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Archiver > TMG > 2004-01 > 1073111679


From: Elizabeth Churchett <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Indiv Narrative w/ Burial Information
Date: Sat, 03 Jan 2004 00:40:40 -0600
References: <000001c3d1b8$0db6d760$6401a8c0@KPATON>


Kathleen Paton wrote:

>I would like a report similar the individual narrative that shows, in
>addition to everything that can show on the individual narrative, the names
>of everyone buried in the same grave as the individual.
>
>I thought I had a clever idea when I made a tag "Interred With" that has one
>of the buried as primary and everyone else as witnesses. That tag is helpful
>when I am working with the data, being able to click on that tag to see all
>the witnesses, but I can't print out the witnesses on the individual
>narrative.
>
>Is there a way of getting everything I want on one report?
>
>Thanks,
>Kathleen
>
>
Hi Kathleen,

I am marginally confused about exactly what you are looking for. It
sounds like you want to be able to print an Individual Narrative (IN)
that sometimes includes this information about others buried in the same
grave (or at least in the same plot, I guess!) and sometimes does not.
If that is the case, then you have started on the right path by making
a separate Tag (in the Other group, I hope) and attaching everyone to
that Tag; that way you can select or deselect the Tag for inclusion in
the report as desired (this is done in the Report Options when you are
defining a report). Now what you must do is to make sure that the
Sentence Structures for the Roles you have used (even if just Principal
and Witness) include what's necessary to print the names of everyone
attached to the Tag. This is where it will get a little complicated.

All would be fine for the person attached in the Principal (primary)
Role. For instance, you might have a Sentence Structure for the
Principal Role something like (without the quotes) "[P] was buried
<[L]><. Others also buried in this plot are [W].>" That would generate
a sentence like this: "Jennifer was buried in plot 13 of the Calvary
Cemetery in Youngstown, Ohio. Others also buried in this plot are John
Doe, Karen Doe, Juliette Doe, and James Dean."

The problem comes in crafting a Sentence Structure for the Witness Role,
as TMG does not yet have a full complement of witness variables to use.
Specifically, I do not know of a way to tell the Sentence to
differentiate between the person attached in the Witness Role who is the
subject of the IN, and the others attached in the Witness Role.
(There's no variable such as WO for other witnesses.)

So that leads me to think that you will have to create Roles and do it
that way. It sounds complicated, but it's not--just a little clunky to
set up, but once you've set up the Tag, you don't have to mess with it
again. So here is one way you could do it:

Role: InterredWithOne (use for the principal when only one other person
is buried in the plot with him/her)
Sentence: [InterredWithOne] was buried <[L]> along with [AlsoInterredOne].
Sample Output: Jennifer Jones was buried in plot 13 of Calvary
Cemetery, Youngstown, Ohio, along with Marilyn Monroe.

Role: AlsoInterredOne
Sentence: [AlsoInterredOne] was buried <[L]> along with [InterredWithOne].
Sample Output: Marilyn Monroe was buried in plot 13 of Calvary
Cemetery, Youngstown, Ohio, along with Jennifer Jones.

Those two Roles will give you output that is grammatically correct for
situations where you have only two people in a plot. For more than two
in a plot, you could add the following Roles:

Role: InterredWithMany (use for the principal when more than one other
person is buried in the plot with him/her)
Sentence: [InterredWithMany] was buried <[L]> along with
[AlsoInterred1]<, [AlsoInterred2]><, [AlsoInterred3]><,
[AlsoInterred4]>< and [AlsoInterredLast]>.
First Sample Output: Rita Hayworth was buried in plot 27 of Brotherly
Love Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, along with Errol Flynn and
Olivia de Havilland.
(Note: in this example, Rita Hayworth is attached via the
InterredWithMany Role, Errol Flynn in the AlsoInterred1 Role, and Olivia
de Havilland in the AlsoInterredLast Role.)
Second Sample Output: Rita Hayworth was buried in plot 27 of Brotherly
Love Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, along with Albert Einstein,
Isaac Newton and Thomas More.
(Note: in this example, Rita Hayworth is attached via the
InterredWithMany Role, Albert Einstein in the AlsoInterred1 Role, Isaac
Newton in the AlsoInterred2 Role, and Thomas More in the
AlsoInterredLast Role.)

Then you'd need Sentence Structures for all your witness AlsoInterred
Roles--they would be basically the same:
Role: [AlsoInterred1]
Sentence: [AlsoInterred1] was buried <[L]> along with [AlsoInterred2]<,
[AlsoInterred3]><, [AlsoInterred4]><, [AlsoInterredLast]>< and
[InterredWithMany]>.

Role: [AlsoInterred2]
Sentence: [AlsoInterred2] was buried <[L]> along with [AlsoInterred1]<,
[AlsoInterred3]><, [AlsoInterred4]><, [AlsoInterredLast]>< and
[InterredWithMany]>.

[do the same thing for the AlsoInterred3 and AlsoInterred4 Roles]

Role: [AlsoInterredLast]
Sentence: [AlsoInterredLast] was buried <[L]> along with
[AlsoInterred1]<, [AlsoInterred2]><, [AlsoInterred3]><,
[AlsoInterred4]>< and [InterredWithMany]>.

The guidelines you'd have to remember would be which two Roles you use
for the Principal (in my example, that would be InterredWithOne or
InterredWithMany), and you'd also have to remember to attach the last
(witness) person in the AlsoInterredLast Role rather than in one of the
numbered ones. You could, of course, have as many AlsoInterredx Roles
as you want; you just have to add them into the Sentences of the other
Roles. I would just make as many as the maximum you have plus maybe a
couple more. If you have to add even more than that later, that's
easily done.

If this is something you want to do but need more help, just ask.
Someone else may come up with a more elegant solution than mine though
(or spot something egregious that I missed, as it is late here now and
my brain may not be fully functioning . . . ).

--Elizabeth
Austin, Texas

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