On Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:32:34 -0800 (GMT-08:00), Susan Goldsmith <jcwsmg@sprintmail.com> wrote: >Dear Members, > > What are the pros and cons of My Heritage v Family Tree Maker software? Which software do you prefer and why? > > Is there a way to synch the data I have in My Heritage software with the data I have in Family Tree Maker software? (Not having decided which software to settle on, I have made the mistake of updating some information in one software, some in the other). > > Thank you. > Best Regards, > S Goldsmith > > You really need to consider other choices. Look at Legacy, RootsMagic, and PAF. Most are either free or have free versions available for trial. You should explore all and then select the one you like best. As you can see from another thread in this group, changing your data from one program to another is a real pain.

On Wed, 27 Feb 2013 13:33:10 -0500, singhals <singhals@erols.com> wrote: >Charlie Hoffpauir wrote: >> On Tue, 26 Feb 2013 20:07:06 -0500, singhals<singhals@erols.com> >> wrote: >> >> <snip> >>> I'm gonna take your word for it that when you export you get >>> a "NICK" field. I can't make Legacy or RM put that field >>> into the GED. I generated an RM GED (it didn't give me any >>> options about my target), and 4 from Legacy. None of them >>> had "NICK" when I looked. >>> >>>> If RM had the same Family Navigation Screen as Legacy I would switch >>>> back. But I'm a creature of habit. Where is that Fountain of Youth? >>> >>> Just past the Free Lunch Counter. ;) >>> >>> Cheryl >> >> I tested this on the free version I downloaded, and if I put a given >> name within quote marks, it is indeed put into a field labeled "NICK". >> I found nothing in any Legacy documentation referring to this, but a >> response posted in a Legacy user group indicated that this was the >> practice. BTW, it also shows the name with quote marks in the NAME >> field. Example below: >> >> 0 HEAD >> 1 SOUR Legacy >> 2 VERS 7.5 >> 2 NAME Legacy (R) >> 2 CORP Millennia Corp. >> 3 ADDR PO Box 9410 >> 4 CONT Surprise, AZ 85374 >> 1 DEST Legacy >> 1 DATE 27 Feb 2013 >> 1 SUBM @S0@ >> 1 FILE G:\RootsMagic\GEDCOMS\Example.ged >> 1 GEDC >> 2 VERS 5.5.1 >> 2 FORM LINEAGE-LINKED >> 1 CHAR ANSEL >> 0 @S0@ SUBM >> 1 NAME Not Given >> 0 @I31540@ INDI >> 1 NAME Charles Richard "Dicky" /Hoffpauir/ >> 2 GIVN Charles Richard "Dicky" >> 2 SURN Hoffpauir >> 2 NICK Dicky >> 1 SEX M >> 1 BIRT >> 2 DATE 15 Oct 1939 >> 1 _UID DC7C5732B78C4F388EBFC9274C420EE1650B >> 1 CHAN >> 2 DATE 27 Feb 2013 >> 3 TIME 08:36 >> 0 @I31541@ INDI >> 1 NAME Jerry 'Lynn' /Hoffpauir/ >> 2 GIVN Jerry 'Lynn' >> 2 SURN Hoffpauir >> 1 SEX M >> 1 _UID F025847F04784538B6E815A6089FC80DE636 >> 1 CHAN >> 2 DATE 24 Feb 2013 >> 3 TIME 09:13 >> 0 @I31542@ INDI >> 1 NAME Luther "Francis" /Hoffpauir/ >> 2 GIVN Luther "Francis" >> 2 SURN Hoffpauir >> 2 NICK Francis >> 1 SEX M >> 1 _UID 1082D24D2C144E60A966605DCEB75FBB0A54 >> 1 CHAN >> 2 DATE 24 Feb 2013 >> 3 TIME 09:13 >> 0 TRLR > > >Using a db I had handy at the FHC and Legacy7.5, I added >"Tom" and (Tom) as an Alternate name to one Thomas >Swearingen, and then created 4 GEDs: Legacy-to-Legacy; >Legacy-to-GED5.5.1; Legacy-to-basic-GED; and Legacy-to-PAF5 >Omitted from this is the Legacy to Basic GED one. > Just wondering, why as an alternate name? What Hugh is looking at is typically someone with the given names Luther Francis, who is called Francis, and so usually signs L. Francis. Hugh wants to make it clear that the program and anyone looking at it knows that person should be known as Francis, rather than Luther, and so enters the name as Luther "Francis". there's no need to use the alternate name field at all. >Out of Legacy TO Legacy: >0 HEAD >1 SOUR Legacy >2 VERS 7.5 >2 NAME Legacy (R) >2 CORP Millennia Corp. >3 ADDR PO Box 9410 >4 CONT Surprise, AZ 85374 >1 DEST Legacy >1 DATE 26 Feb 2013 >1 SUBM @S0@ >1 FILE E:\hhsbook\legacy.ged >1 GEDC >2 VERS 5.5.1 >2 FORM LINEAGE-LINKED >1 CHAR ANSEL >0 @S0@ SUBM >1 NAME Not Given >0 @I1@ INDI >1 NAME Thomas /Swearingen/ >2 GIVN Thomas >2 SURN Swearingen >1 NAME "Tom" // >2 GIVN "Tom" >2 SURN >1 NAME (Tom) // >2 GIVN (Tom) >2 SURN >1 NAME 'Tom' // >2 GIVN 'Tom' >2 SURN >1 SEX M >1 BIRT >2 DATE 1688 >2 PLAC Md >2 SOUR @S2@ >1 DEAT Y >1 _UID BBE139991522481FAFC4589C6E7BE324631E >1 CHAN >2 DATE 26 Feb 2013 >3 TIME 13:36 >1 FAMS @F1@ > >**** >Out of Legacy to GED 5.5.1; > >0 