then delete the first data set (original data set). The UK customization (extra tag type, source categories, etc) will be available for later additions to that project. OUTSTANDING ISSUES The running of reports in either language needs to checked carefully for use of the correct spelling. If you then create custom tags or modify sentences then you need to make adjustments in both the English UK and English US forms of these sentences. You ought to save separate appropriately named Report Configurations if you regularly want similar output in each language. DISCLAIMER This information is provided at the user's risk. It is believed to be correct. No responsibility is accepted for any outcomes in the use of this description.

If you have the Expanded Picklist in use, do you have it accented on flag values? Have you done any Merge 2 People lately? In either case, there is a condition that can be worked around if the frequenctly use File > Maintenance > ReIndex. Some of this problem (hopefully all) will be resolved in the next update.

If you have the Expanded Picklist in use, do you have it accented on flag values? Have you done any Merge 2 People lately? In either case, there is a condition that can be worked around if the frequenctly use File > Maintenance > ReIndex. Some of this problem (hopefully all) will be resolved in the next update.

This problem is not (as far as I am aware) a problem in VCF but in the version of the printer driver that you are using to print the output. Some drivers of printers are not properly tested to deal with output that spreads across page boundaries. I suggest that you try 2 things: a. upgrade your printer driver to the latest for your printer. b. significantly increase the page margins and do an experimental print of a pair of pages where a box crosses a page boundary. (The printer might be telling VCF that it can print more output per page than what is physically possible - that is, your printer's printable region does not match what it is telling the application.

I am not TMG support therefore anything I write here may be incorrect. Have you read the page http://www.whollygenes.com/tmguk.htm where the differences between versions are described. It also describes how to convert a US version into a UK version, and how to revert a UK version back to the US version. That page does not describe: (1) What happens to your projects and the reports from those projects already created in one version then opened in the other? (2) Whether it is possible to have most of the UK features/customized styles of the both US and UK version available within the one installation? (So that you can create a TMG project with both US and UK data within it that can use both sets of customizations to advantage.) (3) Whether it is possible exchange projects with users of the other version so that they can get the same report output as you see? I suspect that you are seeking answers to all these questions. In the next day or so, I will try to demonstrate what you can achieve by augmenting a US version to include many of the customizations of the UK version. (As today is the local TMG UG Xmas BBQ and tomorrow is not available to do this in enough detail, it will be Tuesday at the earliest.) Hopefully, TMG support will also respond to these points (1), (2) and (3) so that we can all have a definitive answer.

This is called a "bow-tie" chart in some other places. It can be produced in TMG using VCF as a compound chart. That is, 1) Produce an annestor chart left-to-right orientation for the person's mother. 2) Produce an annestor chart right-to-left orientation for the person's father. 3) Produce an ancestor chart 1 generation for the person themselves. 4) Open 2), extend the canvas large enough for all the rest, copy/paste on 3) then 1) and join them up. This is a more powerful method than the "canned" charting of other programs as it allows you to have different settings for the paternal and maternal sides. It also allows you to "include siblings of ancestors", use different accents, etc.

You said: Please explain a bit more exactly what action you are doing... Are you changing the image path in the Exhibit Log Properties window or something else? How do did you do it - by typing or navigating to that file? Do you have thumbnails disabled or enabled? Please try the following --- after changing the image information, try running File > Maintenance > VFI then File > Maintenance > Optimise before you try to create a chart. Does that stop the error occurring?

Variants of this problem have been known for some while (and reported to the developers) but it has proved very elusive. It seems to be associated with some memory variables getting corrupted (not any stored data on the HDD). I am not aware of it occuring when changing the properties of an image that is to be used in a chart output. (It can also occur if you choose some custom colour in the VCF Report Definition Screen.) The problem is in TMG and not in VCF. As you have found out, exit TMG and restart it will usually fix the problem. Alternatively, you may need to start off the creation of the chart definition again starting from the default chart of that type.

When you are at the point in the Backup Wizard where the full backup path is showing (step 2 from memory) try the [...] on that entry, and try to navigate through the file selector to to same folder on the network - I suspect that at that point you can't navigate to that folder, so the next error is a direct consequence. What can and can't you do/see?

What I think that you are seeing is that the report shows the the "last viewed spouse", there is no such thing as the primary spouse when there are more than one partner. Visit the correct spouse in the Tree View then do the report again.

Are the EVENT tags that you are trying to export those with 2 principals? Gedcom does not support those 2 principal tags. Many methods of recording a census record in TMG use the 2 principal approach.

Arman, BTW: If you want to discuss wishes for the Check for Duplicates feature it would be more effective to raise it as a separate topic on the forum with an appropriate subject.

I don't see this as a sensible method of saving the results of a Check for Duplicates (CFD). What you want to save is a 2 column list that identifies pairs, not a list that jumbles all candidates together. I have in another place requested that there be two new options: (a) that you can print the output as a report, ( that on acceptance of a list, TMG add a new "special" tag (like Duplicate-Can with the the pair of CFD candidates as the principals of each match. Then if the same person had more than one potential duplicate it they could have more athan one Duplicate-Can tag. (I actually asked that the date of the CFD process be set in the Event Date of the Duplicate-Can tag and that the name of the Check for Duplicate Configuration settings be placed in that tags memo. Of course, once you have such a tag, then you can use all other tools of TMG to perform analysis, etc (including printing the output of one or more CFD as a combined list using the List of Events report).

