* FH6 Property Box Facts Tab

[boswells]

The facts tab is a really useful summary of an individual's (and family) lifetime BUT I have just discovered that there is an error/feature which has been there since at least version 3 but which has not caused a problem until version 6.

The problem is that the facts tab is only fed with information from the main tab if there is an event date. For instance, I have several families with a mix of children with and without known birthdates. Those with birthdates appear in the facts tab but those without do not. This gives an incomplete/inaccurate view of the family whenever this timeline is extracted. This problem exists in other events with unknown dates. Just because an event doesn't have a date this doesn't mean it ceases to be a fact, and such a missing fact renders the information in the facts tab dangerously incomplete, and sadly worthless, as the poor little children without known birthdates would be left out and more to the point I wouldn't know they had been left out.

Is it possible to programmatically access the facts tab via a plugin to extend the information on the tab? Is so how can I do this?

[tatewise]

It is true that Children without a Birth, Death & Marriage Date are not included in the Timeline Facts, but they do exist in the Main tab, the Focus Window, in Diagrams and Reports, and their own Property Box, so their existence is very evident.

A simple workaround is to include a Date, either an Approx Date or a Date Range.

It is not possible to change things with a Plugin.

You say "This problem exists in other events with unknown dates." but give no examples, and I cannot find any examples. Could you give some specific examples.

[keithatserendib]

I've noticed this problem in the facts tab too. I have seen some events in the facts tab without dates but I can't remember what they were now - maybe education or some such. This makes it somewhat anomalous to leave out children/siblings etc who have no birth/marriage/death dates.

It might not be possible to access the facts tab with a plugin but it is possible to add custom tabs - see 'Property Box Tabs: Military and Census and Wills', for instance. Presumably a custom tab could be created programmatically.

[tatewise]

I may be possible to create a Custom Tab using say a Plugin, but it cannot display items such as Timeline Facts because any Custom Tab can only display details stored within the current Record and by definition Timeline Facts are in another Record.

[AdrianBruce]

... an error/feature which has been there since at least version 3 but which has not caused a problem until version 6. ...

As you say, this feature has been there since goodness knows when - not sure why you say it's a problem in v6 (I'm still on v5). I found it ages ago - let's say that I have baptism records for children but no birth details. If I enter only the baptism, then the children do not appear in the Facts tabs of their parents (with a grey dot in v5). Hence, in the absence of any other birth data, I always enter a Birth fact with a date "Before ddmmyyyy" where ddmmyyyy is the date of the baptism.

I have seen some events in the facts tab without dates ... This makes it somewhat anomalous to leave out children/siblings etc who have no birth/marriage/death dates.

It's not anomalous if you think like a programmer. The events in the facts tab without a date will be facts belonging to the person you're looking at. The omitted children are not facts in the same sense of being facts belonging to the person you're looking at. Yes, there's a relation between the individuals, but that's a wholly different structure on the GEDCOM. Relationships sit outside the individuals - in the family records, as I recollect - whereas facts sit within the individuals.

Pedantically, the anomaly is why only the birth event of the child generates that line in the fact tab of the parent when baptisms act as surrogates for birth in some cases, such as Life-dates(????). Though if I'm being doubly pedantic, the generated line says "Birth of xxxx" so I guess it does what it says on the tin!

[tatewise]

Adrian, that last anomaly is fixed in FH V6. If the Child has a Birth, Baptism, Chistening, or Adoption event then the first of the first three with a Date &/or the Adoption with a Date are shown in the Parents' Facts tab.

Also, Marriage, Divorce, Death, Burial or Cremation events are included, providing they have a Date, so it is unlikely that the Child will not appear in the Parents' Facts tab.

To complete the picture, Parent, Sibling, Spouse, and Grandchild events can similarly be optionally included.

[AdrianBruce]

Thanks Mike. I'll probably configure most of them out since I regard the fact tab as being about the person, rather than a summary of the others. Still, I get the impression that I need to read the manual when it comes else I'll miss these tweaks.

[tatewise]

Unfortunately there is no updated Getting the Most... manual yet, so you will have to make do with the Help pages and http://www.family-historian.co.uk/featu ... -version-6.

See Getting the Most!!! (12219).

However, many of the Timeline Facts are disabled by default, and they all can be hidden in the Facts tab at the click of a button.

[boswells]

Re: FH6 Property Box Facts Tab.

I must confess to being rather disappointed at the negative approach to my posting. It appears from a quick look at a few of the entries shows that the following Tags appear as as Facts without having a date Occup; Born; Marriage; Died; Emigrate; Residence; Description: Education; Origin; Information etc.. This shows the inconsistency in the way that data is handled and, forgive me, but I cannot see how one would present a complete timeline on the basis that Tatewise suggests. The idea of such a work around might be acceptable for a small number of entries but is scarcely a viable long term solution in the real world of Genealogy. I am working with in excess of 12,000 records and to have to go through the routines as suggested by Adrian Bruce is simply not on.
Tatewise rather confuses me as on one reading of his posting it would seem that the problem facing me has been solved. The simple problem is that I do not have dates for some of my entries - there is no change from my current position if the child will not appear in the Parent's Facts tab unless there is a date.
In Tatewise's later posting he suggests that many of the Timeline Facts can be hidden in the Facts Tab at the click of a button. Why can we not have this problem similarly treated?
We seem to be some distance apart in looking at my aim of harnessing the new, much improved, Timeline Facts capability which can best be done by changing the Code to allow it to be used for Genealogists which, after all is what the Family Historian Product is about.
Boswells

[NickWalker]

I must confess to being rather disappointed at the negative approach to my posting...

I've read through the thread and I can't see anyone disagreeing with you. The only current solution seems to be to include a date as Mike (Tatewise) says which as you say is probably not practical for you. We're only users of the software so can't fix this issue for you. Only Calico Pie can do that. Users often post questions for which people like Mike can offer solutions (and frankly the amount of time he spends trying to help people is unbelievable) but if it can't be solved with a feature already built into Family Historian or a plugin then really the only solution is to wait for an update to Family Historian.

Best wishes

Nick

[LornaCraig]

Hi Boswells,

I am sure nobody intended to sound negative. People here are generally supportive and helpful. In this case they are just trying to explain why what you want cannot be done.

The facts you mention as appearing without dates are, as Adrian says, facts belonging to the person whose Property box you are looking at. This is because the facts tab is just that: a list of facts (events or attributes) which form part of that individual’s own record. Those which do not have dates will by default appear in the order in which you entered them into the record, unless you manually re-order them, and this means they may not be in the order in which they actually occurred. In this sense the list is not a timeline, just a list.

The timeline events which can be displayed optionally are all events relating to other people in the individual’s family. For these individuals only their key BMD events (including baptism, burial) will ever be included, because otherwise the list would be potentially huge and many of the facts would not be particularly relevant to your key individual.

The purpose of a timeline is, as the name implies, to show the time (i.e. the date or date range ) when particular events happened in a person’s life. So if an event has no date associated with it, how can the program place it in the timeline? If you know the order and approximate dates of birth of children you can add a date range or approximate date for each, as has been suggested, so that these events are placed in the line. Otherwise I think what you are asking for is just a list which, as Mike says, can be seen in many other places in the program (Main tab, the Focus Window, in Diagrams and Reports).

[tatewise]

I suspect Boswells is making a common mistake in thinking this FHUG is somehow involved with the FH Product development. We are not. We are simply FH Users and are sometimes equally frustrated by FH features that are not quite to our liking.

I may have confused things a little by originally saying that a Child without a Birth, Death & Marriage Date is not included in the Timeline Facts.

Actually, after checking in FH, if the Child has a Birth, Baptism, Chistening, Adoption, Marriage, Divorce, Death, Burial, or Cremation event with a Date, then the Child should appear at least once in the Timeline Facts for the Parents, depending on the Cut Off Date, which can be set to None.

You can contact Family Historian Support via E-mail and report the problem of missing Children without Dates and they should respond.

[keithatserendib]

It's not anomalous if you think like a programmer.

Thinking like a programmer is anomalous. Thinking like a genealogist is what's required.

[AdrianBruce]

... Thinking like a genealogist is what's required.

Unless you actually want some software, of course!

Trying to be slightly more serious ... Requirements need to come from thinking like a genealogist. However, you have no idea the number of times I have tried to explain to someone in various places why ideas A and B are incompatible. Explanations of this require at least thinking like a programmer, even if the explanation then needs to be translated (and I have no problem with that). In this instance, the fact that FH's data is GEDCOM compatible has implications - it can't all be processed in the same manner.