Fact Date Sort Question

David Potter · Post by **David Potter** » 27 Mar 2021 21:06

Can anyone help to explain why the Fact Date 1842? would appear between the two more precise dates? When another 1842? appears before the Fact dated 24 Sep 1842?

I'm stumped. Thank you.

Post by **tatewise** » 27 Mar 2021 21:58

I think there are some conflicting factors at work there.

Not only does the Date affect the order of Facts but so does the Normal Time Frame defined in Tools > Fact Types...

Birth has Normal Time Frame = Birth
Residence has Normal Time Frame = Life that comes after Birth

It is further complicated by there being multiple Birth facts.

So I suspect that when faced with several facts in the same year of 1842 the Normal Time Frame is forcing the Residence fact after the two Birth facts. What exactly are the 1842? dates?

There were some issues with fact sorting during FH V7 beta testing that seemed to differ from FH V6.
The details of the fact sorting algorithm have never been published so we don't know if FH is sorting that way by design or whether it is a bug.

David Potter · Post by **David Potter** » 27 Mar 2021 22:17

Hi Mike
The first 1842 date just before the 24 Sep 1842 is a birth derived from a Census source. With Place details given.
The second 1842 after the 24 Sep 1842 is birth derived from a Marriage source. Age given at Marriage but no Place detail.

Thanks for looking at this...

Post by **tatewise** » 27 Mar 2021 22:20

Yes, but what are the actual Date values? 1842? can represent a variety of formats.

David Potter · Post by **David Potter** » 27 Mar 2021 22:58

All facts and associated dates came via Ancestral Sources 7. They are as far as I understand simple calculated values.

AdrianBruce · Post by **AdrianBruce** » 28 Mar 2021 10:55

David - what I believe Mike needs to know is what the actual values are. What appears in the top of the Fact tab may be just a truncated version of what the date on the actual fact is.

For instance, to take this example from my recent foray into Wales:

: Screenshot 2021-03-28 115101.jpg (66.38 KiB) Viewed 2088 times

On the probate fact itself, the date is "aft 22 Apr 1812". But in the fact tab above - presumably for reasons of space - the date is rendered simply as "aft 1812". It's that value of the actual date on the fact that may be crucial. Not where it came from - though that may come in later...

David Potter · Post by **David Potter** » 28 Mar 2021 12:29

Thank you Adrian
Both 1842 dates follow the format as in the attached.

Post by **tatewise** » 28 Mar 2021 12:49

Thank you. That confirms that all the 1842? dates are identical.
So I'm not sure why 24 Sep 1842 is sorted in between the two 1842? dates.

Instead of clicking the Date column header to sort the facts into order, have you tried any of the methods given in the FHUG KB Sorting Children, Spouses & Facts into Date Order?
The difference is that the former does not change the database order of facts at all, whereas the latter methods do and may use a different algorithm.
BTW: The database order of facts is shown on the All tab, which may be worth checking before and after you sort anything.

David Potter · Post by **David Potter** » 28 Mar 2021 12:54

Thank you Mike. I'll check that out.

David Potter · Post by **David Potter** » 29 Mar 2021 20:37

Thank you Mike - the Fact Sort options on the All Tab solved the problem.

By the way - None of the other options worked.

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