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A couple questions - Cause of Death, and PDF Exhibits

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I'm no TMG power user, so I need some help with a couple simple questions:

 

What is the best way to enter cause of death information?

I was using a NOTES tag, but maybe it could go in the DEATH tag with a custom sentence (but I don't think that is practical) or as a custom tag?

Just wanted to understand what is the best approach and why (or at least pros & cons of the different approaches).

 

Also, it looks like PDF exhibits are not supported.

What should I do with my PDF files???

The exhibit dialog allows RTF files but I notice when I added PDF anyways, it says ony "true" text files are supported, which would mean not even RTF is supported since that is not true text, so why do they allow RTF???

Anyway, looking for recommendations.

 

THANKS!

-Colin

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Colin,

 

Why do you want to enter the cause of death? Answer that and the answer to your question becomes simpler.

 

If you think it's interesting to readers, I'd enter it in the Memo of the Death Tag, and if you use narrative reports, modify the Sentence of the Death Tag Type so it includes

 

I don't generally enter it at all, but when it's interesting that's what I do.

 

If you want it for research purposes it many be better to put it in a custom Tag Type. Then you can search for specific causes with a filter. Or, use a custom Flag, which allows you to create Accents or color code box charts.

 

If you have a different purpose, let us know and we can suggest ideas.

 

PDF's can be attached as Exhibits, and if you read the notice carefully it only says they can't be included in TMG reports. So again, why do you want to attach them. If it's to include them in reports, you can't, because the reports only support embedding of images and true text files. So if it's important to include them in TMG reports, you either need to convert them to text files, or make images of them.

 

If it's for reference, they can be attached, and if you want to view them TMG will send them to a PDF view to display them. I'm not a fan of attaching exhibits for reference - I think they are easier to find in a well organized file system on your computer outside of TMG.

 

If it's for display in websites created with Second Site, you can do that. PDFs are not an idea medium for web browsers because you can't control how the reader will experience them - it depends on settings on their computer. If it's important to retain the page formatting it works, but otherwise converting them to images or in plain text usually works better.

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Terry - thanks for your detailed reply.

 

Cause of Death - just want to add it for interesting cases.

So I will take your advice and use the Memo of the Death tag.

However, because I prefer to write the memo as a standalone sentence, or paragraph, I would make the sentence end as <. [M]> (i.e. period not comma) (I assume that is not a problem).

 

PDFs:

Is an RTF file considered "true text"? I had assumed not, but am not sure.

Mostly I want to use PDFs for reference (but sometimes one would be worthy of use in a report).

Good to know SS can display PDFs (limitations of PDFs duly noted).

I still like to attach PDFs for reference because it makes it easy to find the PDF associated with the tag.

 

Regards,

Colin

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Add PDFs using the next option "Insert New Exhibit (Other)".

 

Neil - thanks, but I don't see any such option.

Can you describe exactly how to access this screen?

Colin,

 

It's on the right-click menu. But so far as I can see, you can get the same result using the Add button, even though it doesn't say those words.

 

Terry - thanks for your detailed reply.

 

Cause of Death - just want to add it for interesting cases.

So I will take your advice and use the Memo of the Death tag.

However, because I prefer to write the memo as a standalone sentence, or paragraph, I would make the sentence end as <.> (i.e. period not comma) (I assume that is not a problem).

No, that's fine if that's your preference.

PDFs:

Is an RTF file considered "true text"? I had assumed not, but am not sure.

I think so, but I've not tested it.

Mostly I want to use PDFs for reference (but sometimes one would be worthy of use in a report).

Good to know SS can display PDFs (limitations of PDFs duly noted).

I still like to attach PDFs for reference because it makes it easy to find the PDF associated with the tag.

Apparently many users agree with you that attaching sources and other reference materials as exhibits works well, so it's just a matter of preferences.

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I know this topic is old but I too would like to know what is the best way to enter "Cause of Death". My reason is to be able to run a report of who all died of TB, Heart Attacks, Emphysema, Breast Cancer, etc.. Kinda like having a medical history as a lot of stuff is inherited. Maybe a "COD" tag of some sort. This is for my own reference. I am "very new" to TMG running TMG 8.8 Gold Edition.

 

Jane

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Jane -

 

I have a DeathCause tag to record this information. It can be very helpful information - often life-saving for future generations. particularly with specific types of cancer. Being aware of the past incidence can be an alert to the symptoms. Charts can be color coded to show the incidents of these causes of death.

 

Virginia

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Thank you Virginia! I haven't thought about color-coding them. Great idea! Could you post an example of your tag, the sentence structure?

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DJ -

 

I don't use narrative reports so don't modify tag sentences. I enter the information in the memo of the DeathCause tag - 'Cause of Death: Lung Cancer' - date it to follow the Death tag, and the information appears in charts, FGS, and Individual Detail reports.

 

Virginia

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Colin,

The free image display-editing program Irfanview, plus the utility GhostScript can convert PDF files into a multi-page (if the PDF has several pages) image file. I generally save each page as a separate jpg file.

 

Pierce

Colin,

PDF's can be attached as Exhibits, and if you read the notice carefully it only says they can't be included in TMG reports. So again, why do you want to attach them. If it's to include them in reports, you can't, because the reports only support embedding of images and true text files. So if it's important to include them in TMG reports, you either need to convert them to text files, or make images of them.

If it's for reference, they can be attached, and if you want to view them TMG will send them to a PDF view to display them. I'm not a fan of attaching exhibits for reference - I think they are easier to find in a well organized file system on your computer outside of TMG.

If it's for display in websites created with Second Site, you can do that. PDFs are not an idea medium for web browsers because you can't control how the reader will experience them - it depends on settings on their computer. If it's important to retain the page formatting it works, but otherwise converting them to images or in plain text usually works better.

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