Wish List, Make Sources Comment field unlimited in the List of Sources Report

[mwethington 0]

Please, in a "List of Sources" Report, I would like to be able to print more than 254 characters in the column for the comment field.

 

It seems to me that the column length for the comment field is limited somewhere in theTMG code. Could you please make this unlimited or drastically increase the limit.

 

Whenever I enter a column width over 254, my data is cut off at the same point. Also, when I go back into the report setup, the column width has been reset to 254, even if I have "saved the settings." I am using ASCII text for my printout.

 

 

I have over 200 sources and over 3000 people so far. I need help when I go to the libraries……

 

I don't always want to drag my computer along. A print out would work fine…..

 

 

Is there some way to get a list of sources now that is alphabetical by title, with the author, call number, and everything I have typed into the comment field?</SPAN>

 

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At the library, in my printed listing of sources (alphabetical by title), besides the book title, author, and call number,

 

I would like to have a list of

 

A- the pages that I have already copied, and

 

B - surnames that I found in the book with the relevant page numbers

 

 

I have been recording this information using the "Comment field" on the "Supplemental" page for each of my sources to accomplish this purpose. I have also added any other relative notes for that source in the comment field

 

 

The reason I want to have this info with me at the library is because

 

A - I am tired of making copies of pages that I already have, and

 

B - when I am checking or rechecking a book, I want to know what surnames I have already found in that book and what pages the surname was on.

 

C - Also, when I am reviewing my documentation or come up with a new person to look for, I want to know if I have the copy in my images files or papers and can find it here at home, or if it is time for another trip to the library.

 

 

I did notice that when I do a "Report," "List of Tasks," the complete comment field IS printed out.

 

But, the sources are not alphabetical, it prints multiple sources for multiple tasks per source, does not list the call numbers, and I do not have tasks for every source. So, I see that somehow it is possible to print the complete comment field… but not in the list of sources.

Thank you, Marilyn

[John Cardinal 0]

Marilyn,

 

For the time being, you might try my TMG Utility program and its Export Data feature. It will Export your sources and I believe it will include the entire source comment.

[mwethington 0]

Marilyn,

 

For the time being, you might try my TMG Utility program and its Export Data feature. It will Export your sources and I believe it will include the entire source comment.

 

Thanks John, This helps a bit for now.....

 

I had tried the "Make Source Page" with TMG Utility and it did not have enough data. I missed the Export feature you mentioned.

The Export Data does get me a list of all the sources with the complete "Comment" field and much more than I need.

But, the sources are in numerical not alphbetical order......

And, the call number is not inclueded. I entered this in the field with the repository. I guess I could move this somewhere else.... 200+ sources.....

 

I guess I could write some code to rearrange the report using the XML output for now...... or get it into a spread sheet..... to get alphabetical order and eliminate what I don't want to save on paper.

 

For the future it would really be great if someone could tweak the TMG code to allow printing of the complete "Comment" field. The report options are so much more flexible in the program......

 

Thanks again, Marilyn

[John Cardinal 0]

Marilyn,

 

Changing the sort sequence of the TMG export would be relatively simple if you are up for editing an XSL file. Look in the TMG Utility program folder and you should see a set of XSL files under the XML folder. The "Sources-Standard.xsl" is the one to edit. You'd have to add some XSL code to sort the tags at about line 113 in the XSL file. Basically, if you nest an xsl:sort element inside the xsl:apply-templates element, the sources will be sorted according to the key you specify in the xsl:sort statement.

 

The call number is not part of the source record, it's part of a linked repository record and the TMG Utility Data Export tool doesn't include it.

[mwethington 0]

Thanks for your tips and help John,

 

I'll look into the XSL for an alphabetical listing.

 

As to the Call Number, yes, it is with the Repository info. But that is a key piece of data that I need at a library. The TMG Utility is cool so far.

My approach to reports is to determine the purpose or how it will/can be used.

A list of everything in the sources is great to review/document what has been entered. Although I would still like to review that I have all of the repositories and call numbers correctly listed with my sources.

 

But, when doing research, at a library or other "Repository," in a report, I need some source data along with repository data.

So, I guess I would like to see perhaps a "research report" that would include Source name, author, call number, and complete comments.

Gee, in the long run, since I have added state and county as fields in my sources, I would also like to be able to get a "Research report" that I could sort by state, country, and/or county. (depending on my library goals for the trip)

 

There is a lot of flexibility for sorting genealogy programs based on the people. But they have been lacking in the Source area. Now, they seem to be getting better about the format flexibility when citing sources for output,

BUT there is more that could be done to help with the sources/tasks for when we are actually doing the research.

 

I wonder if source reports could get as flexible as people reports.......

1 - do not limit field length, not only comment, but I could not get the complete comment when I changed a bibliography sentence to include it..... I guess it's field was limited too

2 - have one more sentence, besides the bibliograhy, to format the output for a "research report". This way I do not have to mess up my biblio sentences and can pull in the call number from the repository data.

 

Thanks again and have a good day! Marilyn

[Michael Hannah 0]

There is a lot of flexibility for sorting genealogy programs based on the people. But they have been lacking in the Source area.

Hi Marilyn,

 

I agree with your wish, and your observation. It is for these same reasons that I have chosen to create pseudo "Source" people "born" in a given repository (and pseudo "Repository" people "born" in a particular location) for some (but not all) sources in my Project. You may wish to consider this as a "work around". I make such Source people male, and Repository people female so that the Source can be a "son" of the "mother" and subsections within a repository can be "daughters". The source has my MSL abbreviation as its Given name and the repository abbreviation as the surname. If I wish I can make the source person a "Witness" to a regular event, using a custom role. And I can have custom tags for these source people where I can record things like the pages that I have already copied, and surnames that I found in the book with the relevant page numbers. Thus I can use the reports and flexibility available for people for these sources.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

[mwethington 0]

Thanks for the idea Michael!

For now, I have retyped each call number into the beginning of the comment field and will use the TMG Utility Export sources feature to get what I need. I'll look into other options too. Maybe we'll get more flexibility before we know it.....

Marilyn