Jump to content

Recommended Posts

I am one of those strange people who like user manuals. And the TMGUG looks to be tremendous (500 pages in real English). It will keep me from sleep for a long time.

 

However, I reluctantly realize that training material does have a place. Before I push the buy button for v8 (soon), I was looking for advice on the best package to include. The TMG Training Super Bundle looks interesting, which includes 'Getting the Most Out of TMG'. 'Primer for TMG' is out of stock, so some other time for that one (The Amazon price is a bit too high at $131 in Canuck-land).

 

I have looked a bit at Second Site, and Terry Reigel's site, which contain a great amount of information. So do I really need to purchase the above 'books'?

 

 

Thanks,

 

Stan Cruise

Edited by mtnbluedatab

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The best way to learn TMG is by using it, using help, using Terry's website and asking questions. The best place to ask questions is on the email list although you should usually get answers here also. The email list archives is a vast repository of information and can be searched.

 

The fundamentals of TMG are fairly intuitive. And you should not be reticent about experimenting.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

'Primer for TMG' is out of stock, so some other time for that one (The Amazon price is a bit too high at $131 in Canuck-land).

Stan,

 

Where do you see $131 for Primer? Don't be fooled by the over-priced used copies of the outdated first edition. Look at the second edition on Amazon here. Choose the first offer under "new" for delivery other than in Canada, and the second for delivery in Canada. Amazon won't ship to Canada for reasons unknown to me, but if you use the second link I will. The price is $24.95 US. Shipping to Canada is $16.95, or at least was last time I shipped an order there.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This is the link to the $131 copy on Amazon.ca:

 

http://www.amazon.ca/Primer-Master-Genealogist-Terry-Reigel/dp/0980165202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382581842&sr=8-1&keywords=primer+for+the+master+genealogist

 

Thanks for the tip for the $24 option.

 

I will start as advised above.

 

Many thanks for the help!

 

Dumb question of the day: I have tried to find the 'email list archives' or the 'mailing list' mentioned in the above posts. Can you point me to these .... I really did try.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Stan -

 

The searchable TMG mailing list archives are here: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/search?path=TMG

 

The TMG monthly archives are here: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/TMG/2013-10

 

I have shortcuts to both of those on my browser toolbar. I update the last digits of the monthly archive shortcut on the first of the month.

 

Terry's TMG Tips Table of Contents is here: http://tmg.reigelridge.com/TOC.htm

This is a great resource.

 

Don't hesitate to ask questions here or on the mailing list.

 

Virginia

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Thanks for the link, Stan.

 

I didn't realize that those crooks were offering the out-dated first edition of my book on the Canadian version of Amazon for such ridiculous prices. Not sure I can do anything about that but I'll see. Clearly it's a better deal to buy the current edition on on the US version of Amazon.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I have taken the plunge and bought the gold license - just the app, no other stuff yet.

 

At this point I have 2 older FTW files with about 1000 people in each, with a few hundred overlap. I am planning on one Project, 2 datasets to start with. I have read most of the Terry tips. Time to try it out.

 

I started an import of one FTW file, and am at the Step 4: Tag Wizard stage. After some work I think I have the concepts.

 

FTW has a number of unassigned Tags that I need to either assign or allow creation of custom tags. Questions:

 

1. I am worried about the assignment to tag groups, as the TMG user manual indicates this cannot be undone. I want to take the time to get this right. The cremation example where it typically should be assigned to the burial group, rather than the death group is one I could have gotten wrong.

2. Some FTW tags are obvious as to what group they should be in.

3. For those FTW tags that may overlap with existing TMG tags, I expect that I can correct these tag assignments later in TMG; (once I know what is assigned to those tags - I don't know because I don't have FTW any longer and cannot remember my original assignments in FTW).

4. For those remaining FTW tags that are open to customization, and group assignment, are there any lists out there that have typical assignment suggestions? I did try some looking in the advised archives.

 

Thanks,

 

Stan

 

Subsequently added the resultant list of unassigned tags on import from FTW below. Note, I am not expecting anyone to solve my problem, just a tip in the right direction. There is also a good chance there is no data in any of these tags, so just letting it create custom tags for most may be the thing to do ....