This is a common misconception. It is because you can have multiple primary marriages (one for each marriage)BUT you can only one primary father or mother. Therefore Spouse surname is not unique for each person in the Project Explorer, possibly requiring the same person to be listed more than once. Hence, you will need to set a flag in a List of Events as away that you can filter the PE.

Try a List of Events report with filter Tag Type Group is Marriage AND ( Prin1 . Surname EQUALS [?] OR Prin2 . Surname EQUALS [?] ) END Output Prin1 Last, Given and Prin2 Last, Given etc when asked for the [?] enter the same surname value in both fields.

I have exported other TMG dates to CSV and sorted them without a problem, but thew last edited date is a real date in Visual Fox Pro when event dates are not. So there may be a difference. The Task Dates in the Research Log are real VFP dates and not TMG dates. It seems as if there is a difference in the handling of TMG dates and VFP dates.

Your welcome! I am further refining my merging process to reduce the number of mouse clicks, keystrokes and the number of revisits to the same combined person. The sequence of which person to merge next can significantly shorten the total processing time. I also have added another state to my custom flag "Q" (query) - implying that there are potential errors in the data that I can see but I don't want to disturb the flow of the merging process to investigate the reason. For instance, I found a person born 1788, had child at 1910, and died in 1972 - something fishy here! I need to write up my method so that other persons can continue the merging process on the same data set. Once that has been done I will put it up on a web page for others to view.

Excel has limited date recognition and sorting facilities. Dates prior to something like 1901 are not recognized. You would be probably best to export dates in a yyyy.mm.dd format which will sort correctly as text (provided if doesn't have any date modifier).

Arman, If you want to retain the data about each person completely or correctly, the short answer is NO. There are several issues here that you should be aware of before you assume that it would be possible to do this merge _completely automatically_ . You say that the data has been entered by a second person (and is not derived from a single master copy that has been independently updated) so there are likely different spellings of names, places, sources, citations, and different exhibits attached. To "merge" these data sets you need to asert that person 1:A (data set 1 person A) and person 2:B are the same and that you want merge the events of those together. But 1:A is married to 1:M, has children 1:D and 1:E, while 2:B is married to 2:N and has children 2:F and 2:G, while 1:A and 1:M have parents in data set 1 and 2:B and 2:N have parents in data set 2. Thus merging 1:A and 2:B still does not resolve the relationship links. It would be possible to design some software aids that would make this process easier, but in the end, a bulk merge operation *will require* human intervention to comfirm or modify suggested actions on a case-by-case basis. Such a merge is a bit like a chain-reaction or avalanche - a small change about duplicated identitity can imply many more possible changes. There are a number of aids within TMG that you can use. The most important are the use of flags and accenting of the Expanded Picklist to help you manage the process. ASIDE: (I am currently merging 4 data sets, each of about 3000 persons, in which there are about 2400 persons that appear in all data sets, but many who are only in 1, 2, or 3 data sets. I have found a tedious but accurate techique that requires a sequenced selective merging process to reduce the combined data set down to one ID number per person, then a second pass through this reduced number (approx. 4000) to deal with and consolidate the multiple duplicate relationships and duplicate names and duplicated events, etc. You need to create a custom flag for each data set and set it for the members of that data set. Then you need to create a new project with all the data sets combined into a single data set. Set up a custom flag in this project with 2 more states than the original number of data sets (if originally you have 2 data sets, then states 1,2,M (merged) and C (cleaned)). Set this flag to 1 when a person is from data set 1, to 2 when from data set 2, etc. Now set up an accent scheme with 4 distinct colours for states 1,2,M and C of this flag. Look at the Expanded Picklist sorted by surname and this will show you bi-colour pairs that are potential merge candidtes, the accenting should be in the parents and spouse columns as well. Confirm the potential to merge these person by looking at the side-by-side merge persons screen. If you are happy merge them to the lower ID person (but don't eliminate any tags, especially any Marriage or Child relationships). The Detail View now will have mixed accents on it. Change the custom flag of that person from 1 to M - this marks the person as having been merged. Once you have dealt with the obvious merge candidates, then look at the remainder. If you find a person who does not appear to be in both data sets, then change their custom flag to C (as there is no cleaning action needed). You will also find persons that you think are duplicates but it doen't make sense (because the suname was totally mispelt in one data set relative to another - in my case one Germanic surname commenced with "F" in the other "P" - soundex doesn't help here!) When you have completed this process over all persons (that is the Expanded Picklist is only at the colour for state M or C of your flag), then you start on the next process. For persons at state M examine their Detail View and consolidate the tag information (usually only requires deleting of duplicates, but beware of the differences in sureties, citations, exhibits, witnesses, and sentences in tags that display identically in the Detail View). When you complete this operation change their flag value to C. As you can't be sure about inter-cousin marriages and other witnesses for persons to be in either data set, I would advise _NOT_ trying to do find a small set of persons in one data set and progressively do many smaller cycles of this process on a family line by line basis. It is much less likely that you will not break any relationship links if you combine all your data into a single, but jumbled, data set and then work methodically through it. It is possible to check the relationship differences between data sets for specific family lines by creating a Descendant Indented Chart for nominally the same person in each data set - use the the end of line person as the focus.

If you are talking about the output of Visual Chartform (VCF) Box Charts, then you must set up the Page Setup in VCF to know the final size of the chart page. This must be done via the Printer Properties settings. BTW: The Epson driver will have a maximum size that can be printed on roll (can be as small as 45in, Epson 7600 has a limit at 90in), so that may still mean that your chart will be output on several pages. You can print further than this with the installation of RIP software (usually at considerable expense).