Paul, I think I understand how dates and sort dates work ;-) What I meant by saying if there is no date (thus no sort date), is that what is being asked for is for RM to *automatically* put those events in BMD order. If I enter a birth and death event with no date, RM does not just make up a sort date (thus no sort date by default). So if I entered the events as per my original post (birth and death with no date... and no sort date, and a marriage with a date), how does Tom's script handle that? Adding a -# to a sort date that doesn't exist won't work like it does when there *is* a sort date. - Also, if I have a birth and death with no date (and therefor no automatic sort date), should RM make up sort dates based on the other events in the person's life to try and make the birth appear before them and the death to appear after them? - Additionally, if it *did* make up sort dates based on other events in the person's life... how far should it adjust them before (or after) the existing events? - And if it *did* make up sort dates based on other events, and the user later added an event before the fake birth sort date or after the fake death sort date, should RM re-adjust the fake sort dates to keep them in place. - And if it *did* make up sort dates, how should those sort dates be handled when RM needs to show multiple people's events together (like in a timeline)? We have tried in the past to explain the complexities behind this, but some folks seem to think we are just being lazy or unwilling to listen to users on this topic. - Bruce http://www.rootsmagic.com On Tue, Dec 25, 2012 at 9:19 AM, Paul Studly <paulstudly@att.net> wrote: > A sort date is not the same as an event date. See your book and the event > entry screen > > birth bef 1800 > married 1800 > death aft 1800 > > Paul A. Studly, Esq. > Chesterland/Cleveland, OH > 440-829-9207 Verizon cell > paulstudly@studly.net > > > > > ________________________________ > From: RootsMagic <rootsmagic@gmail.com> > To: "rootsmagic-users@rootsweb.com" <rootsmagic-users@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Tue, December 25, 2012 9:39:05 AM > Subject: Re: [RMagic] RootsMagic 6 - sorting of birth, death and burial events > when all occur in the same year > > Jerry, > > I haven't tried Tom's script, but I see that it puts a -# on the end of the > sort date. I'm asking the following questions just to get an idea of how > it handles situations which aren't simply two events with the same date. > > How does it handle a birth and death where neither has a date (and > therefore no sort dates). > > How does it handle a situation like this? > > Married 1800 > Born (no date) > Died (no date) > > - Bruce > > > On Tuesday, December 25, 2012, Jerry Bryan wrote: > >> Although it is a total crock... what if I have a single birth source >> with a date of 1900, and a single death source with a date of 1899? >> >> Which order should we display this? >> >> Born 1900 >> Died 1899 >> >> or >> >> Died 1899 >> Born 1900 >> >> Keep in mind that whatever order you choose, someone else will want it >> the other way. >> >> - Bruce >> http://www.rootsmagic.com >> >> >> Bruce, your point is well taken with this particular example. I’m doubtful >> that you would get disagreement from very many users that the default order >> in the case below should be death before birth, and that the user could >> override the default order by using sort dates: >> >> Died 1899 >> Born 1900 >> >> >> >> But that’s not the issue at hand. The issue at hand and what has always >> been the issue is when the dates are the same. When the dates are the same, >> the following is just wrong. >> >> Died 1900 >> Born 1900 >> >> >> Just to amplify this point further, Tom Holden’s neat little SQLite script >> to fix obvious event ordering problems will fix the “died 1900, born 1900” >> case (as well it should), and his script will not fix the “born 1899, died >> 1900” case (as well it should not). The “born 1899, died 1900” case should >> only be fixed by some sort of conscious decision by the user – such as >> adding sort dates or such as deciding that the death source is more >> credible than the birth source or vice versa. >> >> Jerry >> >> >> =================================== >> RM list Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ROOTSMAGIC-USERS/ >> http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?path=ROOTSMAGIC-USERS >> WISH LIST: http://www.rootsmagic.com/forums/ BLOG: >> http://blog.rootsmagic.com/ >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> ROOTSMAGIC-USERS-request@rootsweb.com <javascript:;> with the word >> 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > -- > - Bruce > http://www.rootsmagic.com > > > =================================== > RM list Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ROOTSMAGIC-USERS/ > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?path=ROOTSMAGIC-USERS > WISH LIST: http://www.rootsmagic.com/forums/ BLOG: http://blog.rootsmagic.com/ > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ROOTSMAGIC-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > =================================== > RM list Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ROOTSMAGIC-USERS/ > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?path=ROOTSMAGIC-USERS > WISH LIST: http://www.rootsmagic.com/forums/ BLOG: http://blog.rootsmagic.com/ > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ROOTSMAGIC-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message