* Diagram Box Colours based on Flags

[David Potter]

Hi Forum

Is there any possibility to setup the diagram box colours depending a single flag with multiple values? Example Flag Name = 'Checked', values might be Yes, No, In Progress. Box colours Green, Red, Orange respectively.

This would give me a more visual result of which Individuals need further validation.

Many thanks

David

[Jane]

Flags in FH only have one state/value so they only exist or they don't exist.

BUT

Don't forget you can control box colours based on expressions, so you could control box colours based on things such as if they have a "status attribute" and it's value, they are a descendant of a specific person, or were born in a country etc etc

You do need to add a control for each expression, but once done it's done, you can't simply use a value for a colour which I think might be what you mean, as colours are actually stored as RGB sets.

[David Potter]

Hi Jane

Thanks for the quick reply.
I'm not so good using/creating expressions...
Re the flags option - if I understand correctly I would actually need 3 flags for my example and would need to control carefully which flag was attached to the individual at any one time. If that was done can I then use the flag approach to the colour display in diagrams? If yes - can you point me to a help section that might describe further how to do this. I have the Getting the most of FH 6 - would there be any guidance in that book on how to handle this?

Br

David

[Jane]

Controlling a box colour on a flag is very easy, just go into Diagram options and the Box tab and add condition and select record flag, then select your flag and tick the Box Fill option and select the colour you want for the flag.

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2016-09-30_120013.jpg (59 KiB) Viewed 10525 times

You could use set of flags, or set up a custom attribute and just use that, so you don't need to remember to turn one flag off when you turn on another.

[tatewise]

Not exactly, because Flags cannot have associated values, but you could have three Flags with related names such as Checked Yes, Checked No, Checked In Progress.

What many users do is decide the primary criteria for saying an Individual's records are complete.
e.g.
Birth Event has a Source Citation for a Birth Certificate/Baptism Record.
Marriage Event has a Source Citation for a Marriage Certificate/Record.
Death Event has a Source Citation for a Death Certificate/Burial Record.
Census Events exist with Source Citations throughout lifetime where appropriate.

Then create an Expression for each of the criteria, which can be used in various ways:
e.g.
In a Query to list outstanding research.
In a Diagram to display Icons or other Box Features such as colours.
In Records Window to display in Yes/No columns.
There are plenty of examples in the Knowledge Base and some Query Downloads as examples.

The overriding advantage of Expressions is that they are automatically always correct, without any manual intervention as is needed with Flags to keep setting and clearing them.

Also there are Plugins to help identify outstanding research avenues.
Lookup Missing Census Facts is in the Plugin Store.
Lookup Missing BMD Records is in Automated internet Marriages lookup (14180).

[David Potter]

Thanks Jane

Also thanks to you Mike - just saw your post.

I'll have a go at the Custom Attribute option as that sounds more flexible.

BR

David

[tatewise]

Just remember that with a custom Attribute fact it will by default probably appear in most Reports.
So to counteract that :-
For Individual Summary Report in Report > Options create an Exclude List.
For Narrative Reports ensure that Attribute has its Sentence Template set to {blank}.

Furthermore, with all those customised Diagrams and Reports it is advisable to use Save As Diagram/Report Type to preserve the customisations separately from the defaults.

[David Potter]

Okay Mike

Thanks for the advice.

David

[David Potter]

Hi Mike/Jane

Struggling to find beginners level help on this... So apologies.

I this what you were referring to as Custom Attributes and is this as good as it gets?

Can I not name it to be say 'Surety' and have a list of allowed values. See the attached screen shot.

BR

David

[David Potter]

Forgot to mention can it be placed/combined with the SEX attribute to conserve space?

David

[Jane]

Tools>Fact Sets add a new custom attribute in there. See chapter 6 - Custom Fact Types

[tatewise]

No David, we are talking about using the Tools > Fact Types dialogue to create a custom Attribute with whatever name you like.

There is a tutorial that covers the basics in the Book: "Getting the Most From Family Historian 5" in Chapter 6 Events, Attributes & Notes in the Property Box around page 60, which makes me suspect you have not worked through how_to:key_features_for_newcomers|> Key Features for Newcomers and studied the Documentation & Tutorials, etc.

Once you have created that, then it can be customised into the Main tab of Property Box alongside Sex if you wish.

[David Potter]

Hi Both

I welcome the hint - I have been through most of the Newcomer stuff. But as a new need arises I forgot to go back to that resource.

I'll take a fresh and I have the book Getting the most of FH 6.

Thanks for your patience.