HEAD >1 SOUR Legacy >2 VERS 7.5 >2 NAME Legacy (R) >2 CORP Millennia Corp. >3 ADDR PO Box 9410 >4 CONT Surprise, AZ 85374 >1 DEST Gedcom5.5.1 >1 DATE 26 Feb 2013 >1 SUBM @S0@ >1 FILE E:\hhsbook\5.5ged.ged >1 GEDC >2 VERS 5.5.1 >2 FORM LINEAGE-LINKED >1 CHAR ANSEL >0 @S0@ SUBM >1 NAME Not Given >0 @I1@ INDI >1 NAME Thomas /Swearingen/ >2 GIVN Thomas >2 SURN Swearingen >1 NAME "Tom" // >2 GIVN "Tom" >2 SURN >1 NAME (Tom) // >2 GIVN (Tom) >2 SURN >1 NAME 'Tom' // >2 GIVN 'Tom' >2 SURN >1 SEX M >1 BIRT >2 DATE 1688 >2 PLAC Md >2 SOUR @S2@ >1 DEAT Y >1 _UID BBE139991522481FAFC4589C6E7BE324631E >1 CHAN >2 DATE 26 Feb 2013 >3 TIME 13:36 >1 FAMS @F1@ >*** > >Out of Legacy to PAF 5.x: >0 HEAD >1 SOUR Legacy >2 VERS 7.5 >2 NAME Legacy (R) >2 CORP Millennia Corp. >3 ADDR PO Box 9410 >4 CONT Surprise, AZ 85374 >1 DEST PAF5 >1 DATE 26 Feb 2013 >1 SUBM @S0@ >1 FILE E:\hhsbook\paf5.ged >1 GEDC >2 VERS 5.5.1 >2 FORM LINEAGE-LINKED >1 CHAR UTF-8 >0 @S0@ SUBM >1 NAME Not Given >0 @I1@ INDI >1 NAME Thomas /Swearingen/ >2 GIVN Thomas >2 SURN Swearingen >2 _AKA "Tom" // or (Tom) // or 'Tom' // >1 SEX M >1 BIRT >2 DATE 1688 >2 PLAC Md >2 SOUR @S2@ >1 DEAT Y >1 _UID BBE139991522481FAFC4589C6E7BE324631E >1 CHAN >2 DATE 26 Feb 2013 >3 TIME 13:36 >1 FAMS @F1@ >0 @I2@ INDI >1 NAME Lydia /Riley/ >2 GIVN Lydia >2 SURN Riley >2 SOUR @S34@ >1 SEX F >1 BIRT >2 DATE 1691 >2 SOUR @S2@ >1 DEAT >2 DATE 1764 >1 _UID C6E486BFCC2A4B16A1481566C65678609EBB >1 CHAN >2 DATE 5 Feb 2013 >3 TIME 13:49 >1 FAMS @F1@ > >I then opened the same file with RM. So far as I could >determine, the RM version available at the Family History >Centers *has* no options, you either export a .ged or you >don't -- I didn't even see a way to restrict how much of the >file I wanted exported; probably a user-error there. > Bruce has in the past said somthing to the effect that RM strickly adhears to the GEDCOM spec.... so I guess that means that there ARE no options. Like Legacy, after you decide to export a GEDOM you can (by default) export the entire database, or in RM select from a list.... where there are many options. >However, RM to Ged: >0 HEAD >1 SOUR RootsMagic >2 NAME RootsMagic >2 VERS 6.0 >2 CORP RootsMagic, Inc. >3 ADDR PO Box 495 >4 CONT Springville, UT 84663 >4 CONT USA >3 PHON 1-800-ROOTSMAGIC >3 WWW www.RootsMagic.com >1 DEST RootsMagic >1 DATE 26 FEB 2013 >1 FILE RM_.ged >1 GEDC >2 VERS 5.5.1 >2 FORM LINEAGE-LINKED >1 CHAR UTF-8 >0 @I1@ INDI >1 NAME Thomas /Swearingen/ >2 GIVN Thomas >2 SURN Swearingen >1 NAME "Tom" // >2 GIVN "Tom" >1 NAME (Tom) // >2 GIVN (Tom) >1 NAME 'Tom' // >2 GIVN 'Tom' >1 SEX M >1 _UID CD0DA454E12248949954482C7D550E6A5CEE >1 CHAN >2 DATE 26 FEB 2013 >1 BIRT >2 _PRIM Y >2 DATE 1688 >2 PLAC Md >2 SOUR @S2@ >3 _TMPLT >4 FIELD >5 NAME Page >1 DEAT Y >1 FAMS @F1@ > >*** > >No NICK in sight. > >[shrug] As my mechanic often says, if I can't replicate it, >I can't fix it. (g) > >Still -- Hugh -- If you haven't already, does Legacy let you >do case-sensitive? If so then pick that and do a Find: "H >Replace: (H and then a FIND: h" Replace: h) > >Cheryl I don't know enough about Legacy to test various types of GEDCOMS, I just went with the default, and as the responder on the Legacy user group advised, putting a name within quotes gave me the NICK in the export. Apparently this is what Hugh is getting also. As to the last comment, the point is that "Hugh" is just an example. In reality, the name to be altered from "Hugh" to (Hugh) is really "any" name. Note to Hugh: From your other post it looks like you are still trying to make an alteration to a Legacy GEDCOM... to something that will look right in RM. The best solution I've seen so far was what Dennis Bieber wrote as a Powershell command set, to operate on a GEDCOM and replace all instances of a name within quotes by that name within tildes, so that "Hugh" becomes ~Hugh~ (only an example again, the routine fixes "any" name) everywhere it appears in either a NAME field or a GIVN field. I tested that on a large GEDCOM, and although it took a long time to run, it did work perfectly. Once you import the corrected GEDCOM into RM, it's trivial to do a search/replace to change the tildes back to quotes. The good thing about Powershell is that you probably already have it on your computer, or it's free to install. And you don't really have to know anything else but how to copy the command once you open the Powershell "shell".