 

Unassigned Imported Tags: Imported from FTW:

Cremation

Death of one spouse

DeathofSpouse

Degree

Elected

Fact 1 to Fact 13

Friends

Marriage Fact

Military service

None

Ongoing

Other

Partners

Private

Property

Separation

Single

Unknown

Edited by mtnbluedatab

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

After digging a bit more, I can understand not getting a reply. It's the work I need to do.

 

While most tags types are pretty obvious, some questions are:

 

1. Are there any general usage guidelines for standard TMG tag types? While most are pretty obvious, not all are.

 

2. Are there any typical custom tag type 'collections' that will naturally arise, that most find useful?

 

3. I have seen debates on some tag usage in the archives, which would be the next set of interest, but I'll leave that alone.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Stan,

 

There are guidelines for usage of the Standard Tag Types in the "Reminder" field. To view it from the Master Tag Type List you have to select the Tag Type, click Edit, and go to the Other tab of the Tag Type Definition screen.

 

To see it from an individual Tag you open the Reminder window with the square button next to the name of the Tag Type - the one with the light bulb image. As I recall Reminders are by default set to open automatically, but can be set to open only manually with a setting in Preferences.

 

As to collections of custom Tag Types, some are listed on my website in the Customizing Tags section. Some are discussed in the Sentences section of this Forum. They are often discusses on the TMG List on RootsWeb. I can't recall another collection being posted.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Excellent tips, thank-you. I have gotten lots out of them. Let me know if this is the proper place to launch the following operational question.

 

I have tried out a few imports from an FTW file, with mostly predictable results. Learning for sure.

 

FTW have a number of 'note' like items and Terry describes this well. For example in FTW there is a Fact 1; if I assign this to Note, the data goes there. If I don't then a custom tag is created automatically on the import and the data goes there. The Tag filtering on the Pick List is essential to figure this out.

 

However, here is the anomaly:

 

FTW does not have either Person or Research as a to be imported 'field'. Therefore I do not do anything regarding assignment, because it is not there. After the import however, there are two new custom tags: Person-note and Research-note. Data does appear in the Person-note, but if I try to edit those tag types in the Master Tag List, the following error results:

 

"Function argument value, type, or count is invalid. 11

TAGTYPEDEFINITION.MUPDATELIST" abort retry ignore (buttons)

 

There is only a "[M]" in the sentence box

 

Any further action leaves that window hung. Various things will unhang it eventually; it seems if I just ignore it and proceed on other things it will resolve.

 

So, I proceeded to copy the data out of each one of the person-note (all research-notes were empty), into a new Note tag. Then I deleted each Person-note tags for each person. Then I deleted the Tag types Person-note and Research-note. I figure I cleaned this up OK.

 

What do you think? Is there any residual left over?

 

Stan

Edited by mtnbluedatab

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Stan,

 

Sorry but I don't know enough about the details of the import process to help with your latest question. I was hoping Jim would respond as he is the most knowledgeable about that.

 

I want to thank you again for the heads-up about my book on Amazon.ca. After much struggling I now have my offer for the second edition listed there, so users going to that site will see the current edition and a much more reasonable price.

 

Unfortunately, because of the lower shipping fees collected from Amazon.ca I had to raise the selling price compared to what it is on Amazon.com, and I then pay commission on that amount, further reducing what I receive. To get close to what I receive from Amazon.com the total price paid by the customer on Amazon.ca is about a dollar more than if ordered on Amazon.com, so I Canadian users may still prefer to use Amazon.com. But in any case it's a much better deal that what was offered on Amazon.ca before.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Terry,

 

Could you provide a link or ISBN number, as I can still only find the $138 one on Amazon.ca. There are second hand ones though at $46. If I click on the new ones there are even places selling it at $200 :).

 

Stan

Edited by mtnbluedatab

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Stan,

If you search books for my name, or for the title, you should now get both the first and second editions listed, with the second edition - where my offer is - listed first. Here is a direct link to the second edition.

 

There are different ISBNs for the two editions - the first edition is 978-0980165203 and the second is 978-0980165210. All the prior offers on Amazon.ca are under the ISBN for the first edition - the one for the second edition was not listed on Amazon.ca until I added it yesterday. So I assume the prior offers were all for the first edition, though I have no way of knowing for sure.

 

It occurs to me that there may be difference in the VAT between my offer on Amazon.com and the one on Amazon.ca because of the difference in sale price. I don't know enough about how that works to know for sure.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yep that gets it. Many thanks.

 

This is not a complaint but for your interest regarding what search terms do find this:

 

If I enter your name, the new book is the first thing to come up $37.95.

If I enter 'Master Genealogist' only your old book comes up out of 55 items and at the $133 price, 3rd in the search list.

If I enter 'a primer for the master genealogist' it comes up with your old book as first $133, and 6th further down is your new book $37.95.

 

The wonders of Amazon search ....

 

Stan

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Stan,

 

The wonders indeed. Looking further, I find that if you limit the search to books, the two editions come up together and there are no other items shown. But if you search "all departments" the result displays many books, but the second edition comes up in the third group, which it says are titles that don't include the term "primer for the" even though that is part of the title as listed there!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The FTM import should be done using the simple import wizard. There is normally no need to use the advanced wizard to make any changes to the import settings.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Jim,

 

My import is a bit more contorted. Here is the sequence:

 

1. I have an old FTW file from about 2004. I got rid of FTM and went to Legacy 5.0. I did a GEDCOM export from FTM and then imported to Legacy, c2005.

2. Since I no longer have FTM, I can only see this info via Legacy. This still works and is on an XP machine.

3. I figured that it would be best to import the 'original' FTW file into TMG (rather than the GEDCOM from FTM, or the Legacy file)

4. When I 'advanced' import the original FTW file into TMG and assign the various note-like fields from FTW to TMG, I can see the data in TMG tags.

5. I can also see this same data in various fields in Legacy as a reference.

6. However, if I import the same 'original' FTW file into TMG using the simple import option, I cannot find the note-like data in TMG. For example, there are a few attached to a specific individual that I can see in the Legacy view of the data, but there are no tags at all in the same individual in TMG.

7. Unless I still have not found where this data ends up in TMG after the 'simple' import, it looks like I will have to revert to the advanced import.

Ultimately this is not a problem if it succeeds in finding all my data. I can clean up where the data resides afterward.

I was concerned with the 'weird' tags that are auto-created, but I guess I can live with that.

Also, when trying to access these tags I got an OLE registration error, that may also find itself fixed from the separate thread that you helped me fix regarding WMP install.

 

Stan

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just remember that if TMG creates a new global tag type, you can rename that tag type.

 

You just need to do whatever gets the most data across and requires the least amount of post-import cleanup.

 

If there is an error that you can't resolve, you need to provide the data and step-by-step instructions so that we can look at it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Super, thanks for the support.

 

To aid in confirming data transfer, is there a higher level technique or report that shows all the data that the import function actually encountered and the resultant action? Or will I have to inspect all areas for which I expect to find such data?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Import is a two stage process.

1) Genbridge imports the data from the source database in a text data stream.

2) This data stream is processed by TMG (using the appropriate app) and the data is added to a new TMG project (or appended to an existing project).

 

I don't know if the data stream is directed to a temporary text file or if it is processed in memory. If a text file is created, it will be located in the TMG session folder located in the system temp folder. You would need to copy the file from the temp folder while the session is active.

 

I have debugging tools to create the intermediate GenBridge text file containing the data stream. The procedure for doing this is fairly obscure. You might ask Support for the GenBridge development kit.

 

The GenBridge text file just shows you what GenBridge has processed. It does not tell you how the data is going to be saved in the project that will be created by the import.

 

The only reason that I use the GenBridge debugging tools is to identify errors in the GenBridge process. Seeing what and how data is imported is best done by comparing the data in the source database to the data in the TMG project resulting from the import.

 

Import is an imperfect process. Only data that fits the TMG data model will be imported.

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

×