* How to fix UDFs

[Ron Melby]

I have tried several ways to get the prtscr on here, it isnt happening
I am in the indi record and have the all tab open.
there is the little flashing symbol (whatever name you want to give it) @:

BURI
PLAC
PAGE <<<<

here is the file

1 BURI
2 PLAC Memorial Park Cemetery, Grand Forks, , Grand Forks, ND, USA
3 PAGE http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... d=24858491
2 SOUR @S1944@
3 PAGE http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... d=24858491

pretty easy, I did not SOUR the record originally so I simply need the first 3 PAGE to disappear.

So, right click on the offending PAGE in that screen and ... mirable dictu, there is no delete. I can copy it, and I would suppose that is for the ability to compound my error by propagation... Much of the reason I have spent years on this file is that Family Historian not only doesnt have useful or suggestive error correction, it will actually hide errors.

What is to be done that is intuitively obvious and easy from the software to correct these issues? Is something in there I am not finding?

[tatewise]

Ron, to get images into your posting see the advice in info:forums|> Forums Usage Tips for posting attachments.

See the general UDF advice in how_to:handling_unrecognised_data_fields|> Handling Uncategorised Data Fields (UDF) where among other things it explains how to Delete them.

Presumably those UDF must have come from importing a GEDCOM from another product.
For general advice on importing see how_to:index#importing_to_family_historian|> Importing to Family Historian.

Strictly speaking UDF are not errors, but simply GEDCOM custom data that is recognised by another product but not by FH.
FH is better than most products, because it does not simply discard such unrecognised data that may be important.

I disagree with your statement that "Family Historian not only doesn't have useful or suggestive error correction, it will actually hide errors."
When you originally imported the GEDCOM it would have produced an extensive report identifying the UDF and other issues.
It may still exists in Window > Log Files.

There are plenty of error reporting and fixing features in FH, but perhaps you have not found them.
e.g.
File > Validate
Tools > Uncategorised Data
Tools > Re-order Out-of-Sequence Data
FH will validate any Date entered and warn you if it appears to be invalid, or looks unlikely for whatever reason.
There are several error reporting Plugins such as Show Project Statistics and UDF List.

[Ron Melby]

See the general UDF advice in Knowledge Base > Handling Uncategorised Data Fields (UDF) where among other things it explains how to Delete them.

Yup it does.

I CANNOT paste here regardless of what the Knowledge Base says. ALT PRTSC and paste doesn't work for me here
see attached oh, that wont work. document is too large. I have two screens (between ****) and if I save them, to a file... well saving every screen to a separate file and attaching the separate files doesnt seem to help the flow of understanding the problem.
I have a:

RESI
PLAC
ADRI

want to delete ADR1.
I can delete the RESI et al.
GRUESOME!!

Family Historian not only doesn't have useful or suggestive error correction, it will actually hide errors. As an example @@S1944@@ The error report from the initial load is so far from where the file is now, it is useless. STET.ra

So,rather than throw the baby out with

There were gedcoms from way before desktop software, and my original is some 20 years old or more, and has been thru Ancestry.com, FTM, Ancestry.com, Ancestral Quest, and Legacy for a few mentions, and untold versions of each. I am trying to plain jane as much as possible without losing information Putting everything in random notes do not cut it. Thats how this started out. I am down to 363 errors according to the plug-in and 600 plus in tools. I did read those links before I posted, so that you don't think I am a ne'er do well. It is as I thought. I was hoping to be wrong, but I was not. Or perhaps I, with WDW7 64, and FH6.2.5, of all in this old world am some special case.
I have no insurmountable issues, I can find them in FH6,2,5 with the plug-in, fix them in a free word processor, ignore the warning from FH for a while until my place is hopelessly lost, save the free word processing file, reload, redo the steps for the plugin and continue. Just doesn't seem like computing though.

[tatewise]

Ron, read the advice in info:forums|> Forums Usage Tips for posting attachments.
You cannot use PrtScrn (unless you save clipboard to file) nor use Copy & Paste.
Once saved as file you can use Drag & Drop.
As the advice says, if the file is too big, ZIP it.

You can Delete the ADR1 field on the All tab exactly the same as any other field.
(Also you can bulk delete all unwanted UDF in one go via the UDF List Plugin Result Set.)

