Family Historian User Group

I just noticed on Facebook, and then on the FH web site that 6.1 has been generally released today:

http://www.family-historian.co.uk/versi ... n-released

Edit:
Actually the update is 6.1.4 once you dig down a bit.

I hope that formally released V6.1.4 has fixed the serious bugs reported here!!!!

File size is slightly different to the 6.1.4 I downloaded on the 21st Feb, but only by about 1Kb. so no major changes/fixes I suspect.

The auto-updater says I am on the latest version 6.1.4 pre-release so I can't see that there can be any differences unless the version checking algorithm is broken.

I am surprised that it has been released with the issues outstanding.

I really cannot believe that has been released with those major bugs still present!!!!

See New Pre-release: 6.1.4 reports of problems with Edit Media Item dialogue!!!

We counted four issues that were raised in the 6.1.4 pre-release thread:

(1) We do not believe the problem that John Morrison reports is a bug in FH. We think it is caused by a conflict with a background application of some kind. The good news is that only one person has reported the problem (John) and they have found a workaround which is to switch off automatic snapshot management. Our assessment: no action required for now, but keep an eye on it.

(2) Greyed check boxes in the Edit Media dialog: This happens when you click Edit to open the Edit Media dialog, to view details about a source citation media item - if you are viewing media files for a selected event or attribute and you ticked one of the options to 'include source citation media'. The check boxes are greyed by design, because they have no meaning in this context. You're not viewing a media item that is directly linked to the event, so you can't use the Edit media dialog to manage this non-existent link. We tried to signal this by changing the "link details" label to add "(not applicable)" on the end. If users continue to be confused about this, we will look at options to add clarity in the future - or possibly even consider removing the option to include source citation media at all in this context, if people don't particularly value it and it just causes confusion. For now, our policy is to wait and see how it beds down in practice. In any case, there is at most a clarity issue, not a bug.

(3) Mike Tate reported two issues. One was what we call a painting glitch. This occurs when an icon 'paints' on the right-hand side of a pair of right-left arrows. It's a minor glitch that has been there for a long time. It was not introduced in 6.1. In order to make it happen you have to squeeze the property box into a small space. It's on our ToDo list, but in our assessment, it's not a priority.

(4) I'm not 100% sure if I've understood the second issue that Mike Tate raised. He says: "When the Sources For pane is open the icon with double vertical bars and left & right arrows correctly appears at the draggable junction of this pane and the pane on the left. But it also wrongly appears in the caption and toolbar above where circled in blue above". We took him to be saying that he thinks that if you have left-right arrows on the tab, you shouldn't have them in the toolbar. But the two pairs of buttons are completely different. The left-right arrows on the tab are tab scroll buttons. They appear when there isn't sufficient space on the tab (because the Property Box has been squeezed) to show all tabs. You use them to scroll the whole tab area left-and-right so that you can access all of the tabs if you need to (for interest, you can get them to appear in the Focus Window tab area too, if you squeeze that into a small enough space). The arrows on the Property Box toolbar are 'Go Back' and 'Go Forward' buttons. But perhaps I've misunderstood what the issue was here?

Simon Orde
Calico Pie

(1) OK.

(2) If you check my report carefully, the problem also afflicts the Show Media button in the Sources For yellow pane, but the symptoms are slightly different. The Link Details section is functional, but the three tick boxes are greyed out!!!

On a general point, if the Media item can be edited regarding its Title, Date, Keywords, etc, then why not allow the Link Details, etc, to be edited?

(3) I accept this is relative minor and longstanding issue, but if you have enough custom tabs it can happen on quite a wide view of the Property Box.

(4) Sorry, I could not a get a suitable screenshot. You misunderstand. It is the drag icon (two vertical bars + two arrows) that appears in the Caption and Toolbar immediatley above the junction of the Property Box and Sources For pane. It does not necessarily have to be the Go Back/Forward buttons (that was perhaps an unfortunate choice by me).

(5) Most of the issues listed in http://www.fhug.org.uk/forum/viewtopic. ... 233#p65601 are still NOT FIXED, along with the Julian Date problem.

As the discussion of the Edit Media Item dialog in 6.1.4 has shifted to this thread I will post this here, although perhaps I should also add it to the original 6.1.4 thread.

Simon wrote

The check boxes are greyed by design, because they have no meaning in this context. You're not viewing a media item that is directly linked to the event, so you can't use the Edit media dialog to manage this non-existent link. We tried to signal this by changing the "link details" label to add "(not applicable)" on the end.

To avoid confusion, could the Edit button in the Media for Fact dialog be greyed out when Source or Citation Media are selected (as the Unlink/Delete, Move Up and Move Down buttons are) so that the Edit Media Item dialog cannot be opened at all for Source and Citation Media in this context?

In addition to the problem with the 3 tick boxes, already discussed, there is another issue when the Edit Media dialog is opened via the Show Media button in the Sources for pane.

