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customizing event list with an abbreviated source citation column?

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Hello. Former TMG 5 user thinking about getting back into using TMG again. I will, if I can do this one thing: if either my version or the new version will let me create an event list that includes a column for an abbreviated source reference.

 

That is, I want to be able to create an event list with the following columns:

Date -- Event -- Person -- Place -- Associated Info -- Abbreviated Source

 

Thanks.

 

--Meredith

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Hi, Meredith,

 

The issue is that any event can have any number of source citations, so the list of Events does not allow you to include what can be an unlimited number of citations. But you can get this from the List of Citations report in TMG7, if you use the "columnar format." That format was new in TMG7 I believe.

 

You would choose:

- Linked Record; Date

- Linked Record; Tag Type

- Linked Record; Subject 1, First Last (also subject 2, if you want, because in TMG most events allow two principal subjects. You cannot get people attached as Witnesses, because again there can be an unlimited number of them.

- Linked Record; Memo (I assume that's what you mean by "Associated Info" - but memos can be very long and you won't be able to get much of it in a columnar list. If you mean Place, you can get that with Linked Record; Place.

- Source Abbrev if you want the Abbreviation, or you can also get various other source elements.

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Thank you both for such quick and useful replies.

 

I've already downloaded the trial v.7, and I will try what Terry suggested using the List of Citations. This might be just what I need.

 

Terry said "The issue is that any event can have any number of source citations, so the list of Events does not allow you to include what can be an unlimited number of citations."

 

To clarify my need, what I'm looking for is literally a report in which there's a one-to-one relationship between a particular event and one source that bears on that event.

 

I'm not looking to output a final conclusion with all possible sources that relate to it ("15 Aug 1853; birth; Agnes X; Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; <notes>" -- followed by the nine different sources that specify Agnes's birth date).

 

What I'm looking for is the ability to make a list of every instance of the event as it is documented in each of those different sources, so that I can see exactly which version of the event is connected with which particular source:

 

est. 1852-1853 ; birth ; Agnes X ; Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts ; <brief note> ; 1910 census, X family, Chelsea

15 Aug 1852 ; birth ; Agnes X ; Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts ; par Hugo X, Estera Y ; Agnes X birth cert, Boston, 1852, vol 452, p 523

18 Aug 1853 ; birth ; Agnes X ; Chelsea?, Suffolk, Massachusetts ; par Hugh X, Esther Y ; family lore

 

I currently keep an Excel file to track this information, because I haven't been able to find an app that will give me these six columns in one report. (And I guess, if all the lineage-linked genealogy databases classify events in this one-to-many way, that's partly why I haven't found one to do what I want, yet!)

 

But using the List of Citations as Terry suggests does sound like it'll get me what I want....

 

Thanks. I won't have a chance to play with the new release for a couple of days yet, but it would be terrific if this works....

 

--Meredith

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What I'm looking for is the ability to make a list of every instance of the event as it is documented in each of those different sources, so that I can see exactly which version of the event is connected with which particular source:

 

est. 1852-1853 ; birth ; Agnes X ; Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts ; <brief note> ; 1910 census, X family, Chelsea

15 Aug 1852 ; birth ; Agnes X ; Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts ; par Hugo X, Estera Y ; Agnes X birth cert, Boston, 1852, vol 452, p 523

18 Aug 1853 ; birth ; Agnes X ; Chelsea?, Suffolk, Massachusetts ; par Hugh X, Esther Y ; family lore

 

I currently keep an Excel file to track this information, because I haven't been able to find an app that will give me these six columns in one report. (And I guess, if all the lineage-linked genealogy databases classify events in this one-to-many way, that's partly why I haven't found one to do what I want, yet!)

 

--Meredith

 

The above examples could (and in my database would) be entered as multiple events. I would have one birth event entered for each of the variations you listed above. One would be flagged as primary. Each birth event would have it's own source linked to it. If entered this way, I think the citation report would provide you what you are looking for. Additionally, I think you will find that just looking at the person in TMG will allow you to easily see the variations and how they are sourced.

 

Sheila Altenbernd

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Hi Meredith,

 

What I like best about TMG is that it is so flexible and customizable. There may be a default way to do things, but TMG can easily accomodate alternatives, such as the one Sheila mentioned. You need to experiment with TMG as Virginia has suggested because

a final conclusion with all possible sources that relate to it ("15 Aug 1853; birth; Agnes X; Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; " -- followed [simply] by the nine different sources that specify Agnes's birth date)
is not how TMG would have to output information about an event. I think you can make it do what you want.

 

Your "need" is a good reflection on being careful how you enter your data so that you can retrieve what you want the way you want. While Sheila's suggestion will work, I choose to do it differently (and am sure there are other users who will have even more different ways to do this). I use the "many to one" method of one event with multiple citations, but with footnotes customized to use the optional Citation Memo field. TMG has two fields where you can enter data associated with each source citation and each field can be referenced in output separately:

  • a Citation Detail, referenced as [CD], which usually contains something like "page 43, born the first Sunday in March", and
  • a Citation Memo, referenced as [CM], that can contain whatever you want.

Most default templates for citation footnotes and biblographies only output the CD, so usually what you put in the CM is just a note for yourself. However, I choose to customize my footnote templates to output the CM. If you enter your source data this way, then I believe you could get what you want by putting your own notes about the "version of the event" information for that source in that CM.

 

Now what you get for output depends upon the type of TMG report you generate. If you just want a "list of events" associated with a person, the Individual Detail report is one you might use setting the option for sources as footnotes. That will say "Birth: 15 Aug 1853, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusets; event memo" followed by the nine citations. However, those nine (customized) footnotes will now also output your "version" information for each citation. When you generate one of the narrative reports it will say something like "John Jones was born 15 Aug 1853 ..." and these customized footnotes cited at the end of the sentence will output the various "version" information for that event. Finally, if you generate a List of Citations report for a source as Terry suggested, the citations will show the various events cited, and the CM column will show the version information. Of course you don't need to customize the footnotes like I do. You could leave them as default to only output the CD, and then only see the CM from the List of Citations report or when you reviewed that citation on screen. Up to you, which is the whole point.

 

What you get out of TMG depends on what you put in and the options for output that you use. I think you will find that TMG is so flexible that it can give you what you want if you know how to ask for it. And all us users on this Forum will be happy to give you (many, many different) suggestions on how to do what you want.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

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You guys are great! Thank you all for your thoughtful suggestions. I'll definitely be trying out several approaches.

 

Sheila said: "I think you will find that just looking at the person in TMG will allow you to easily see the variations and how they are sourced."

 

I guess I should have also mentioned that I'm not just interested in looking at one-person-with-one-event+variations at a time. What I do now, and am trying to replicate using TMG, is to build an event list that includes, for each person in my focus group, all events with all sourced event variations. So, in a family group that includes our Agnes, I have a separate event+source entry, as above, for every instance of every event relating to Agnes, but also a separate event+source entry for every instance of every event relating to each person in the particular focus group -- arranged chronologically. This combined timeline report is what I'm hoping I can do in TMG7.

 

Yes, this can be a very large timeline, but I've found that -- as a very visual person -- this is a terrific way for me to get a comprehensive overview of all the collected evidence. Initially it's useful for determining where I'm missing good (direct, primary) sources for data I already have, as well as highlighting where I'm missing data and reminding me where I haven't looked yet; down the line, it's the best way for me to comprehend how reliable my evidence is as I begin to analyze the various converging sources of data, or when I'm working toward trying to build a good argument with only indirect evidence to work with.

 

So, from what you guys have summarized here, it does sound like it'll be possible for me to work out a way to produce this chart using TMG7. And if this additional description of what I'm trying to do suggests any other hints or approaches that I might look at as I experiment with TMG7, I'd appreciate any further input you might have. Thank you all.

 

--Meredith

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You guys are great! Thank you all for your thoughtful suggestions. I'll definitely be trying out several approaches.
You are welcome, Meredith. Trying things is definately the best way to learn TMG. I have a separate project with only a few people so it is small that I keep just to try different ideas and report options to see if I can get what I want.

 

I guess I should have also mentioned that I'm not just interested in looking at one-person-with-one-event+variations at a time. What I do now, and am trying to replicate using TMG, is to build an event list that includes, for each person in my focus group, all events with all sourced event variations. So, in a family group that includes our Agnes, I have a separate event+source entry, as above, for every instance of every event relating to Agnes,
If I understand you, this lists all of Agnes' sourced event variations, then all of the next person? Experiment with the Individual Detail report and its various options. With sources set as footnotes where the citation information describes the variation for this event, I think this will be close to what you want. You can define a TMG focus group (actually many focus groups each named and saved for reuse) of a set of people and run this (and other) reports for that focus group. It will output each person in the group with their list of events and footnotes for each event. And you can even restrict which events it outputs to only selected types of events, e.g. only Birth/Marriage/Death/Burial, or only Immigration/Emigration, etc. However, if you want this as a list grouped by event type with different people's events intermingled, see below.

 

but also a separate event+source entry for every instance of every event relating to each person in the particular focus group -- arranged chronologically. This combined timeline report is what I'm hoping I can do in TMG7.
I think the List of Citations may produce what you want here, although restricting this list to only the people in a focus group takes one extra step. This report can be filtered to a particular source, or only to citations linked to events, or only linked to Birth tags, etc. I might start experimenting with a Columnar / List of Citations / All citations, with output columns like "Source Number", "Source Abbrev", "Linked Record; Tag Type", "Linked Event; Date", "Linked Record; Subject 1; ID", "Linked Event; Prin1 Last, Given", "Citation Detail", and "Citation Memo". You can set a nested sort order based on these output fields. For example, for your timeline the primary sort could be "Event Date", then the different events ("Tag Type") for a date, then by Source for each event, then by the subject's "ID" for each person cited to that source for that type of event on that date. This should produce your (very large) timeline of all citations sorted by date. Of course you could have the primary sort field for the report be any field, such as by type of event so all Baptisms group together, or by Principal's name or ID to be equivalent to the above report, or by Source ID so you know what you have from each source, etc. You could also output this report as an Excel spreadsheet (which is an option) and use that to sort in a variety of ways. The beauty of this being a TMG report is that you will not need to do dual data entry to keep the spreadsheet current. Just rerun the report.

 

When a report, like List of Citations, doesn't directly provide a report option to restrict it a Focus Group of people, you can always do that with one simple extra step. Just run a quick List of People report restricted to that Focus Group, where its Secondary Output produces a separate temporary project. Then you simply run the desired report on that temporary project. When you have produced the report simply delete that temporary project.

 

So, from what you guys have summarized here, it does sound like it'll be possible for me to work out a way to produce this chart using TMG7.
I think so, but only experimenting with the reports will tell you whether you are getting what is useful to you. And if you can't seem to figure out a way to do something specific, post a new detailed question and one of us users will be happy to try to suggest something.

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