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To print this message, click on the Options button at the upper righthand side of the message box, and in the dropdown menu select 'Print this topic'. For a copy of the screenshots, see the Download attachment at the end of the message.

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SelectedTagTypes.png

 

The screenshot above is an example of the listing (37 options) for a tag type in the Selected tag types window. Given the number of tag types and options, the selection task can be daunting. With the list color-coded, the choices are more clearly divided into three groups, and then narrowed down further by some simple logic in the selection:

 

Group 1 - with Abbreviation (blue)

Group 2 - with Label (pink)

Group 3 - with neither Abbreviation nor Label (green)

 

Note for the PlacePrep Place options in each group: The choice of place preposition is at the bottom left of the Options / Data Types page (see it in the screenshot below). The places used are determined by the Place settings on the Other tab in the chart options.

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The first screenshot below is of the Chart Options / Data Types / Box Contents screen with the color-coded selections. The second screenshot shows the resultant VCF box with the selected data. In each case, the goal of the selection was unambiguity in the chart display.

 

DataTypes_2.png ChartBox.png

 

Notes re Box Contents:

- The blank line is an option (and wastes a data line), used here just to show the result of that selection.

- Lines 2,3,8: The abbreviations b. and m. and d. are commonly used and recognized, so group 1 (w/Abbreviation) was used here for birth, marriage, death.

- Line 4: To be perfectly clear where Rev Smith officiated, the group 2 option (w/Label) was chosen in this case.

- Lines 5,6,7: It's hard to come up with a clear 4-character abbreviation for the census-year tag types, so these are group 2 (w/Label).

- Line 9: The Death* Group tag type Memo2 contains the text: "Cause of death: heart attack." This entry follows the death tag, is self-explanatory and neither an Abbreviation nor Label is necessary. The choice here is from group 3 (w/neither Abbreviation nor Label): Death* Group Memo2.

 

TIPS:

When making changes to a chart or report definition, do not modify the default configuration. Instead use the Add button to add a new definition with a descriptive name and make your changes there. You can have as many report definitions as you wish.

 

Plan the order of tag types first. Once you have made your selections in the Box Contents field, you cannot rearrange the selections or insert new ones - but must delete and reselect them. It can help to have a printout of the List of... Tag Types report. The default report shows the abbreviations and labels so you know what you will be seeing in the chart.

 

When navigating the list of tag types, type the initial letter - say R for Residence. This will take you to the R's where you can use page-down (more efficient in this case than the cursor) to find the Residence section. Doubleclick on a selection to add it to the box contents.

 

Download attachment below includes:

DataTypes.doc (composite copy of screenshots above)

Practice chart definitions: AncChartNoData.rpt and DescChartNoData.rpt

--Copy the two .rpt files (these are simple text files) to your TMG Configuration files folder. For the location, in v7, see Preferences / Current Project Options / Advanced; for v6, the .rpt files go in C:\Program Files\The Master Genealogist\Reports. In both cases, the report configurations will appear on the dropdown list of configurations in the respective box chart report.

-- For practice, try adding the Lifespan to each box type to make a simple and compact one-page chart. (Remember you have to add the Lifespan to each Box type on the Data Types tab; click on the number 1 in the little box and doubleclick on Lifespan* on the next screen). On the Other tab are Lifespan options for 'birth date - death date' or 'birth year - death year'.

 

Comments, corrections, and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

 

Virginia

DataTypes.zip

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