I have what is probably a quite unrealistic question about the Master Place Index and related issues. First I should say that I'm using TMG 9.05, and almost always am only interested in output via Second Site. I've been using TMG for a little while now (since January 2004 -- I know that is only a 'little' compared to some of you!) but am a relative beginner as far as dealing with place / location data entry is concerned. My default place style is the U.S. Standard, but I have also set up a couple of others for Canada and UK. I hope my use of terminology below is reasonably accurate -- I tried! I have recently come to realize that I would prefer SS to use the Full, then Short option (I have never modified the Short Place Format in TMG from the default) for the Place Format. On reading the TMG and SS Help I believe that the Short option will only come into play if *all* the place fields in the tag for a person are *identical* (to those in a previous tag). I only output the default place levels: L2, L3, L4, L5 and L6. My problem arises because when I have something to put in L2 [Detail] I frequently enter it with an exclusion mark '-'. This might be for the name of a church in a marriage tag, say. Then if the death tag has an empty Detail field this means the place fields in the Death tag do not exactly match the place fields in the Marriage tag, even though the output *looks* the same, because of the exclusion marker. It would be very nice if there was some way to exclude the output of L6 [Country] in those cases where the only difference is an excluded item in L2 [Detail], but it doesn't appear that there is any way to accomplish this. I wondered if by any chance there might be a solution, perhaps using some kind of place style for display purposes? TIA for any feedback on this. John Cordes Halifax, Nova Scotia

At 9/7/2015 10:05, you wrote: > I have recently come to realize that I would prefer SS >to use the Full, then Short option (I have never modified >the Short Place Format in TMG from the default) for the >Place Format. On reading the TMG and SS Help I believe >that the Short option will only come into play if *all* >the place fields in the tag for a person are *identical* >(to those in a previous tag). I only output the default >place levels: L2, L3, L4, L5 and L6. > > My problem arises because when I have something to put >in L2 [Detail] I frequently enter it with an exclusion >mark '-'. This might be for the name of a church in a >marriage tag, say. Then if the death tag has an empty >Detail field this means the place fields in the Death tag >do not exactly match the place fields in the Marriage tag, >even though the output *looks* the same, because of the >exclusion marker. > > It would be very nice if there was some way to exclude >the output of L6 [Country] in those cases where the only >difference is an excluded item in L2 [Detail], but it >doesn't appear that there is any way to accomplish this. > > I wondered if by any chance there might be a solution, >perhaps using some kind of place style for display >purposes? I think the answer to your question would be answered in the Short Place Template topic in TMG Help. It states the default Short Place Template would be: [CITY], [COUNTY], [STATE] or [L3], [L4], [L5]. Thus, Country (L6) is not part of the Short Place Template by default. If you wish to have the Short Place to be something else, such as: [DETAIL], [CITY], [STATE] or maybe [CITY] [DETAIL] then you would go to the Master Place List, find the desired place and enter that template into the Short Place field. This then would be the new Short Place for that place. Note that if you only wanted the new Short Place for just certain Tags, then the above would not work as it would apply to all uses of that place following the first use in a report. In such a case, you would need top determine which would be the first use of the place, and then change all other Tags with that place (in which you wanted the Short Place) and locally change the Tag Sentence from "[L]" to the Short Place Template. (Or if there were only a few places that you did not want the new Short Place, change the Tag Sentence to what you wanted in those other Tags). Lee

On Mon, Sep 07, 2015 at 11:45:24AM -0400, Lee Hoffman/KY wrote: > At 9/7/2015 10:05, you wrote: >> I have recently come to realize that I would prefer SS >> to use the Full, then Short option (I have never modified >> the Short Place Format in TMG from the default) for the >> Place Format. On reading the TMG and SS Help I believe >> that the Short option will only come into play if *all* >> the place fields in the tag for a person are *identical* >> (to those in a previous tag). I only output the default >> place levels: L2, L3, L4, L5 and L6. >> >> My problem arises because when I have something to put >> in L2 [Detail] I frequently enter it with an exclusion >> mark '-'. This might be for the name of a church in a >> marriage tag, say. Then if the death tag has an empty >> Detail field this means the place fields in the Death tag >> do not exactly match the place fields in the Marriage tag, >> even though the output *looks* the same, because of the >> exclusion marker. >> >> It would be very nice if there was some way to exclude >> the output of L6 [Country] in those cases where the only >> difference is an excluded item in L2 [Detail], but it >> doesn't appear that there is any way to accomplish this. >> >> I wondered if by any chance there might be a solution, >> perhaps using some kind of place style for display >> purposes? > > I think the answer to your question would be answered in the Short Place > Template topic in TMG Help. It states the default Short Place Template > would be: > [CITY], [COUNTY], [STATE] > or [L3], [L4], [L5]. > Thus, Country (L6) is not part of the Short Place Template by default. > > If you wish to have the Short Place to be something else, such as: > [DETAIL], [CITY], [STATE] > or maybe > [CITY] [DETAIL] > then you would go to the Master Place List, find the desired place and > enter that template into the Short Place field. This then would be the > new Short Place for that place. > > Note that if you only wanted the new Short Place for just certain Tags, > then the above would not work as it would apply to all uses of that place > following the first use in a report. In such a case, you would need top > determine which would be the first use of the place, and then change all > other Tags with that place (in which you wanted the Short Place) and > locally change the Tag Sentence from "[L]" to the Short Place Template. > (Or if there were only a few places that you did not want the new Short > Place, change the Tag Sentence to what you wanted in those other Tags). Lee, Thank you for the response. I intended to say, but forgot when it came to writing the message, that I had studied the TMG and SS Help pages on this issue, and also Michael Hannah's article on place names. I also looked at Terry's Tips pages (both TMG and SS) but didn't manage to turn up anything about this. I'm afraid I did a bad job of explaining the situation. I do indeed want to omit the output of L6 [COUNTRY] for later tags, but am stymied by my (excluded) entries in the [DETAIL] field which prevent the Short Place Format from kicking in. At least that's my understanding of what is happening. John Cordes