Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Dan Stone

Freeform Entry Of Sources

Recommended Posts

I've been considering an alternate method of entering my sources in TMG after looking at what happens to the sources when exported to GEDCOM and imported into another program. Although Terry has previously presented some great reasons to avoid GEDCOM altogether, I do find value in being able to sometimes share my data through GEDCOM.

 

As we know, exchange of information through GEDCOM has issues, and it seems no matter how careful one is there will always be cleanup necessary after the import into the other program. In some testing I have done, however, with the free basic versions of Legacy Family Tree and Roots Magic, I think I've come across a method which reduces some of that cleanup work.

 

I created a custom source type with both the full footnote and short footnote defined as [TITLE]<,[CD]> and the bibliography defined as [TITLE]. When I add a new source, I select this custom source type, and on the source definition screen create an abbreviation as I normally would, then enter into the title field exactly what I would like my full footnote to appear as. On the output form tab I replace [TITLE] in the short footnote field with exactly how I would like my short footnote to appear, and I replace [TITLE] in the bibliography field with exactly how I would like my bibliography output to appear.

 

In the tests I have conducted, looking directly at the GEDCOM output from TMG shows the title field is output to the GEDCOM exactly as it is input in the title field on the source definition screen. When the GEDCOM is imported into either Legacy Family Tree or Roots Magic, a source is created with a full footnote appearing exactly as entered in the title field on the source definition screen in TMG. The short footnote and bibliography entries appear exactly as the full footnote entry.

 

I'm wondering what I would lose by just entering sources as I've described, rather than the traditional TMG source entry using all the templates with the various source elements. Using the method I've described, it seems the GEDCOM output is more consistent, and the issue of cleanup of short footnote and bibliography fields is no different than the cleanup of these fields required with the import of a GEDCOM using the traditional TMG source entry. For some uses, the issue of cleanup of the short footnote and bibliography fields can even be irrelevant, as using the same output for both full and short footnotes, and not utilizing a bibilography output, can be just fine.

 

I wanted to ask here first, before moving forward with adopting this method, as I certainly may be overlooking something obvious, and I know there are much more experienced TMG users on this forum who can point out the shortcomings of what I'm considering. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you,

 

Dan

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Dan,

 

I think the most obvious thing you lose by this approach is you have to construct and format the notes yourself - you lose the assistance of the formating built into TMG templates. I gather you are comfortable with that. You also lose the ability to recall (with F2 and F3) previous entries in the various Source Elements, requiring you to type them afresh each time potentially introducing spelling errors. If GEDCOM output of source notes is important to you, these may be worthwhile sacrifices. I don't see any fundamental issue with your approach.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you for your reply, Terry. I always hold your input in high regard, and appreciate you reviewing my alternative source entry method. You're right about me being comfortable with losing the formatting assistance of the built in templates. I had not considered losing the recall feature, as you pointed out, but I think I'll be comfortable with just doing manual cut and paste when necessary.

 

Thanks again,

 

Dan

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×