On Wed, 25 May 2011 21:36:21 -0400, in soc.genealogy.computing you wrote: >singhals wrote: >> PAF produces a UID for each entry; I'm pretty certain other >> programs do to, particularly the ones that allow >> synchronization of multiple databases. > >Well color me surprised. > >PAF and Legacy both assign a UID, which one can see in the GED. > >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. What is a UID, and where can I find it? I regularly export my data from FHS to Legacy. FHS assigns an RID, which Legacy callas a RIN, but if it imports them from the GEDCOM file, Legacy scrambles them. So what I do is import the exported records to PAF 4, and import them directly from PAF to Legacy. Then the Legacy RINs correspond to the FHS ones. But what is the UID? -- Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Steve Hayes wrote: > On Wed, 25 May 2011 21:36:21 -0400, in soc.genealogy.computing you wrote: > >> singhals wrote: >>> PAF produces a UID for each entry; I'm pretty certain other >>> programs do to, particularly the ones that allow >>> synchronization of multiple databases. >> >> Well color me surprised. >> >> PAF and Legacy both assign a UID, which one can see in the GED. >> >> 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. > > What is a UID, and where can I find it? > Unique IDentifier -- new with PAF4 as I recall, and I think inspired by another program that used them. As I recall, we were told that if two people used two computers to enter the same data each computer would generate a different UID for that person. I don't /think/ you can see them anywhere but the GED. The computer can, and in PAF when you run the match/merge routine, it asks if you want to use UID. > I regularly export my data from FHS to Legacy. > > FHS assigns an RID, which Legacy callas a RIN, but if it imports them from the > GEDCOM file, Legacy scrambles them. > > So what I do is import the exported records to PAF 4, and import them directly > from PAF to Legacy. Then the Legacy RINs correspond to the FHS ones. > > But what is the UID? The UID is not a RID/RIN; it is specifically assigned to an individual record and does not mutate when moved around. Cheryl