Individual narrative

[Daryl Edmonds 0]

Is it possible, and if so how, to force a new line in an “Individual Narrative Report”?

 

I have created a tag I called “Short Biography” and it picks up a short bio of ten to thirty lines of a person that I put in the Memo box in the Tag Entry screen. However, when I run a report the sentences all run together with the other tags. If I don’t put a date in the tag, it is the first thing to be printed but the following tags continue in the narrative without starting a new line. Preferably, I would like the bio to follow the narrative for all the other tags, but not have to put a date on it to do this, as the date would be wrong for the start of the bio which, in many cases would be about starting school after they were dead!!

 

I know in many cases I could add each section of a bio as a separate dated tag but a lot of it is general life stories. While I don’t know exactly when they did something, I do know their life stories. How do you put in something like, “She was a tourist guide for many years and travelled all over this great country” or “He was a farmer who had a love of music. He formed a band and, for 45 years, played at local dances all through the district”?

 

I’m open to suggestions.

[Terry Reigel 0]

Is it possible, and if so how, to force a new line in an “Individual Narrative Report”?

Yes. Add a line break code, either in the Memo, if you what to break in the middle of the text, or in the sentence if you want it between tags. Right-click in either place offers you the code. (You have to be in advanced data entry mode to edit sentences.) If you put them in sentences, put them at the front of the first tag you want after the line break. If you put them at the end, the source note and final period will be at the beginning of the new paragraph.

If I don’t put a date in the tag, it is the first thing to be printed but the following tags continue in the narrative without starting a new line. Preferably, I would like the bio to follow the narrative for all the other tags, but not have to put a date on it to do this, as the date would be wrong for the start of the bio which, in many cases would be about starting school after they were dead!!

That's what sort dates are for - to sort tags as you like them without entering a regular date. You have to be in Advanced Date Entry Mode to see sort dates.

I know in many cases I could add each section of a bio as a separate dated tag but a lot of it is general life stories. While I don’t know exactly when they did something, I do know their life stories. How do you put in something like, “She was a tourist guide for many years and travelled all over this great country” or “He was a farmer who had a love of music. He formed a band and, for 45 years, played at local dances all through the district”?

You put them in Note or Antecdote if there is not standard tag that fits the case (I'd put some of your examples in Occupation tags). Or, if you have a lot of specific type of data, you could create custom tag types for it.

 

You might find my article on Creating Flowing Narratives helpful as well.

[Daryl Edmonds 0]

Yes. Add a line break code, either in the Memo, if you what to break in the middle of the text, or in the sentence if you want it between tags. Right-click in either place offers you the code. (You have to be in advanced data entry mode to edit sentences.) If you put them in sentences, put them at the front of the first tag you want after the line break. If you put them at the end, the source note and final period will be at the beginning of the new paragraph.

 

That's what sort dates are for - to sort tags as you like them without entering a regular date. You have to be in Advanced Date Entry Mode to see sort dates.

 

Thanks Terry,

 

That was a big help. I didn't know about the right-click trick for adding breaks, etc. and I didn't realise I could use the "sort date" and leave the other one blank.

 

so much to learn!

Edited July 30, 2007 by daryl edmonds

[Terry Reigel 0]

That was a big help. I didn't know about the right-click trick for adding breaks, etc. and I didn't realise I could use the "sort date" and leave the other one blank.

You're welcome, Daryl.

 

Regarding sort dates, I should have been more exact. By default, they take the date entered in the Date Field. You can then change it to another date, or enter a date in the Sort Date field when there is nothing in the Date field.

 

This is useful not only for tags with no date, but also to properly arrange tags with the same date, or to sort tags out of date order, for example when you want to sort them by subject rather than by date.

[Daryl Edmonds 0]

You're welcome, Daryl.

 

Regarding sort dates, I should have been more exact. By default, they take the date entered in the Date Field. You can then change it to another date, or enter a date in the Sort Date field when there is nothing in the Date field.

 

This is useful not only for tags with no date, but also to properly arrange tags with the same date, or to sort tags out of date order, for example when you want to sort them by subject rather than by date.

 

 

By utilising the sort dates I can now have the undated births follow a marriage; much more respectable.