* Customising Records window

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Martin Tolley
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Customising Records window

Post by Martin Tolley »

Apologies if there's an easy answer to this somewhere which I haven't found. I have customised the individual records window (amongst other things) with a column to show the Father of an individual person. No problem with that. But I have a lot of fathers with the same given name and family name, so what I want/need is to have is a column which shows the individual ID of the Father next to their name. Is this possible to do?
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E Wilcock
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Re: Customising Records window

Post by E Wilcock »

Yes - Mike Tate has taught me how to add almost anything.

If you right click on the list and select the columns, you get a list of things that can go in a new column.
Scroll down the left hand long list and right at the bottom you will find the word Other in brackets. I cant reproduce the arrow brackets easilly as I am using a dual language Russian keyboard.
Highlight other And then use an arrow to move it to the right hand panel where your columns are listed.
It will open up a pane to name the new column and then on the next line, the possibility to insert a data reference.
This is what you need.
The references are ready made for you. You want a fact relating to the father so click on family as child, then father, and then go to his birth and then click on its date.

It is really significant for me to explain this to you because as a newish user myself it took me a long time to realise that one needs to scroll right to the bottom of the list to that Other option. This often seems to happen when one wants to customise fh.
And then the data references (ready made) allow one to navigate to facts and dates not just for the person on one's focus window but their partners, children and parents too. In fh these are called Data References.
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Martin Tolley
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Re: Customising Records window

Post by Martin Tolley »

Thanks, but that doesn't work. What I want is the father's ID number, and that isn't in any drop down from the father's details (that I can find).
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Jane
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Re: Customising Records window

Post by Jane »

She was almost right and is correct if you use custom ids.

Take the Father's data reference from your added column and wrap it with
=Recordid(...)
Replace ... With the reference.
Jane
My Family History : My Photography "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."
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Martin Tolley
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Re: Customising Records window

Post by Martin Tolley »

I don't use custom IDs - so it's a no-go for me?
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BobWard
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Re: Customising Records window

Post by BobWard »

I don't think Jane was referring to Custom IDs. She is talking about the standard Record ID, which is what you were asking for, i.e.,
from Jane's reply:

Take the Father's data reference from your added column and wrap it with
=Recordid(...)
Replace ... With the reference.
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tatewise
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Re: Customising Records window

Post by tatewise »

Custom Id and Record Id are two different things.
The expression for Father's Custom Id is %INDI.~FATH[1]>REFN[1]%
The expression for Father's Record Id is =RecordId(%INDI.~FATH[1]>%)

The usual convention is to enclose Record Id in square brackets.
Also to be tidy, if there is no Father then the column should be blank.
So the Column Expression needs to use the =CombineText( , , , ) function to combine Name, brackets, and Record Id:
Thus the complete Expression is rather more complex that it seems at first sight :-

=CombineText( Text( %INDI.~FATH[1]>NAME[1]% . " [" ), RecordId(%INDI.~FATH[1]>%), "]", "" )

This checks if RecordId(%INDI.~FATH[1]>%) exists.
If it does, it is prefixed with Text( %INDI.~FATH[1]>NAME[1]% . " [" )
i.e. Father's Name and a space with an opening square bracket joined by a Text(...) function,
and suffixed with "]" a closing square bracket.
Otherwise, if no Record Id then nothing "" is shown.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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Martin Tolley
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Re: Customising Records window

Post by Martin Tolley »

Wow Mr Tate, and wow again. I'll get to sorting that out. Thanks very much indeed.
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Martin Tolley
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Re: Customising Records window

Post by Martin Tolley »

Sorry, I should have expressed my thanks to all you other kind folk (not just Mr Tate) who took the time and trouble to reply.
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Jane
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Re: Customising Records window

Post by Jane »

Sorry, I did not make my post clearer. I really should not do them while using the tablet (with no access to FH).
Jane
My Family History : My Photography "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."
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tatewise
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Re: Customising Records window

Post by tatewise »

A simpler alternative is as follows.
Keep the original Father's Name column with Expression of %INDI.~FATH[1]>%
Create a new Father's Record Id column with Expression of =RecordId(%INDI.~FATH[1]>%)
A tip to create that new column is in the Configure Columns dialogue, on the left the first Item is Record Id.
Add that Item as a Column and click Edit to reveal its Expression.
That is =RecordId() and applies to the default parameter of %INDI%, i.e. =RecordId(%INDI%)
Put the cursor between the ( parentheses ) and use << Insert Data Ref to insert Father ref %INDI.~FATH[1]>%
Don't forget to adjust the Heading too before clicking OK.
That technique will work for any record such as Mother, Spouse, Child, Family as Child, Family as Spouse, etc.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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Martin Tolley
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Re: Customising Records window

Post by Martin Tolley »

You guys are just awesome. Totally uber-awesome (as my neice says).
Following all this I now have a screen populated with names and ID numbers, and a great insight as to how this all works for future modifications.
All I need now is a bigger monitor to see all the glory in one go!
Thanks to you all. It's really appreciated.
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tatewise
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Re: Customising Records window

Post by tatewise »

Martin, here are some other tips to revealing family relationships.

1) Diagrams
Select the Individual of interest and click the All Relatives Diagram button in the toolbar.
This shows the family focussed on that Individual and a double-click on any Diagram Box opens their Property Box.
That shows their Record Id and key BMD Dates and much more.
A small customisation of the Diagram Text Scheme could include the Record Id in the Diagram Box itself.

2) Focus Window
Select the Individual of interest and click the magnify-glass Focus button in the toolbar.
That shows the Parents, Spouse, and Children of that Individual with their Property Box.
Use Customize View... to add Record Ids to the Focus Window itself.

3) Quick Family Facts Plugin
Download the Quick Family Facts Plugin.
In Tools > Plugins select that Plugin, use More >> and tick Add to Tools Menu.
Then the Plugin can be invoked using the Alt T Q keyboard shortcut.
Now select the Individual of interest and invoke the Plugin to see their family with Record Id and much more.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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Martin Tolley
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Re: Customising Records window

Post by Martin Tolley »

Magic. :D
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themoudie
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Re: Customising Records window

Post by themoudie »

I too find this useful, when visualising 11 sibling families! Thank you Mike.

My regards, Bill
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