@@S1944@@ is the correct GEDCOM representation for what was a Source record link but in a UDF that cannot support such links.

It is not mine nor FH fault that you did not study the report at the time it was relevant.
If you like, I can explain how to get an up-to-date report for your current GEDCOM.

Why use anything external to FH when almost all the corrections can be made within FH?
As explained in how_to:handling_unrecognised_data_fields|> Handling Uncategorised Data Fields (UDF) you can bulk delete multiple UDF in one go.

[Ron Melby]

tatewise, you have been extraordinarily singularky helpful on any question I have asked on this forum

wdw7 64bit 8G memsticks, FH6.2.5 and no it doesnt work.
nope, drag and drop a file.... it calculated, showed me some blob like stuff, and blew me off the forum. destroyed my work.
anyway, I cannot.

Yes, I would like to know how to get that report. I run validate and one error corrected, a child link. It must be some other report.


@@S1944@@
I have 5.5 from this site, cite page please?

I would think that no bulk UDF deleter would be of any use whatsoever.

I go to the all page, thats where you can find the problem, there is no link from the defacto error to the error, you have to hunt. finding the error; the * record I right click and delete is not an option. copy is. or <empty>. wherever the fix is, it isnt where the error is.

[BillH]

Ron, I think you can use the delete key to delete from the ALL tab rather than using right click.

[tatewise]

If Drag & Drop won't work then use the Attachments tab as advised in info:forums|> Forums Usage Tips and ZIP too large image.

To get updated report, close FH, use a plain text editor such as Windows Notepad and in the GEDCOM file 2nd line remove underscore from FAMILY_HISTORIAN to become FAMILY HISTORIAN, then open FH.

See GEDCOM 5.5 Page 12 & 13.
pointer:= defines single @ around link.
any_char:= defines any plain text @ must be doubled.

Perhaps bulk UDF delete was the wrong terminology.
I mean a selective multiple UDF delete via the UDF List Plugin Result Set as explained in fhugdownloads:contents:gedcom_standard_release_5.5|> Utility ~ GEDCOM Standard Release 5.5.
"To delete UDF, select the desired fields and press the keyboard Delete key. In the Result Set of the UDF List Plugin, select any from the first column UDF Item, and Delete."
That allows all unwanted UDF, such as those you mentioned earlier, to be deleted in one go.

There is no right-click Delete option.
Either press the keyboard Delete key or use Edit > Delete command.

[Ron Melby]

oh, dear. well; it is what it is. That is why I fix them by hand. FH really cant do it, and I am not going to retypeand go thru numerous clicks, every single entry to fix them when they might just need a 2 instead of a 3. I picked a delete case, that is rare, but simple (or not). I will find some way to hide most of it from inspection until 5.5.1 is supported. but what a brilliant area to right click and delete, oi?

[Ron Melby]

Document.zip

[tatewise]

Ron, you seem to have a knack of invoking a complex method when a simple method will do!

Simple Method using PrtScrn
Open Windows Accessories > Paint tool.
Use PrtScrn to capture screenshot and Paste into Paint.
Then use File > Save as > PNG picture to say your Desktop.
Finally, Drag & Drop that PNG file to the FHUG 'Post a reply' box.
The advantage of this method is the screenshot is displayed inline with the text, so users don't do anything to view the image.

Complex Method
Open a blank free word-processor Document.rtf file.
Use PrtScrn to capture screenshot and Paste into Document.
Then use File > Save as to say your Desktop.
That Document.rtf file should Drag & Drop to the FHUG 'Post a reply' box.
BUT for reasons I can't explain that Document.rtf file is 30 times the size of screenshot, and is too large for FHUG.
So you compressed it into a ZIP file which uploads to FHUG OK.
BUT you seem to have used the 7-Zip tool instead of right-click Send to > Compressed (ZIP) folder using Windows.
So users cannot extract that ZIP file using Windows and must have 7-Zip installed.

When I performed a similar method using a Microsoft Word document, it was only slightly larger than screenshot, and thus Drag & Drop worked OK without needing to ZIP, but users still have to download and open the document file.

I have updated the info:forums|> Forums Usage Tips with more explicit advice about posting screenshots.

BTW: Here is the screen-shot extracted from the earlier attached document ZIP file: