* Showing ancestor ages in Focus Window

[PeteBrooks]

Hope I can explain this OK!

Mr grandfather's focus window shows his children, and also their ages. This age seems to be an estimate based on their year of birth and the current date.

However, some of these children are now deceased but I haven't entered a date of death as I haven't got round to researching those yet.

Therefore, the focus window shows their age to be (for example) 97. Is there a way I can stop Family Historian calculating ages for people I know have died, but haven't yet recorded their death year?

Have attached an example below

Example.PNG (3.06 KiB) Viewed 5372 times

Cheers,

Pete

[tatewise]

Welcome to the FHUG Pete.
As a newcomer you may find how_to:key_features_for_newcomers|> Key Features for Newcomers useful.

I'm not sure how you expect FH to read your mind
If there is no Death Date then what other 'signal' could FH use?

You cannot stop FH calculating ages, because that is a fundamental feature of any genealogy package.
I suspect what you really mean is to stop FH displaying the ages.

The only two options that control that Age display would affect many ages.
In the Focus Window use Customize View... top right and untick the Ages option to hide all ages.
Or in Tools > Preferences > Estimates set Maximum Life span to say 90 to hide all ages greater than 90, but this may impact some age estimating functions.

[PeterR]

If you know a person has died, you can (and perhaps should?) add a Death event, without any details such as Date, Place, Source if those details are unknown. Then FH won't calculate an Age as if the person is still alive.

[PeteBrooks]

Hello Mike,

Having been involved with computers and software for many years I would not expect any package to "read my mind".

What other "signal" could FH use? Perhaps an extra field for each ancestor where you could switch off automatic date calculation. That seems pretty simple and shouldn't be beyond the capability of any competent programmer - perhaps in the next release.

Incidentally, it doesn't seem to calculate age EVERY time. I have an ancestor born in 1832, and it isn't showing that he's 185 years old.

I shall certainly think twice before displaying my "stupidity" on this website again.

I won't thank you for your help, but for your patronisation - many thanks.

Pete Brooks.

[tatewise]

Pete, it was a joke, hence the emoticon.

If we are going to brag about being in computers, I have been for 50 years.

As Peter says, what is wrong with the simplest 'signal' of the Death event?
I assumed you did not want to wait for the next release of FH for a solution.
Anyway, since we are the FH User Group, we have limited influence over what the FH programmers do.

The reason the 185 year old is not shown is because they exceed the Tools > Preferences > Estimates > Maximum Life span that I mentioned that defaults to 100.

[PeteBrooks]

Nothing's wrong with the simplest signal. I just didn't know about it and was asking for help, not sarcasm.

[tatewise]

I did not intend to be sarcastic, and I'm sorry you took it that way.
It is a problem with text messages - they do not always convey the intended mood.

Regarding an alternative signal, Pete suggested: "Perhaps an extra field for each ancestor where you could switch off automatic date calculation. That seems pretty simple and shouldn't be beyond the capability of any competent programmer".
So, just out of interest, let us explore that proposal.
Focus Window
Yes, it would be fairly simple to have a toggle switch that governed the display of Age in the Focus Window.
However, there is no current mechanism to save per person settings against the Focus Window.
Gedcom File
That switch would have to be stored in a field of the Individual record for each person whether an ancestor or not.
The FH records database is the Gedcom file, so a new non-standard Gedcom field tag would need to be introduced.
(That in itself would not be liked by those users opposed to non-standard extensions to the Gedcom file format.)
There would need to be extra save/read/validate/export functions to handle that new Gedcom field tag.
There would also be a knock-on impact to such as the Export Gedcom File Plugin that converts the Gedcom file dialect.
User Interface
The new toggle switch requires redesign of the Individual Property Box dialogue probably on the Main tab.
It will also need the new Gedcom tag to be handled on the All tab, and perhaps on the Facts tab too.
Similar changes would be needed to the Records Window on the Individuals tab.
Help Pages & Book
The Help pages for at least the Focus Window and Property Box may need new screen-shots, and certainly an explanation of the new toggle Age switch feature.
The book Getting the Most From FH 6 may need updating to cover the new toggle switch.

[Gowermick]

Mike,
Sorry for butting in, but couldn't flags be used? They are not part of Gedcom, but FH makes good use of them. Also, people use them to modify their diagrams, so why not modify this?
Just thinking out load, as it were.
PS as they are not part of gedcom, out of interst, where does FH store them?

[tatewise]

Yes, there could perhaps be a very special predefined Flag like that, along the lines of the Private and Living flags.
It would still need some supplementary updates to the Help pages and the Book.
FYI: They are saved in the Gedcom file using the non-standard _FLGS tag.
See glossary:gedcom_extension_list|> GEDCOM Extension List for a full list of such tags.

However, that only works in this special case because the toggle switch is associated with Individuals and record Flags are associated with Individuals. For any other type of record that option would not be available.

[PeteBrooks]

Or you could just enter "?" in the death field

[tatewise]

Pete, I am not sure what you mean by the Death field.
Anyway, there is no need to enter a ? anywhere.
On the Facts tab, add a Death Event, but leave the Date, Place, and other fields empty.
The existence of the Death Event with no other details is enough of a signal to hide the Age.
This is what PeterR suggested last Saturday.