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Marlene Williamson

Integrity of Place Names

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Is there a way to ensure that a place name in a new tag conforms to the ones already entered in the Master Place List? It would be very helpful to be able to access the Master Place List from the tag entry screen and choose a location, with the fields then being filled in on the Tag screen, rather than to have to attend to any discrepancies afterwards by going into the Master Place List and fixing it up.

I am new to TMG so am working out what I can and cannot do before I permanently change over....

 

Marlene

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Marlene,

 

There are two tools that can help. The first is the Repeat function. To use it, click in the field and press F3 to recall the most recently entered value for that field. Press again to recall the previous one, up to 15 values. Or, use Ctrl-F3 to display a list of the last 15 values used in that field, and chose the one you want.

 

This function works in virtually all data entry fields, not just in places. Special rule for using it in Citations: When you use the Repeat function in either the Source number or Citation Detail field, both are recalled.

 

A second tool is the Search function, which uses the F2 key. It too works in virtually all data entry fields. Click in the field, press F2, and type the first few letters of the entry you want. When you see it appear double-click on it.

 

Special rule for Search in places: You click on the lowest-ranked field you want to recall, and you will be offered all the combinations with higher-ranked fields that have been previously entered. Choosing an entry populates all the levels. Note that it does no change any lower ranked fields, so if you enter a new street address, say, you can click in the City field and recall the City, County, and State combinations previously used.

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Welcome, Marlene,

 

As Terry notes, the Master Place List (MPL) can "somewhat" be accessed from the tag entry screen to choose a location by using the F2 Search function key, but the functioning of that feature is (in my opinion) not very intuitive at first.

 

If you get used to what the F2 key does, it can be quite useful. Further, if you happen to enter a new place that is identical to an MPL entry, TMG will usually link to the existing entry and you will not get a duplicate. If you happen to create duplicates, or if you go into the MPL and edit what should be the same entries to make them identical, performing a File // Maintenance // Optimize command will merge these now identical MPL entries.

 

When you put your cursor in a location field of the tag entry screen and press F2, TMG creates a candidate list of some of the MPL entries. In creating a candidate list of places from the MPL, F2 finds all places in the MPL that exactly match what is entered in the field containing the cursor along with the higher numbered level fields for those places. (L1=Addressee, L2=Detail, L3=City, etc.) All lower numbered level fields are left blank even though the MPL may have multiple entries with non-blank lower numbered fields that match your cursor field. They are left blank because TMG has no way to determine which one of these multiple fields you want. You can now choose one of those candidate places. Unfortunately, the F2 key does not list all complete entries in the MPL that match what is entered in the field containing the cursor regardless of the contents of any other fields.

 

Some of us users have found that we can ensure F2 will search the entire MPL by adopting a data-entry convention to force a non-blank value in the [L1] (Addressee) field of every place, and always put our cursor in a blank [L1] field when we use F2. Then when we press F2 in the blank [L1] field of the tag entry screen, wel get a list of every MPL entry and can choose the one we want. If we don't see one that is the place we need, then we press Escape, and manually enter all fields of what we now know is a new MPL entry (including the non-blank [L1] value).

 

One user proposal for ensuring a non-blank [L1] field was to always enter a custom “F2 sort code”. This would also cause like places to sort together according to that code in the F2 list. Such code abbreviations for locations should follow some recognizable standards, but since one should never output this field, it can be abbreviations most easily remember. Some that use this [L1] F2 sort code have a custom Place Style to avoid normally outputting this Addressee field. I use an [L1] F2 code, but instead of a custom Place Style, to prevent outputting the code I precede my F2 sort code with exclusion marks.

 

The F2 key is very useful without this custom way to enter places, but some of us users find that this data-entry convention makes it even more useful for us.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

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When you put your cursor in a location field of the tag entry screen and press F2, TMG creates a candidate list of some of the MPL entries. In creating a candidate list of places from the MPL, F2 finds all places in the MPL that exactly match what is entered in the field containing the cursor along with the higher numbered level fields for those places. (L1=Addressee, L2=Detail, L3=City, etc.) All lower numbered level fields are left blank even though the MPL may have multiple entries with non-blank lower numbered fields that match your cursor field. They are left blank because TMG has no way to determine which one of these multiple fields you want.

I don't believe so. So far as I know, they are left blank so that you can use the feature to recall higher-ranked fields after entering a new value in a lower ranked field. For example, you enter a new cemetery, church, or street address in the Details field, and you can then recall previously used values for City, County, and State.

 

If you want to recall a previously used value in the Details field, place the cursor there and use F2.

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As users we can both speculate (and possibly disagree) on what we think is the "reason" it works as it does, but we can agree that when you press F2 with your cursor in a place field the pop-up list of candidate MPL entries leaves the lower-ranked fields blank. There may be existing MPL entries with non-blank lower-ranked fields, and there may be existing MPL entries where this cursor field is blank, but TMG does not offer them as candidates in the F2 pop-up list, so we are not being shown the actual MPL list.

 

"If you want to recall a previously used value in the Details field, place the cursor there and use F2." But if all I remember is the city name, and want to recall all the Details fields I have used for that city, I cannot use F2 to do that. If I place the cursor in the Details field, I get all the non-blank Details fields for all possible cities, which requires more work to scroll through to find this city's entries. And if the only existing MPL entry for that city is blank in the Details field, F2 does not give that MPL entry as a candidate when I put the cursor in the Details field.

 

F2 is useful, but I believe its designed features (and limitations) need to be understood. I think it is just as important to know what it doesn't do, as what it does.

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F2 does not return MPL entries. It returns place parts from the existing sets of place parts starting from the selected place level and includes all parts for the set at higher levels.

 

The parts for the sets come from the PPV table and the details of each part then come from the PD table. The P table (essentially the Master Place List) is not involved. That is exactly how F2 works.

 

The important point about F2 is that it lets you retrieve existing place parts to enter an existing place or to enter a new place without the need to retype all of the data that already exists from previous place data entry.

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As users we can both speculate (and possibly disagree) on what we think is the "reason" it works as it does, but we can agree that when you press F2 with your cursor in a place field the pop-up list of candidate MPL entries leaves the lower-ranked fields blank.

No, actually, we cannot. :) It does not leave them blank, it leaves them unchanged. That's a big difference if you have already entered something into those fields. And a key attribute of the way the feature was designed to work.

"If you want to recall a previously used value in the Details field, place the cursor there and use F2." But if all I remember is the city name, and want to recall all the Details fields I have used for that city, I cannot use F2 to do that.

I'm confused about why one would want to. When making an entry in a place field you generally know what you want to enter, the question is generally spelling and abbreviations, no?

F2 is useful, but I believe its designed features (and limitations) need to be understood. I think it is just as important to know what it doesn't do, as what it does.

Agreed. Is that different than what I said in my first post to this thread?

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