There is scope for confusion because the text in the bottom left of the dialog reads Link to XXX (where XXX is the name of the Source record). It says this for both Source Media and Citation Media. I feel that for Citation Media it should read Link to citation for XXX. Otherwise when looking at the Edit Media dialog, it is easy to forget which type of Media you are viewing, unless you know that for citation Media there is no option to Link to Detail.

This raises another question. Why is it not possible to use a frame link (Link to Detail) for a Citation Media? As far as I can see this cannot be done at all, ether in the Edit Media dialog or in the Media Window where the options for frame links do not include citations. I imagine the ability to link to detail is just as important for users who prefer linking Media to citations as it is for users who link Media to Sources. (I realise that frame links cannot be used with links to Facts either, but the need there may not be great.)

LornaCraig wrote:This raises another question. Why is it not possible to use a frame link (Link to Detail) for a Citation Media? As far as I can see this cannot be done at all, ether in the Edit Media dialog or in the Media Window where the options for frame links do not include citations. I imagine the ability to link to detail is just as important for users who prefer linking Media to citations as it is for users who link Media to Sources. (I realise that frame links cannot be used with links to Facts either, but the need there may not be great.)

I'd be very interested in a frame link option for both Citation Media and Source Record Media as I use both. Obviously with that I could use the same Media that is linked to the Fact but just use a frame link to show the detail I would like viewable in the Narrative Report Sources. For me personally, not having the frame link option for Facts Media isn't really an issue as I wouldn't really use it.

Simon - I must commend Calico Pie for the excellent work on version 6.1 for citation media to accommodate FTM users but on the Yellow Source Citation Pane there's still a lack of "visual" citation estate space on the "Where within Source" pane and the "Text from Source" pane for those that use Method 2.
Sources are the backbone of genealogy research so a solution to suit those who use either/both Method 1 or Method 2 could be a future enhancement where a new "Sources" button is located under the menu bar and when opened would contain a split screen say the LH side to "sources" and the RH side to "citations" so the user can select either or both methods and each side of the screen would be similar with media attachment buttons etc and with enough estate space to please everyone to record all their sources, citations and additional notes side by side. It would require a rethink for the function of the Yellow Source Citation Pane attached to the Property Box however FH users might request a variety of new uses here as well as their own wish list enhancements to be added to a new "Sources" screen.

A generally positive comment from a newcomer to Family Historian 6.1.4. The convenience and feature rich functions of FH enabled a speedy migration for me. On Feb 19th downloaded the trial, purchased the next day on Feb 20th. And tonight, Feb 25, have completed testing and am ready to go live.

This is not a small project, with Legacy Family Tree as my previous 'homebase for data input', and then exported to a TNG-based web site, over 14,000 individuals and nearly 3000 documents, photos, headstones, and census records. To be able to accomplish this in less than a week is a tribute to Family Historian, with its flexibility, based on a unicode gedcom, and with plugins ready to go, and plugins which can be modified.

What impresses me particularly is the speed of the product from screen to screen, especially with media file handling.

Also found the 'Gedcom Export' plugin very useful, using both the export to TNG, and the export to Legacy Family Tree (FH will now be my homebase). I will still be able to use some of the excellent reporting functions in Legacy, and TNG for excellent web presence.

The responses and solutions found on this forum has also been extremely helpful in the rapid migration.

Thanks to Calico Pie for a great product!

UPDATE: Feb 29, I overestimated in stating 'ready to go live' within a week, which would not be a surprise to most. I had some Legacy FT items to work through, as well as some new issues with TNG which have been resolved thanks to the help of Mike Tate and his GEDCOM Export plugin. I now have good procedures for exporting to either product with exported results that are virtually identical to what I was getting from a Legacy FT export to TNG. Still very enthusiastic about FH and have learned a lot working through the issues. Gosh, still only 11 days since I downloaded a trial. Will stay in 'test mode' for awhile, until more experience with data input to FH.

UPDATE: Mar 05,After a few minor issues addressed by Mike Tate's Gedcom Export plugin, have gone 'Live' with FH V6.1.4 barely 2 weeks after my first look at the product. Very pleased with the migration and the capabilities of Family Historian's software and plugins.

Ron
Minnesota, USA
FH 6.1.4

FH 6.1.4 says: When a GEDCOM file is imported, any UDFs that store links between records (UDF links) are now updated, if necessary, during the import to ensure that the link information they store is correct, and uses the correct record ids after the import, even if records have been renumbered.

This did (partially) work on an earlier Beta version, but I now discover only in limited cicumstances, so for example the FTM 1 _PHOTO @M9@ UDF tags take the value @@M9@@? instead of the renumbered id @O9@ to match the Media record.

It seems that the 'fix' quoted above only applies if the UDF tag is a normal GEDCOM tag that could have a link (e.g. INDI, FAM, NOTE, SOUR, REPO, OBJE) and is only a UDF because its parent is a UDF. Any other UDF with a link is not updated.