On 27 Feb at 11:50, Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz <spamtrap@library.lspace.org.invalid> wrote: > I've seen a lot of references to really old versions of GEDCOM. GEDCOM > 5.5.1 seems to satisfy my immediate needs[1], but has been in draft > status for a very long time. GEDCOM 6 is still a work in progress and > I'm not sure where GEDCOM-X is. What is the prognosis for the major > players to support at least GEDCOM 5.5.1 in UTF-8? > > [1] E.g., storing both a secular and a religous name, storing a > romanized transliteration of a name in a non-roman script, > storing a date in two different calendars. My opinion is a zilch prognosis. The problem with GEDCOM is that it makes it relatively easy to transfer a lot of the data between genealogy programs. But for the programmer this is not Good News; how much better to lock the user into their program by making GEDCOM transfers more difficult? Yo might get more mileage by asking your current program owners when _They_ are going to provide the above features. -- Tim Powys-Lybbe tim@powys.org for a miscellany of bygones: http://powys.org/

Charlie Hoffpauir wrote: > On Tue, 26 Feb 2013 20:07:06 -0500, singhals<singhals@erols.com> > wrote: > > <snip> >> I'm gonna take your word for it that when you export you get >> a "NICK" field. I can't make Legacy or RM put that field >> into the GED. I generated an RM GED (it didn't give me any >> options about my target), and 4 from Legacy. None of them >> had "NICK" when I looked. >> >>> If RM had the same Family Navigation Screen as Legacy I would switch >>> back. But I'm a creature of habit. Where is that Fountain of Youth? >> >> Just past the Free Lunch Counter. ;) >> >> Cheryl > > I tested this on the free version I downloaded, and if I put a given > name within quote marks, it is indeed put into a field labeled "NICK". > I found nothing in any Legacy documentation referring to this, but a > response posted in a Legacy user group indicated that this was the > practice. BTW, it also shows the name with quote marks in the NAME > field. Example below: > > 0 HEAD > 1 SOUR Legacy > 2 VERS 7.5 > 2 NAME Legacy (R) > 2 CORP Millennia Corp. > 3 ADDR PO Box 9410 > 4 CONT Surprise, AZ 85374 > 1 DEST Legacy > 1 DATE 27 Feb 2013 > 1 SUBM @S0@ > 1 FILE G:\RootsMagic\GEDCOMS\Example.ged > 1 GEDC > 2 VERS 5.5.1 > 2 FORM LINEAGE-LINKED > 1 CHAR ANSEL > 0 @S0@ SUBM > 1 NAME Not Given > 0 @I31540@ INDI > 1 NAME Charles Richard "Dicky" /Hoffpauir/ > 2 GIVN Charles Richard "Dicky" > 2 SURN Hoffpauir > 2 NICK Dicky > 1 SEX M > 1 BIRT > 2 DATE 15 Oct 1939 > 1 _UID DC7C5732B78C4F388EBFC9274C420EE1650B > 1 CHAN > 2 DATE 27 Feb 2013 > 3 TIME 08:36 > 0 @I31541@ INDI > 1 NAME Jerry 'Lynn' /Hoffpauir/ > 2 GIVN Jerry 'Lynn' > 2 SURN Hoffpauir > 1 SEX M > 1 _UID F025847F04784538B6E815A6089FC80DE636 > 1 CHAN > 2 DATE 24 Feb 2013 > 3 TIME 09:13 > 0 @I31542@ INDI > 1 NAME Luther "Francis" /Hoffpauir/ > 2 GIVN Luther "Francis" > 2 SURN Hoffpauir > 2 NICK Francis > 1 SEX M > 1 _UID 1082D24D2C144E60A966605DCEB75FBB0A54 > 1 CHAN > 2 DATE 24 Feb 2013 > 3 TIME 09:13 > 0 TRLR Using a db I had handy at the FHC and Legacy7.5, I added "Tom" and (Tom) as an Alternate name to one Thomas Swearingen, and then created 4 GEDs: Legacy-to-Legacy; Legacy-to-GED5.5.1; Legacy-to-basic-GED; and Legacy-to-PAF5 