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Archiver > TMG > 2002-02 > 1012763547


From: "Darrell A. Martin" <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Long discourse on GEDCOM and witness data
Date: Sun, 03 Feb 2002 13:12:27 -0600
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At 12:01 PM 2/3/02 -0500, Lee Hoffman wrote:

[snip]
>However, you can have it both ways. This requires redundant entry of
>data. You would enter Witnesses in the normal TMG Witnesses section of a
>tag. Then you would enter the data in a different tag (could be a Custom
>tag) and mark the Tag Sentence of that tag such that it will never print
>and/or de-select that tag in the Report Definition. Then when you
>generated a GEDCOM, you would specifically select that tag for export.
>
>----------
>Lee Hoffman/KY

Hi, Lee:

I wish I had read the above paragraph before I started converting all my
census witnesses to separate tags. A very small light bulb went on.
Redundant data is just another word for violating data integrity (anytime
you have to manually maintain the same data in two places, it is a
gold-plated invitation to corruption). My quest continues, but I have
things I want to be able to do in the meantime, even if it is infuriatingly
cumbersome. So here's what I did in the sample data set:

1. I created a Custom Tag "GEDexp".
Checked Display role for principals
Abbrev "gedx"
GEDCOM "EVEN"
Year min/max 100/3000
Language "ENGLISH"
(tried to delete role "witness", wouldn't let me <grin>)
Tag Group Other Event
Active Yes
Sentence "<[M]>"
Age min/max "0" "0"
(all other settings blank or unselected)

2. I added a GEDexp tag to Frank Alexander, ID#1, with the date "1840",
the place "Carter County, Tennessee", and the memo "Frank Alexander, age 1,
is probably one of the two males under 5 who appeared on the census in 1840
at Carter County, Tennessee, in the household of his father, John
Alexander." The date and place duplicate the Census tag for that year for
Frank's father, to which he was a witness. The Memo field entry is from the
witness sentence output as printed on the Individual Narrative of Frank
Alexander, except I left out the citation detail.

3. I generated a GEDCOM
Tag types Selected > Define > Mark All
(all other settings defaulted)

Observed the following in the GEDCOM Individual Record for Frank Alexander:
1 EVEN
2 DATE 1840
2 PLAC Carter County, Tennessee
2 NOTE Frank Alexander, age 1, is probably one of the two males under
3 CONT 5 who appeared on the census in 1840 at Carter County,
3 CONT Tennessee, in the household of his father, John Alexander.

Legacy 3.0 Standard, which I downloaded and installed last night, imports
the above as an "Other Event", type "No name", in the individual record of
Frank Alexander. It preserves the date and the place. The memo text is intact.

PAF 5 errored out on this GEDCOM numerous times, mostly over duplicate
names and unrecognized tags. However, it does preserve the more or less
"raw" GEDCOM data in the Notes for the individual record of Frank
Alexander. PAF processes the EVEN tag above just fine, except losing the
date and place, but preserving the memo text intact.

Those of you who find this sort of approach attractive may find the above
useful. I hope so, it's why I am posting it. I am *not* going to use it
myself, because I believe it to be fatally flawed, which I shall outline in
a separate message.

Darrell


Darrell A. Martin
a native Vermonter currently in exile in Addison, Illinois



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