Jump to content
strathglass

newbie Q - how to change ADDR to RES tag?

Recommended Posts

I added a new address for someone and made it primary.

Now I want to take the old address and change it to a residence tag (per help file: says residence tag is for non-current addresses).

But I can't figure out how to do it: anyone know?

 

BTW - for deceased people, would you put the address as the last address or the "main" address or use only residence tags?

 

-strathglass

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I added a new address for someone and made it primary. Now I want to take the old address and change it to a residence tag ...

-strathglass

Welcome to TMG!

Sorry, but you have encountered one of the features of TMG tags that prevents you from doing this. Various tag types are organized into a set of tag groups. You can easily change a tag type into a different tag type so long as the two types belong to the same group. Address tag types are in the "Address" group, and Residence tag types are in the "Other" tag group, so you cannot change one to the other. First let me explain the groups, then I will suggest a "work around" that will let you do what you want.

 

TMG defines the following ten tag groups and the intended purpose of a tag in each group regardless of its tag type:

Name--has only one Principal and no Witnesses and defines one of many names (usually called Name-Var’s) that can be assigned to refer to this person in all other tags

Birth--refers to only one Principal and defines a beginning date for the life of this person which is used to calculate an age associated with any other event

Relationship--links one child to either one father or one mother and has no sentence, date, place, or witnesses, but does have citations and a memo

Marriage--links two people as spouses, usually for the purpose of defining a family by grouping children beget by the pair and controls the grouping and order that those spouses and/or their children are displayed in some reports and charts

Divorce--also links two people as spouses in the absence of a tag linking the same two people in the marriage group, but defines an end of a formal relationship and does not print as a marriage

Death--refers to only one Principal and defines an ending to the life of this person. TMG automatically sets the standard LIVING flag to 'N' when you add any tag in the Death group, and this flag is used by TMG to determine whether the person is living at the time of other events

Burial--documents any events that may be associated with the disposition of the body of one or two Principals following death, but adding a tag in the Burial group does not affect the LIVING flag

History--links multiple people to a common event but has no Principals, only Witnesses

Address--usually used to identify a mailing address or equivalent for a person and in Version 4 and earlier used to be the only tags that used three of the location subfields in their standard sentences

Other--links one or two Principals and multiple Witnesses to general purpose other events

 

To do exactly what you desire, I renamed as “ResideOrig” and inactivated the standard Residence tag type in the “Other” group and created my own new custom tag type named “ResidedAddress” in the Address group. (While I could have named the new custom tag type in the Address group “Residence” once the original tag was renamed, I have adopted a practice to not do this so it is clear to me which tags are my custom tags.) My custom sentences for “Address” and “ResidedAddress” expect an “Address” tag to indicate where they are now or associated with a single particular date, and a “ResidedAddress” tag where they once lived for a defined period of time with a beginning and end, or with a prefix like “before” or “after” associated with a known beginning or ending. Having these two tag types in the same group can allow a “now” to very simply be changed to “then”, with a date range, by changing the tag type.

 

I find TMG so customizable that it is easy to have it work "My Way" with only a little creativity.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks Michael. I think they should have implemented the Residence tag in line with what you did, as part of the address group! :D

 

BTW - how do you suggest I handle deceased people?

Is address used for them, and if so do you put their "primary" address (maybe where they spent most of their life), or just their last address or what?

 

-strathglass

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
BTW - how do you suggest I handle deceased people?

Is address used for them, and if so do you put their "primary" address (maybe where they spent most of their life), or just their last address or what?

I suggest that the answer to that question lies in your answer to this question: why are you recording the addresses of deceased people? Once that is clear, I think the question of which address(es) to record will be obvious. :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As I mentioned, I use my “ResidedAddress” tag where a person once lived for a defined period of time with a beginning and end, because I care to keep track of that address for future research, such as in City Directories. I enter the date based on my source information, such as "From X to Y" so it works in my custom sentences:

 

Male: "[D] [P1F] lived [L]"

Female: "[D] [P2F] lived [L]"

resident: "[D] [W] was living with [P1] [L]"

 

I put a couple as the two principals, and have a Witness role of "resident" for others, and use a split memo with [M1] for a common comment (such as "in the white house on the corner") and [M2], [M3], and [WM] unique to the individuals concerned.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks all - helpful info.

I will be recording residence info just to know where people lived when, in some cases to go see those places.

And like Michael points out, it can help for research re city directories etc. (something I hadn't thought of!).

 

-strathglass

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I think they should have implemented the Residence tag in line with what you did, as part of the address group!
Ahh... well thanks for the vote of confidence. :D However, TMG has been around for quite some years and evolved/improved over time. One of the consequences is that there are "artifacts" of old versions that have to remain to avoid affecting long-time users who have come to rely on those old features.
If tags are in different groups, but not in the HISTORY Group, TMG utility can change them to a tag of another group.
Very true, Teresa, and a good "fall back" for an established dataset. However, I think it is valuable to get used to the groups and learn what their consequences are.
Thanks all - helpful info.
You are most welcome, strathglass, and we look forward to your help to others when you become more familiar with TMG.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've already used the TMG utility to change from the default US address style to a CDN style that I created.

I will use it too to change ADDR to RES tags! (Didn't notice that feature).

 

Yes, I hope one day to know enough to be a contributor and not just a questioner! :)

 

-strathglass

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

×