Omitted from this is the Legacy to Basic GED one. Out of Legacy TO Legacy: 0 HEAD 1 SOUR Legacy 2 VERS 7.5 2 NAME Legacy (R) 2 CORP Millennia Corp. 3 ADDR PO Box 9410 4 CONT Surprise, AZ 85374 1 DEST Legacy 1 DATE 26 Feb 2013 1 SUBM @S0@ 1 FILE E:\hhsbook\legacy.ged 1 GEDC 2 VERS 5.5.1 2 FORM LINEAGE-LINKED 1 CHAR ANSEL 0 @S0@ SUBM 1 NAME Not Given 0 @I1@ INDI 1 NAME Thomas /Swearingen/ 2 GIVN Thomas 2 SURN Swearingen 1 NAME "Tom" // 2 GIVN "Tom" 2 SURN 1 NAME (Tom) // 2 GIVN (Tom) 2 SURN 1 NAME 'Tom' // 2 GIVN 'Tom' 2 SURN 1 SEX M 1 BIRT 2 DATE 1688 2 PLAC Md 2 SOUR @S2@ 1 DEAT Y 1 _UID BBE139991522481FAFC4589C6E7BE324631E 1 CHAN 2 DATE 26 Feb 2013 3 TIME 13:36 1 FAMS @F1@ **** Out of Legacy to GED 5.5.1; 0 HEAD 1 SOUR Legacy 2 VERS 7.5 2 NAME Legacy (R) 2 CORP Millennia Corp. 3 ADDR PO Box 9410 4 CONT Surprise, AZ 85374 1 DEST Gedcom5.5.1 1 DATE 26 Feb 2013 1 SUBM @S0@ 1 FILE E:\hhsbook\5.5ged.ged 1 GEDC 2 VERS 5.5.1 2 FORM LINEAGE-LINKED 1 CHAR ANSEL 0 @S0@ SUBM 1 NAME Not Given 0 @I1@ INDI 1 NAME Thomas /Swearingen/ 2 GIVN Thomas 2 SURN Swearingen 1 NAME "Tom" // 2 GIVN "Tom" 2 SURN 1 NAME (Tom) // 2 GIVN (Tom) 2 SURN 1 NAME 'Tom' // 2 GIVN 'Tom' 2 SURN 1 SEX M 1 BIRT 2 DATE 1688 2 PLAC Md 2 SOUR @S2@ 1 DEAT Y 1 _UID BBE139991522481FAFC4589C6E7BE324631E 1 CHAN 2 DATE 26 Feb 2013 3 TIME 13:36 1 FAMS @F1@ *** Out of Legacy to PAF 5.x: 0 HEAD 1 SOUR Legacy 2 VERS 7.5 2 NAME Legacy (R) 2 CORP Millennia Corp. 3 ADDR PO Box 9410 4 CONT Surprise, AZ 85374 1 DEST PAF5 1 DATE 26 Feb 2013 1 SUBM @S0@ 1 FILE E:\hhsbook\paf5.ged 1 GEDC 2 VERS 5.5.1 2 FORM LINEAGE-LINKED 1 CHAR UTF-8 0 @S0@ SUBM 1 NAME Not Given 0 @I1@ INDI 1 NAME Thomas /Swearingen/ 2 GIVN Thomas 2 SURN Swearingen 2 _AKA "Tom" // or (Tom) // or 'Tom' // 1 SEX M 1 BIRT 2 DATE 1688 2 PLAC Md 2 SOUR @S2@ 1 DEAT Y 1 _UID BBE139991522481FAFC4589C6E7BE324631E 1 CHAN 2 DATE 26 Feb 2013 3 TIME 13:36 1 FAMS @F1@ 0 @I2@ INDI 1 NAME Lydia /Riley/ 2 GIVN Lydia 2 SURN Riley 2 SOUR @S34@ 1 SEX F 1 BIRT 2 DATE 1691 2 SOUR @S2@ 1 DEAT 2 DATE 1764 1 _UID C6E486BFCC2A4B16A1481566C65678609EBB 1 CHAN 2 DATE 5 Feb 2013 3 TIME 13:49 1 FAMS @F1@ I then opened the same file with RM. So far as I could determine, the RM version available at the Family History Centers *has* no options, you either export a .ged or you don't -- I didn't even see a way to restrict how much of the file I wanted exported; probably a user-error there. However, RM to Ged: 0 HEAD 1 SOUR RootsMagic 2 NAME RootsMagic 2 VERS 6.0 2 CORP RootsMagic, Inc. 3 ADDR PO Box 495 4 CONT Springville, UT 84663 4 CONT USA 3 PHON 1-800-ROOTSMAGIC 3 WWW www.RootsMagic.com 1 DEST RootsMagic 1 DATE 26 FEB 2013 1 FILE RM_.ged 1 GEDC 2 VERS 5.5.1 2 FORM LINEAGE-LINKED 1 CHAR UTF-8 0 @I1@ INDI 1 NAME Thomas /Swearingen/ 2 GIVN Thomas 2 SURN Swearingen 1 NAME "Tom" // 2 GIVN "Tom" 1 NAME (Tom) // 2 GIVN (Tom) 1 NAME 'Tom' // 2 GIVN 'Tom' 1 SEX M 1 _UID CD0DA454E12248949954482C7D550E6A5CEE 1 CHAN 2 DATE 26 FEB 2013 1 BIRT 2 _PRIM Y 2 DATE 1688 2 PLAC Md 2 SOUR @S2@ 3 _TMPLT 4 FIELD 5 NAME Page 1 DEAT Y 1 FAMS @F1@ *** No NICK in sight. [shrug] As my mechanic often says, if I can't replicate it, I can't fix it. (g) Still -- Hugh -- If you haven't already, does Legacy let you do case-sensitive? If so then pick that and do a Find: "H Replace: (H and then a FIND: h" Replace: h) Cheryl

On Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:37:32 GMT, Eagle@bellsouth.net (J. Hugh Sullivan) wrote: >On Wed, 27 Feb 2013 13:39:23 +0000, Tim Powys-Lybbe <tim@powys.org> >wrote: > >>On 27 Feb at 11:50, Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz >><spamtrap@library.lspace.org.invalid> wrote: >> >>> I've seen a lot of references to really old versions of GEDCOM. GEDCOM >>> 5.5.1 seems to satisfy my immediate needs[1], but has been in draft >>> status for a very long time. GEDCOM 6 is still a work in progress and >>> I'm not sure where GEDCOM-X is. What is the prognosis for the major >>> players to support at least GEDCOM 5.5.1 in UTF-8? >>> >>> [1] E.g., storing both a secular and a religous name, storing a >>> romanized transliteration of a name in a non-roman script, >>> storing a date in two different calendars. >> >>My opinion is a zilch prognosis. The problem with GEDCOM is that it >>makes it relatively easy to transfer a lot of the data between genealogy >>programs. But for the programmer this is not Good News; how much better >>to lock the user into their program by making GEDCOM transfers more >>difficult? >> >>Yo might get more mileage by asking your current program owners when >>_They_ are going to provide the above features. >> >>-- >>Tim Powys-Lybbe tim@powys.org >> for a miscellany of bygones: http://powys.org/ > >Seems to me the problem has recently been discussed here. Users demand >unique abilities in programs and developers try to satisfy. Even for >an accomplished programmer methinks it would be very difficult to >accomodate every variation even with options. > >Seems like a standardized version of GEDCOM with a program to adapt it >to specific needs would be more of an answer. > >But I'm a user, not an enabler. > >Hugh A perfect description of GEDCOM Explorer (GEDX) developed by the late Gary Bonham. It's possible some programmer could take what Gary started with and update it (it is at least 10 years old now). Gary's program included a base conversion routine to convert between several different "flavors" of GEDCOMs. It included user written macros to further tweak the conversion process. The macros were not trivial to write, but I'm not a programmer and was able to make a few that worked.

On Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:29:43 GMT, Eagle@bellsouth.net (J. Hugh Sullivan) wrote: >On Wed, 27 Feb 2013 08:41:25 -0600, Charlie Hoffpauir ><invalid@invalid.com> wrote: > >With a tip of my fedora (beret?) to Cheryl (the freebie counter in >this country is already WAY too crowded) I put my two peas in one >pod... > >I started an S&R to replace the "s - almost 700. I knew in advance >that the "Hugh" would become (Hugh(. I see no way to replace the first >" only with a ( and repeat replacing the second " with a ). A / works. >The problem? It's not what I want to do. > >So, I am reviewing individually because the S&R allows me to replace >one and skip the other - then I can do it all over again. But as my >dad used to say, "That's a lot of sugar for a dime!" > >Is there a command or other function that will allow me to replace >"Hugh" with (Hugh) or even (Hugh" on the first try and (Hugh) on the >second try without reviewing each of the instances individually? > >Thanks to everyone for bearing with me on this. > >Hugh I don't have an answer (not enough experience with Legacy, I can't even find the search/replace function), but a question. What happens if you decide to use a character that is not "handed", one that is the same if it leads or follows the name? there are several, the obvious ones are @, #, ^, *, and my favorites, |, and ¦.

I have written a history of my mother's family, the Phizackleas (all spellings) and their links to the Postlethwaites, Wards, Wilsons and Bowleys, which contains a good deal of genealogical information. If you are interested, please go to my website at www.annabelbailey.me.uk where there are further details and some extracts from the book. -- Annabel Bailey West Berkshire UK

Dear Members, What are the pros and cons of My Heritage v Family Tree Maker software? Which software do you prefer and why? Is there a way to synch the data I have in My Heritage software with the data I have in Family Tree Maker software? (Not having decided which software to settle on, I have made the mistake of updating some information in one software, some in the other). Thank you. Best Regards, S Goldsmith s

On Tue, 26 Feb 2013 20:07:06 -0500, singhals <singhals@erols.com> wrote: <snip> >I'm gonna take your word for it that when you export you get >a "NICK" field. I can't make Legacy or RM put that field >into the GED. I generated an RM GED (it didn't give me any >options about my target), and 4 from Legacy. None of them >had "NICK" when I looked. > >> If RM had the same Family Navigation Screen as Legacy I would switch >> back. But I'm a creature of habit. Where is that Fountain of Youth? > >Just past the Free Lunch Counter. ;) > >Cheryl I tested this on the free version I downloaded, and if I put a given name within quote marks, it is indeed put into a field labeled "NICK". I found nothing in any Legacy documentation referring to this, but a response posted in a Legacy user group indicated that this was the practice. BTW, it also shows the name with quote marks in the NAME field. Example below: 0 HEAD 1 SOUR Legacy 2 VERS 7.5 2 NAME Legacy (R) 2 CORP Millennia Corp. 3 ADDR PO Box 9410 4 CONT Surprise, AZ 85374 1 DEST Legacy 1 DATE 27 Feb 2013 1 SUBM @S0@ 1 FILE G:\RootsMagic\GEDCOMS\Example.ged 1 GEDC 2 VERS 5.5.1 2 FORM LINEAGE-LINKED 1 CHAR ANSEL 0 @S0@ SUBM 1 NAME Not Given 0 @I31540@ INDI 1 NAME Charles Richard "Dicky" /Hoffpauir/ 2 GIVN Charles Richard "Dicky" 2 SURN Hoffpauir 2 NICK Dicky 1 SEX M 1 BIRT 2 DATE 15 Oct 1939 1 _UID DC7C5732B78C4F388EBFC9274C420EE1650B 1 CHAN 2 DATE 27 Feb 2013 3 TIME 08:36 0 @I31541@ INDI 1 NAME Jerry 'Lynn' /Hoffpauir/ 2 GIVN Jerry 'Lynn' 2 SURN Hoffpauir 1 SEX M 1 _UID F025847F04784538B6E815A6089FC80DE636 1 CHAN 2 DATE 24 Feb 2013 3 TIME 09:13 0 @I31542@ INDI 1 NAME Luther "Francis" /Hoffpauir/ 2 GIVN Luther "Francis" 2 SURN Hoffpauir 2 NICK Francis 1 SEX M 1 _UID 1082D24D2C144E60A966605DCEB75FBB0A54 1 CHAN 2 DATE 24 Feb 2013 3 TIME 09:13 0 TRLR

