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Arman

Wish list: enhance Focus group feature

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The TMG v6.04 is clearly a program with a long history. This user interface and features are not always as logical as you may expect. Here are some remarks on the Focus group feature.

 

1) Focus groups can be imported and exported. However, this is not a real import or export, but a load and save (as is explained in the Help!).

2) For unknown reasons, the location of the groups can not be selected either. Are they part of the project database? It is now not possible to exchange focus groups with co-researchers.

3) Another point is that it would be nice to apply a focus group to the filter of the Project Explorer (as is possible for several reports). Thus, the group can be viewed as a whole in the project itself, rather that in report outputs.

 

I hope that Wholly Genes will change the following:

1) Change Import focus group to Load focus group, and Export focus group to Save focus group. (This is a terminology change only.)

2) Make it possible to save the group to a file.

3) Make it possible to apply the focus groups in the Project Explorer filter.

 

Any comments on this proposal?

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I hope that Wholly Genes will change the following:

2) Make it possible to save the group to a file.

 

Don't you mean the following which is already possible in TMG.

 

Create a focus group, say Export and give it a name which you like.

Go to Reports > List of... > Persons, select the just created focus group and print it to file and location as you like to. So you saved it. ;)

 

Vera

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I hope that Wholly Genes will change the following:

 

1) Change Import focus group to Load focus group, and Export focus group to Save focus group. (This is a terminology change only.)

2) Make it possible to save the group to a file.

3) Make it possible to apply the focus groups in the Project Explorer filter.

 

Any comments on this proposal?

 

Arman,

 

1) No comment. As you say terminology.

 

2) Once you have created the focus group you can export via File, Export as a GEDCOM or ASCII or several other formats.

You can use secondary output on reports such as List of People to create a new Project or generate to a file in a variety of formats.

 

3) You could use the Focus Group to set a Flag on each person in the group and then filter on the Project Explorer by that flag thus getting your focus group as a filter.

:medieval:

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Hi Vera,

 

No, I do mean the possibility to save the focus group data in a separate file in order to exchange it with others (e.g. working on a project replica).

 

Perhaps you saw some of my other topics regarding researchers working together on the same project at different locations. Many other applications (in the office environment and software development) have special features for this. In TMG, this is hardly the case.

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Hi Jeff,

 

2) See my reply to Vera.

3) OK, this might work as a workaround, but is much to complicated in my opinion. If fact, it shows that within TMG the building bricks are available but that it is just a matter of implementation to create a user-friendly interface to the feature.

Edited by Arman

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Hi Jeff,

 

2) See my reply to Vera.

3) OK, this might work as a workaround, but is much to complicated in my opinion. If fact, it shows that within TMG the building bricks are available but that it is just a matter of implementation to create a user-friendly interface to the feature.

 

 

Arman,

2) What format do you want to save the focus group as?

 

3) Not complicated at all. Flags are used in all sorts of contexts to decide who to include.

Create a filter flag. Create a LOP report to set it. Create a LOP report to reset to default so you can clear it.

With all saved its a matter of a few clicks. You could add the 2 reports to run from buttons on a customised toolbar.

I'm not the best in the world with reports and filters. It took me 6 minutes to create the flag and reports and the filter on the PE.

Then takes about a minute to run. That's a project with 1600 people about 2000 names

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No, I do mean the possibility to save the focus group data in a separate file in order to exchange it with others (e.g. working on a project replica).

You can do that now. Once you have gotten everyone into the Focus Group, use File > Export to export everyone in the FG to a GEDCOM or to other file formats. If you want to save them as a TMG project, instead use the secondary output of the List of People report to create a new Project. Either can use the FG to identify the persons to be included.

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Perhaps you saw some of my other topics regarding researchers working together on the same project at different locations. Many other applications (in the office environment and software development) have special features for this. In TMG, this is hardly the case.

 

Hi, Arman,

 

could you please be a bit more precise what you are referring to saying .... in other applications... have special features for this?

 

Sorry, but couldn't get you so far. :ph34r:

 

Vera

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Hi, Arman,

 

could you please be a bit more precise what you are referring to saying .... in other applications... have special features for this?

 

Sorry, but couldn't get you so far.  :ph34r:

 

Vera

 

Vera,

 

I mean features to facilitate working together on the same document, project or database. For example, in Microsoft's Access database, there is a Replication Manager that manages synchronization between replicas of the database in different places. Adobe Acrobat has features to share comments made by many authors working on the same document. So has Microsoft Word.

