Tom Wetmore wrote: >> Oddly enough, and despite what I've heard said, when I >> imported the PAF file into a LEGACY file (direct import, not >> GED), the UIDs changed. Seems to me that's a bit awkward >> for someone trying to use those UIDs for anything. > > Cheryl, > > In GEDCOM the UID's (not actually called that by GEDCOM) "belong" to > GEDCOM. That is, a GEDCOM import process is free to change the Uh, the two GEDs I created yesterday called 'em UID. The UID is created by the program when the entry is first made; matching these allows you to be sure you've picked up the right person. 0 @[email protected] INDI 1 NAME ss dd /NAME/ 2 SURN name 2 GIVN ss dd 1 SEX M 1 BIRT 2 DATE 17 Nov 1889 2 PLAC Elstie, Cambria, PA 1 DEAT 2 DATE 14 Oct 1964 2 PLAC Altoona, Blair, PA 1 _UID 59360E835210204B9F0FE0685C9D1B7F7635 1 FAMS @[email protected] 1 FAMC @[email protected] and 0 @[email protected] INDI 1 NAME ss dd /NAME/ 2 GIVN ss dd 2 SURN NAME 1 SEX M 1 BIRT 2 DATE 17 Nov 1889 2 PLAC Elstie, Cambria, PA 1 DEAT 2 DATE 14 Oct 1964 2 PLAC Altoona, Blair, PA 1 _UID 59360E835210204B9F0FE0685C9D1B7F7635 But, I see I erred mentioning it -- I picked up someone else with the same name when I looked at the GEDs. This UID did stay the same, which is what I thought would happen. > id values to anything it likes. You can see why this is needed > because of clashes between the ids on incoming records and the ids > already in the database. Most programs start assigning ids as I1, I2, I3 > for person ids, so if you import two files that were both exported by > the same program, even though the data is completely different, > there will be id clashes to resolve. > You're talking about RINs and internal markers specific to a database. Add someone, delete someone, and the RIN changes. A UID is said to be, er, immutable. > Many people feel they should "own" their ids, and they learn to > navigate through their databases by memorizing a few key ids. > GEDCOM has a solution or this in the REFN tag. The value of > the REFN tag is a user-assigned id value. If your program is > GEDCOM compatible it should allow you to search by REFN values > as well as id values. Of course, if you try to import a GEDCOM file > that has a REFN id that conflicts with one already in your > database, the import process will have to resolve that somehow. Yes, of course. But the UID is neither an RIN nor a REFN. Cheryl