I've seen a lot of references to really old versions of GEDCOM. GEDCOM 5.5.1 seems to satisfy my immediate needs[1], but has been in draft status for a very long time. GEDCOM 6 is still a work in progress and I'm not sure where GEDCOM-X is. What is the prognosis for the major players to support at least GEDCOM 5.5.1 in UTF-8? [1] E.g., storing both a secular and a religous name, storing a romanized transliteration of a name in a non-roman script, storing a date in two different calendars. -- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz, SysProg and JOAT <http://patriot.net/~shmuel> Unsolicited bulk E-mail subject to legal action. I reserve the right to publicly post or ridicule any abusive E-mail. Reply to domain Patriot dot net user shmuel+news to contact me. Do not reply to spamtrap@library.lspace.org

J. Hugh Sullivan wrote: > On Sun, 24 Feb 2013 11:28:37 -0600, Charlie Hoffpauir > <invalid@invalid.com> wrote: > >> My limited tests on the free version confirm everything you've said. >> Hindsight tells me you should have started putting the called name in >> single quotes, or parens, or quite possibly anything but quotes. > > I'm currently reading the book "Hindsight" by Ima Goner. > > Parens - I get a warning if I James 'Hugh' Sullivan. I could tell the > program to ignore the hundreds of incidents, but individually? > > I think what I need is a S& R that would replace the first " with a ( > and repeat replacing the second " with a ). I don't know how to do > that. The previous examples are a bit advanced for me. I need a KISS > solution. > (g) you /know/ what I'm gonna say here: then don't complicate your life by putting non-standard stuff into standardized fields. [Whether the field ought be that standardized is a completely separate argument.] The KISS solution is (a) reverse your names so they print the way you want or (b) put the call-name into the NOTES/More-About field so it shows up when necessary but doesn't annoy the program when it isn't. It may not be "right" on the part of the programmer, but sure is easier than to try to program around where someone might put a nickname (as in, Stephen Charles McMuffin. Is that Stephen "Steve" Charles McMuffin, Stephen (Steve) Charles McMuffin, Stephen Charles (Chuck) McMuffin, Stephen Charles "Chuck" McMuffin, Stephen Charles McMuffin (Chuck) ...? > Or, perhaps it would be simpler to eliminate NICK from the GEDCOM > before exporting to RM. I would prefer to solve the problem vice a > workaround. Using parens for middle name and nickname would solve > that. > >> I know to look and I can't see any way to intentionally enter a >> nickname, other than the (undocumented) way of using double quotes. >> This all makes me glad I now only use one genealogy program. > > I don't really need to solve that problem. A name or a nickname > entered with parens would print exactly as I wish if eneterd William > Hugh (Bill) Sullivan for example. The coin flip to use "" or () came > up wrong for me. :) > I'm gonna take your word for it that when you export you get a "NICK" field. I can't make Legacy or RM put that field into the GED. I generated an RM GED (it didn't give me any options about my target), and 4 from Legacy. None of them had "NICK" when I looked. > If RM had the same Family Navigation Screen as Legacy I would switch > back. But I'm a creature of habit. Where is that Fountain of Youth? Just past the Free Lunch Counter. ;) Cheryl

On Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 11:10:24AM +0000, Ian Goddard wrote: >Martin Steer wrote: >> >>> And the mention of January 1662-3 above should be a hint that dates are >>> another can of worms better dealt with by an OO approach >> >> Given that dates are just data, I don't get this. You'll have to tell me >> why this is so. > >1. The above date is prior to the adoption of Gregorian dates in England >& her colonies. The year, especially in church usage, was often taken >as starting on March 25th. Sometimes the first three months are simply >given as being in the same year as the preceding December (1662 in the >above case), sometimes with a dual year as above and sometimes as >new-style dates (1663 in my example). Conventional RDBMS only deals >with the new-style (hopefully it will also know about September 1752 - >run cal if you don't know about that one). Thanks for that. I was aware of this as an issue when I first started experimenting, but haven't thought much about it since. I store the date the source gives me, as a text string, e.g. '14 Sep 1752', '1842 Q3'. I'm not a fan of software that insists I break information into little bits, whether I want to or not. The database has a trigger function to also store a date-span, so: 14 Sep 1752 -> [1752-09-14][1752-09-14] from 1852 to 1900 -> [1852-01-01][1900-12-31] The data is in the text string, the spans are useful for calculations, searching, and sorting of events or records, etc. If I think of something cleverer later on, I can recalculate the spans. M.

On Sun, 24 Feb 2013 13:02:25 -0600, Charlie Hoffpauir <invalid@invalid.com> wrote: Apparently perserverance pays off. I tried the S&R in Legacy to replace quotes several times and it didn't work. Then I tried to replace the /, the single ' and the surrounding 's and they worked. I retried the quotes and that worked. Both instances of the quotes have to be individually replaced for every individual. C'est la vie. Hugh

On Sun, 24 Feb 2013 19:52:40 +0000, Ian Goddard <goddai01@hotmail.co.uk> wrote: >I think it's more a case of the semantics not being well-enough defined >here http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pmcbride/gedcom/55gctoc.htm >and different S/W authors and users have understood them in different ways. Yes, Legacy presents names with quotes as NICKnames in a GEDCOM in addition to NAME. RM picks the name up as both a name and a nickname and lists both. Both programs operate as planned - I just should have use parens vice quotes for middle names 18 years ago. As others have said it's the difference in theories about how a program should work. I think all would agree that we look for different options. Hugh

On Sun, 24 Feb 2013 11:28:37 -0600, Charlie Hoffpauir <invalid@invalid.com> wrote: >My limited tests on the free version confirm everything you've said. >Hindsight tells me you should have started putting the called name in >single quotes, or parens, or quite possibly anything but quotes. I'm currently reading the book "Hindsight" by Ima Goner. Parens - I get a warning if I James 'Hugh' Sullivan. I could tell the program to ignore the hundreds of incidents, but individually? I think what I need is a S & R that would replace the first " with a ( and repeat replacing the second " with a ). I don't know how to do that. The previous examples are a bit advanced for me. I need a KISS solution. Or, perhaps it would be simpler to eliminate NICK from the GEDCOM before exporting to RM. I would prefer to solve the problem vice a workaround. Using parens for middle name and nickname would solve that. >I know to look and I can't see any way to intentionally enter a >nickname, other than the (undocumented) way of using double quotes. >This all makes me glad I now only use one genealogy program. I don't really need to solve that problem. A name or a nickname entered with parens would print exactly as I wish if eneterd William Hugh (Bill) Sullivan for example. The coin flip to use "" or () came up wrong for me. :) If RM had the same Family Navigation Screen as Legacy I would switch back. But I'm a creature of habit. Where is that Fountain of Youth? Hugh

T.M. Sommers wrote: > On 2/24/2013 8:09 AM, Charlie Hoffpauir wrote: >> On Sun, 24 Feb 2013 00:17:51 -0500, "T.M. Sommers" >> <tmsommers2@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> On 2/18/2013 11:20 AM, J. Hugh Sullivan wrote: >>>> >>>> I use " marks to identify middle names of people who go by the middle >>>> name. My problem is switching from one genie program to another. The >>>> second reads the name in quotes as a nickname and shows it twice... >>>> James "Hugh" "Hugh" Sullivan. >>> >>> Why not use 'James Hugh "Hugh" Sullivan'? It clearly indicates that >>> Hugh is not only your real name (there is a 'Claude "Pete" Davis' in my >>> database, who was called 'Pete' although that was no part of his "real" >>> name), but it is the name you used. The duplication may look a little >>> odd, but it is unambiguous, and, I think, clear to anyone. >> >> That's an interesting suggestion, but I don't think it addresses the >> problem that the OP was seeing. If I understand his problem correctly, >> entering the name(s) as 'James Hugh "Hugh" Sullivan' would simply >> cause the name to appear as 'James Hugh "Hugh" "Hugh" Sullivan' when >> it transferred into the other program. > > Then I misunderstood the problem. It looks like a bug to me, in that case. > I think it's more a case of the semantics not being well-enough defined here http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pmcbride/gedcom/55gctoc.htm and different S/W authors and users have understood them in different ways. That's why I said that if you were to try to parse the data file to edit it you'd need to provide your program an understanding of each of the other programs' interpretation. -- Ian The Hotmail address is my spam-bin. Real mail address is iang at austonley org uk

On Sun, 24 Feb 2013 07:09:01 -0600, Charlie Hoffpauir <invalid@invalid.com> wrote: >Now if Hugh doesn't use the quote marks as defining a nickname for any >other entries, the editing the GEDCOM to correct the problem becomes >much easier.... ie, simply remove any instance of the NICK field. I entered my name five times with the middle name in (1) parens (2) slashes (3) apostrophes (4) quotes (5) single apostrophe. The results are below. 0 HEAD 1 SOUR Legacy 2 VERS 7.5 2 NAME Legacy (R) 2 CORP Millennia Corp. 3 ADDR PO Box 9410 4 CONT Surprise, AZ 85374 1 DEST Legacy 1 DATE 24 Feb 2013 1 SUBM @S0@ 1 FILE C:\My Documents\GED\GECOM Trial.ged 1 GEDC 2 VERS 5.5.1 2 FORM LINEAGE-LINKED 1 CHAR ANSEL 0 @S0@ SUBM 1 NAME Not Given 0 @I1@ INDI 1 NAME James (Hugh) /SULLIVAN/ 2 GIVN James (Hugh) 2 SURN SULLIVAN 1 SEX M 1 _UID E4099F3324514CD88BFB63DBCC224CFB51C2 1 CHAN 2 DATE 24 Feb 2013 3 TIME 09:39 0 @I2@ INDI 1 NAME James /Hugh/ /SULLIVAN/ 2 GIVN James /Hugh/ 2 SURN SULLIVAN 1 SEX M 1 _UID E1898F2341DF42EEB2A50ECDA7C69C05ACD6 1 CHAN 2 DATE 24 Feb 2013 3 TIME 09:41 0 @I3@ INDI 1 NAME James 'Hugh' /SULLIVAN/ 2 GIVN James 'Hugh' 2 SURN SULLIVAN 1 SEX M 1 _UID 8BAD81023233425293E5437D496B205212CF 1 CHAN 2 DATE 24 Feb 2013 3 TIME 10:07 0 @I4@ INDI 1 NAME James "Hugh" /SULLIVAN/ 2 GIVN James "Hugh" 2 SURN SULLIVAN 2 NICK Hugh 1 SEX M 1 _UID B33B642F082E42A6BD0B4CDAF4A0A506CC83 1 CHAN 2 DATE 24 Feb 2013 3 TIME 10:01 0 @I5@ INDI 1 NAME James 'Hugh /SULLIVAN/ 2 GIVN James 'Hugh 2 SURN SULLIVAN 1 SEX M 1 _UID AA32319050E5438982722A012BAC0BA14028 1 CHAN 2 DATE 24 Feb 2013 3 TIME 10:10 0 TRLR Using the slash and two apostrophes the program gave a warning and a list of special characters that should not be used (all except parens and slashes). It also gave the option to ignore the problem for the current individual. Interestingly it objected to TWO apostrophes but not one. When I looked at the help file for Legacy on nicknames it gave a long list of nicknames but no indication that quote marks would be treated as nicknames. The S & R in the program does not appear to work. Even if it did how would it know to replace the first " with an open ( and the second " with a closed )? I would apologize again for my naivete in using the program BUT, it seems to have accomplished one thing. Because of the variety in programs no standardized GEDCOM will ever serve a universal purpose. Thus the discussion on the best program to manipulate a GEDCOM may be of use. Hugh

