* Upgrading to 5 with customised diagrams

[Sharon]

Hi there,
I hope someone is able to advise me.
I have been using v3 for some time and am mow looking into upgrading to v5. The thing is, I use quite a lot of flags to display icons in my diagram, so that I can see at a glance who I have the BMD, Parish and census records for.

My first question is this - can I import these customistaions from v3 into v5 somehow?

It has involved a lot of customisation of the Diagram / Options / Boxes section - there are over 3 flags/icons in all!

I have flag/icons for finding BMD indexes as well as Parish indexes, and when I have found the actual Parish register record, or got a birth certificate, I mark the flag for those as well - so on the diagram, for someone b c1840, I could have 4 icons indicating a date of birth - this is a bit of laziness on my part, I should probably unmark the index flag when I turn the certificate flag on, but part of me doesn't want to lose sight of the fact that all these pieces of evidence are there. Ideally, I would like to be able to put some sort of query behind the diagram to say if the BMD index and certifcate flags are both on, just show the icon associated with the certificate.

So my second question is - will the new query features in v5 allow me to do this?

I've added a picture of what the boxes of my diagram look like. Birth/baptism flags are red, marriages are yellow and death/burial are green.

This is where I have been making the customisations.

fhug diagram snip.JPG (54.07 KiB) Viewed 3489 times

This is what the final diagram looks like.

fhug snip.JPG (49.9 KiB) Viewed 3489 times

I hope I have explained this clearly enough.
Thank you all.

[Jane]

For each diagram type make sure you have saved the diagrams with their Icons etc using the Save As Custom Diagram Type option on the Diagram menu.

You can then back these up and keep them ready for the new version.

Once you have upgraded open each of the custom diagrams in turn and tick the "Set As Default" on each tab.

Then when you open the standard option they will be correct.

It's also worth making sure any standard text schemes you have edited are cloned to custom versions.

It's worth doing this on a regular basis anyway and making sure you back them up as part of your normal backup procedures.

[tatewise]

First of all rest assured that if you install V5 over V3 on the same PC then all your customisations should remain intact.

However, it would be wise to backup what you can, just in case.
You did not say whether you have simply customised Standard Diagrams and Text Schemes, or created your own custom Diagram Types and custom Text Schemes.
I would advise you create the latter from the former before you install V5, because the Standard Diagram settings for the four Diagrams on the toolbar are stored in the Windows Registry and cannot be backed up.

There is a lot more advice on these topics in the how_to:index#installation_guide|> Family Historian > Installation Guides.
In particular how_to:reinstall_family_historian|> How to (Re-)install Family Historian and how_to:move_settings|> Move Family Historian Settings & Projects explain the installation process and where customisations are stored both on Windows XP and Windows Vista/7/8.

Regarding your Icons and Flags and Conditions, there is a new feature in V4 & V5 that allows Expressions in the Box Conditions.
These can test Data References to see if certain data exists (such as B/M/D Index or Certificate Source Citations).
In many cases this can do away with Flags and Queries, because the Icons are automatically adjusted by the Expression Conditions as data is added.
See how_to:using_flags_and_icons|> Using Flags and Icons for more details.

Once you have installed V5 there is another new feature called Plugins, that can add even more features, amongst which is a much more rigorous backup option that includes the Windows Registry settings.

[Sharon]

Thank you both for your very helpful answers. I am using the trial version of v5 at the moment on a different PC to the one with v3 on, and using a copy of the v3 Gedcom. I've only ever used standard Text types, most of my customisation has been done using flags and queries.

Following your instructions, it was actually very easy to import the diagram using all my flags and icons and to set it as the default in v5.

It took me a little longer to work out the benefits of changing over to expressions - all those conditions to set again manually , but it looks as though by doing so I will be able to control which icons are displayed on my diagram, by referencing the text contained within the first source listed. That way I can keep my reference to a BMD index source, but demote it to second in the list when I have the actual certificate. Great! Thank you. It will keep my diagrams much tidier. It also has the added benefit of referring directly to my data, so I don't have to remember to set a flag when I update my records. Bonus!

It's a pain though - I'd rather be researching than re-doing customisations of the software - but I think it'll be worth it in the longer term.

Thanks again for all your help.
Kind regards,
Sharon

[tatewise]

OK, glad to have helped. I am sure the effort will be worth while.

I would advise that you now also look at converting your standalone GEDCOM into a V4/V5 Project.
It will be well worth the effort, especially if you have linked Multimedia images.
Also some feature are only available with the Project structure.
See how_to:v4:understanding_projects|> Understanding Projects for more details.

If you need any more help then please just ask, but in a new posting, and tell us which Windows OS you are using.