These are some examples of applications that enable sharing and managing "distributed developments". It's a trend for years.

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You can do that now. Once you have gotten everyone into the Focus Group, use File > Export to export everyone in the FG to a GEDCOM or to other file formats. If you want to save them as a TMG project, instead use the secondary output of the List of People report to create a new Project. Either can use the FG to identify the persons to be included.

 

Hi Terry,

 

I know, but I don't want to transfer the data itself, but the selection made by the Focus Group. This is simular to saving a Filter and sending it to a co-researcher.

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Arman,

2) What format do you want to save the focus group as?

 

3) Not complicated at all. Flags are used in all sorts of contexts to decide who to include.

Create a filter flag. Create a LOP report to set it. Create a LOP report to reset to default so you can clear it.

With all saved its a matter of a few clicks. You could add the 2 reports to run from buttons on a customised toolbar.

I'm not the best in the world with reports and filters. It took me 6 minutes to create the flag and reports and the filter on the PE.

Then takes about a minute to run. That's a project with 1600 people about 2000 names

 

Hi Jeff,

 

2) For example the same as a filter, but I don't realy care. If fact, a focus group is also a a query on the database, just like the filter is (seen from the software development side).

 

3) Even the number of steps you mention is scaring me off. It demonstrates your knowledge on the subject, but I want to make the user's life (and also my life) easier. TMG is not only a program for expert users (it has the name, though). The easier things go, the better.

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I know, but I don't want to transfer the data itself, but the selection made by the Focus Group. This is simular to saving a Filter and sending it to a co-researcher.

Thanks, Arman. Now I understand. No, you can't currently do that.

 

However, it would have limited utility. The Focus Group necessarily is a list of ID#'s, since that is the only way to reliably identify persons. So it could only be used by someone with the exact same people with the same ID's. For practical purposes, that means they have a copy of the same project.

 

The FG is currently saved as part of the set of data tables that make up the project. So if you send someone a backup, they get the saved FGs. But there is no easy way to "refresh" with new FGs unless the recipient has kept the data set locked, which is generally not a viable approach.

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Additional request:

 

4) Make it possible to save the results of the Check for Duplicates process in a focus group.

 

Reason: the check process can take a long time on large projects. (In a project of about 15000 people on a modern pc, it may take over 1 hour). When it is possible to save the resulting people in a focus group, one can examine the duplicates, print a list, and/or decide to merge individuals later on. In the current implemenation (TMG v6.05), the results are lost.

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Additional request:

 

4) Make it possible to save the results of the Check for Duplicates process in a focus group.

 

I don't see this as a sensible method of saving the results of a Check for Duplicates (CFD). What you want to save is a 2 column list that identifies pairs, not a list that jumbles all candidates together.

 

I have in another place requested that there be two new options:

(a) that you can print the output as a report,

(B) that on acceptance of a list, TMG add a new "special" tag (like Duplicate-Can with the the pair of CFD candidates as the principals of each match. Then if the same person had more than one potential duplicate it they could have more athan one Duplicate-Can tag. (I actually asked that the date of the CFD process be set in the Event Date of the Duplicate-Can tag and that the name of the Check for Duplicate Configuration settings be placed in that tags memo. Of course, once you have such a tag, then you can use all other tools of TMG to perform analysis, etc (including printing the output of one or more CFD as a combined list using the List of Events report).

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Arman,

 

BTW: If you want to discuss wishes for the Check for Duplicates feature it would be more effective to raise it as a separate topic on the forum with an appropriate subject.

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I don't see this as a sensible method of saving the results of a Check for Duplicates (CFD). What you want to save is a 2 column list that identifies pairs, not a list that jumbles all candidates together.

 

I have in another place requested that there be two new options:

(a) that you can print the output as a report,

(B) that on acceptance of a list, TMG add a new "special" tag (like Duplicate-Can with the the pair of CFD candidates as the principals of each match. Then if the same person had more than one potential duplicate it they could have more athan one Duplicate-Can tag. (I actually asked that the date of the CFD process be set in the Event Date of the Duplicate-Can tag and that the name of the Check for Duplicate Configuration settings be placed in that tags memo. Of course, once you have such a tag, then you can use all other tools of TMG to perform analysis, etc (including printing the output of one or more CFD as a combined list using the List of Events report).

 

Robin,

 

Please note that adding tags changes the Last Edited Date, and that there are no tools in TMG to delete these tags.

In fact I don't care about the two-column results. If the duplicates are all in a focus group, the CFD process can quickly recreate the view. Now it may take a long time.

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