David

[tatewise]

Having mulled things over for a while, I have a few more suggestions.

Essentially, what you are talking about is a Work in Progress / Research To Do List for outstanding actions.
See how_to:create_work_in_progress_or_research_to_do_lists|> Create Work In Progress or Research To Do Lists that offers a ready made Custom Attribute solution you can download, with predefined Custom Attribute, Custom Tab, Queries, Reports, Records Window Columns, etc.

The Custom Attribute has a value you can use to define its status of Yes, No, WiP, etc, that can govern Diagram box features.

One thing you need to consider is what box feature will appear in Diagrams for every Individual without that Custom Attribute?

Alternatively, another very simple idea is to use the Custom Id field to hold the Yes, No, WiP, etc, status. It is easily customised into the Main tab of Property Box using the predefined item. This only works if you have no plans to use the Custom Id field for anything else. The advantage is that you do NOT have to create a Custom Attribute and adjust Reports to exclude that Custom Attribute.

[David Potter]

Hi Mike and Jane

Wow - so many possible solutions. Let me elaborate on what I would really like. I submitted my original request based on what I had learned was possible in FH and maybe went in the wrong direction...

I have this year come from TMG 9.5. In TMG there are the usual Source/Citation “provenance” settings such as FH has, Primary, Secondary, Questionable. But also in TMG is a similar feature at the Individual level. EG, Is this person definitely who I believe they are. Therefore surety values at the Individual level. The TMG import to FH did not handle these values so I'm building my family tree database from scratch using AS where possible for consistency and sort of challenging any findings along the way such as what appears to be questionable information from other 'allegedly' same family researchers. What I would really like is a Custom Field attribute that I can place on the Individual > Main Tab that can describe how certain this Individual is as a family member. Like 3 = certain, 2 = unsure, 1 = doubtful.
I already use the Custom ID to track the TMG ID to keep both databases aligned so as to speak. I also use the TO DO solution to identify such things as Must order Birth Certificate for BMD reference XYZ.

I have managed to create a Custom Fact Type labelled 'Surety' where I can input free field text data. But it doesn't quite meet what I'm looking for in that it creates a Fact rather than just the simple Custom Attribute that I'm looking for and visible on the Main Tab for the Individual that can also be included in the Diagrams to provide a visible colour reference as to how reliable the evidence is for this Individual.

So by comparison a solution similar to Sex = M, F, or Unknown but in this context Surety = 3 (Certain), 2 (Unsure), 1 (Doubtful) and only those values are allowed is what I would really like. And the ability to use these in the Diagram colour coding function.

I really appreciate your efforts to help me, perhaps if I had written this in the first place it would have helped and reduced your efforts to help me.

I have attached an image on how TMG uses this function - you can see a dialogue box just right of the Individuals name labelled 12DPM - this is where TMG allows you to code the certainty of the 1 Individual, Father, Mother, Date, Place, Memo. Each attribute in that 'string' can have the values 3,2,1 as described above. I'm not looking for all of that, only what I have described above.

Hoping we can start again and come to some solution.

Thanks so much for you efforts so far...

David

[tatewise]

Thank you for that elaboration David, and in return let me fill in a little background.

Those TMG Surety values are custom settings specific to TMG. Similarly, record Flags are custom settings specific to FH. They can be represented in GEDCOM with 'user-defined' custom tags, but are unlikely to be recognised by any other genealogy products. As you know, FH uses GEDCOM as its database structure, so data within a TMG Project that does not map into the FH/GEDCOM structure cannot be imported.

This migration of Project data between genealogy programs is considered very important by some users, so they avoid such custom settings that are specific to particular products. See glossary:gedcom_extension_list|> GEDCOM Extension List for a full list of FH custom settings and how to handle them.

Now this adherence to GEDCOM is the main reason your choices are restricted within FH.

To correct a point of terminology, a Custom Attribute is a type of fact that appears on the Facts tab just like any other standard Attribute or Event. c.f. The 'To Do' Custom Attribute that you are already using.

What you are requesting is a Custom Data Field at the Individual record level, and I am afraid that is not possible in FH. However, all is not lost, so here are a few ideas.

1. As I already mentioned, the Surety status could use the 'To Do' Attribute value that appears top right of To Do tab in the Property Box. It does not have any restriction on values, so it is down to you to ensure only valid values are entered, but it does not add any additional custom facts.
2. You could create a 'placeholder' Source Record titled Surety and every Individual record could have a <whole record> Citation of that Surety Source Record. Then just the four Assessment values allowed in Citations (Primary, Secondary, Questionable, Unreliable) could be your Surety values, and be customised onto the Main tab of the Property Box. The only caveat is that the Surety Citation must be the first Citation. Also that Surety Citation will appear in Reports.
3. Alternatively, that Surety Citation could be added to the 'To Do' attribute, and the Assessment field added to the To Do tab. That would remove the caveat that the Surety Citation must be first, because the 'To Do' attribute never uses Citations. Also, since 'To Do' attributes are exclude from Reports, the Surety Citations would be excluded too.
4. Similar to the Custom Id field, there is a Permanent Record Number field that could be customised onto the Main tab, with a Label such as Surety, and hold your status in numbers or words, but its values are unrestricted so requires manual discipline as for 1. above.
5. Revert to the three record Flags strategy, and create a Surety tab in the Property Box with a tick option for each Flag. That would restrict the values and be very obvious when other than just one is ticked. BUT, unlike all the options above, record Flags do NOT migrate well in GEDCOM to other products.

So you pay your money and take your pick.

[David Potter]

Hello Mike

Thank you for the explanation. And thank you very much for putting together a list of options/solutions. Especially at that time on a Friday night

I will wade through the list and pick the one that offers the closest fit to my needs.

Thanks again for the excellent support.

Have a restful and relaxing weekend.

David

[David Potter]

Hi Mike

I would like to take up your proposal option 2. As you say this has the benefit of using the pre-defined Sureties. I have set this up but am stuck as to how I get this to appear on the Main Tab. Can I please trouble you further for help (instructions) on this part.

Many thanks.

David

[tatewise]

Use the Customize Data Entry as you have done before.
Untick Show most commonly-used items only.
Add a <Custom Item> to Main area for Individual.
Give it a Custom Item Name and Part 1 Label of your choice, such as Surety.
Click <<Select and choose Individual + Sources + Source>> + Certainty Assessment.
The Data Reference should be INDI.SOUR[1].QUAY.
Click OK and then use up arrows to move item up to where you want it to appear.

There are a couple of caveats:
1) The Main tab will appear to let you create those Surety entries, but on closing and reopening FH they will have vanished. You must always actually use Add Citation for the Surety Source record beforehand.
2) That Surety Source Citation must always be the 1st <whole record> Citation listed.

[David Potter]

You're a star Mike - that worked a treat.

BR

David

[David Potter]

Hi Mike

Having made good use of option 2 with your help. Can this setup now be used in the Diagram box colour coding settings and if so can you provide some instructions on how this might be achieved. What I would like is to set up the box colour to equal 'Green' say if the Surety value for the Citation attached to the Whole Record = 'Primary evidence' else some other colour would be displayed.

Many Thanks.

David

[tatewise]

Way back near the start of this thread, Jane posted some screenshots for "Controlling a box colour on a flag...". Instead of the Record Flag option she highlighted, you need to use the Expression option.

how_to:using_flags_and_icons_and_expressions|> Using Flags and Icons and Expressions gives further details.

The Expression will need to be =IsTrue( %INDI.SOUR[1].QUAY% = "Primary evidence" )

[David Potter]

Thank you Mike.
I set this up and have found individuals (now with the diagram box coloured green) that should not be coloured this way. On checking further the <Whole Record> in the Sources For: drop down list contained a Baptism Citation! And this was the first and only Citation and set with Primary Evidence in the Assessment field. So there's the reason the box was green.

Can you please:

a) help me understand how and why the baptism citation would be placed against the <Whole Record> (AS doing this maybe)? I use AS extensively for creating my Record Data/Citations.

b) how to create a list of Citations tagged to <Whole Record>

Thanks again.

BR

David

[tatewise]

a) Check what the Baptism Source record says and what other Citations exist. Select the Source record and use Where Used Records List Plugin. That should match the style of AS entries. Otherwise, you must have added the Citation at some stage. If redundant then simply remove or reposition the Citation appropriately on say a Baptism Event.

b) Use the Plugin above on all Source records and sort Result Set on Data Ref Where Used column and all the INDI.SOUR entries will come together.

c) To ensure only Surety Sources make boxes green use the Expression:
=IsTrue( %INDI.SOUR[1].QUAY% = "Primary evidence" and %INDI.SOUR[1]>TITL% = "Surety" )
or whatever Title you used.

[David Potter]

Hi Mike

Thanks very much.
It looks like AS is duplicating the Citation, once for say the Baptism, Census, Residence, etc and again for the <Whole Record>. Bahhh

Is there a quick way to remove these dup's from the <Whole Record> ?

BR

David