On Sun, 24 Feb 2013 07:09:01 -0600, Charlie Hoffpauir <invalid@invalid.com> wrote: >That's an interesting suggestion, but I don't think it addresses the >problem that the OP was seeing. If I understand his problem correctly, >entering the name(s) as 'James Hugh "Hugh" Sullivan' would simply >cause the name to appear as 'James Hugh "Hugh" "Hugh" Sullivan' when >it transferred into the other program. That would be my opinion. > >I downloaded a copy of the free version of Legacy, and imported my >data into it to play around with this. Legacy does indeed put the name >in quote marks into the GEDCOM in a field labeled as "NICK". The >interesting thing is, I can't find anywhere in Legacy where you can >actually enter a Nickname. It's easy to add another name, but it shows >up as an alternate name. (But I'm not a Legacy user, so I'm not >familiar with the program.) My guess is that Legacy (somewhere) >advocates the user entering a nickname in quotes.... if that's the >case, then the OP is actually creating the problem by the technique he >uses. I have not seen that tactic but it may exist. All else has not failed so I have not read the instructions. > >Now if Hugh doesn't use the quote marks as defining a nickname for any >other entries, the editing the GEDCOM to correct the problem becomes >much easier.... ie, simply remove any instance of the NICK field. I'll look at that. Gracias. Hugh Hugh

On Sat, Feb 23, 2013 at 04:47:55PM +0000, Ian Goddard wrote: >Martin Steer wrote: >> On Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 10:33:38AM -0000, Tony Proctor wrote: >>> >>> A simple off-the-cuff example, with an arbitrary syntax, just to >>> illustrate >>> the difference Janis. This bit of script wants to look at all the >>> events in >>> my timeline, then look at all the people sharing those name events, and >>> select the ones whose name has the element "Jesson". >>> >>> >>> Person me = New Person("Tony Proctor"); >>> for (Event e: me.AllEvents()) { >>> for (Person other: e.AllPersons()) { >>> if (other.name().contains("Jesson")) { >>> ...do something with this other person... >>> } >>> } >>> } >> >> As for sql, this kind of thing can be done fairly easily inside a >> database which allows so-called 'stored procedures'.[1] I use Postgresql >> with its native procedural language, but perl, python, etc, procedures >> could be used instead. >> >> I don't see the need here for an object oriented approach. >Unfortunately, neither did the designers of GEDCOM. But take a fairly >basic element of genealogy, the personal name. I didn't mention gedcom. I was responding to the following remark: "I'm thinking of more complex genealogical entities that have to be compiled into 'objects' before they can be manipulated. SQL (even the versions with procedural extensions) is similarly too low-level" That sql is too low level is a matter of opinion; that it cannot efficiently isolate a subset (of a subset (of a ... etc)) is false. It was designed for set manipulation. [snip] >We don't know but if we were looking at some query such as Tony >suggested we'd want this event to come up irrespective of whether the >name contained Jessop, Wareing or even Waring. In any sensible database, each Jessop would have a unique identifier which is independent of his or her names. That's a given. We look for Tony's events using his identifier: table: individuals (ind_id, etc) table: events (event_id, etc) table: roles (ind_id, event_id, etc) query: select event_id from roles where ind_id = <tony id>; This has nothing to do with objects. [snip] >And the mention of January 1662-3 above should be a hint that dates are >another can of worms better dealt with by an OO approach Given that dates are just data, I don't get this. You'll have to tell me why this is so. M.

On 2/24/2013 8:09 AM, Charlie Hoffpauir wrote: > On Sun, 24 Feb 2013 00:17:51 -0500, "T.M. Sommers" > <tmsommers2@gmail.com> wrote: > >> On 2/18/2013 11:20 AM, J. Hugh Sullivan wrote: >>> >>> I use " marks to identify middle names of people who go by the middle >>> name. My problem is switching from one genie program to another. The >>> second reads the name in quotes as a nickname and shows it twice... >>> James "Hugh" "Hugh" Sullivan. >> >> Why not use 'James Hugh "Hugh" Sullivan'? It clearly indicates that >> Hugh is not only your real name (there is a 'Claude "Pete" Davis' in my >> database, who was called 'Pete' although that was no part of his "real" >> name), but it is the name you used. The duplication may look a little >> odd, but it is unambiguous, and, I think, clear to anyone. > > That's an interesting suggestion, but I don't think it addresses the > problem that the OP was seeing. If I understand his problem correctly, > entering the name(s) as 'James Hugh "Hugh" Sullivan' would simply > cause the name to appear as 'James Hugh "Hugh" "Hugh" Sullivan' when > it transferred into the other program. Then I misunderstood the problem. It looks like a bug to me, in that case. -- T.M. Sommers -- ab2sb