Family Historian User Group

I must have made some mistake in the past as the Standard Sentence for a Birth Fact reads
"{individual} was a {role name} at {label} of {principal} {date} {place} {note}".

This needs to be replaced with
"{individual} was born {date} {place} <({age})> <({note})>."

I cannot see how to do that in one easy move. I do not identify any other people or roles for a birth event - just the plain individual fact.

Any help much appreciated.

john

John, I don't quite understand the problem.
You must have used Tools > Fact Types..., selected the Birth event, and clicked Edit.. to find the Sentence Template.
So just copy type or copy & paste from here into the Sentence Template box whatever you want the codes to be.
( An alternative is to use the << Insert Code button to insert codes and manually type the plain text in between. )
Possibly, clicking the Old Versions... button lower right might list the template codes you want if you have used them before.

Thank you Mike,

I have gone to Tools, Fact Type, Birth, Edit .... and then typed in the code I want ... "{individual} was born {date} {place} <({age})> <({note})>" ... then "OK" and then "Close".

If I return to "Tools, Fact Type, Birth, Edit" ... then I can see that my change is sitting there correctly, so all appears to be well.

However, this does not change the sentence codes in my project. They still read "{individual} was a {role name} at {label} of {principal} {date} {place}". Is this something to do with roles?

Do I have to overwrite those manually for every record - that is too big a task. So, how can I make this change easily across the whole project.

Does this make sense ?

Thank you again for looking at this on a weekend.
john

What icon is shown on the left of the Birth event in the top pane of the Facts tab?

To use the Sentence Template it must be a dark blue bullet indicating an Individual Birth Fact of this person.

If it is a light blue arrow then that indicates a Fact Witness to the Birth event, in the Property Box of a different person.
That requires a Witness Sentence Template associated with whatever Role that Fact Witness has.
See Knowledge Base Narrative Report Fact Sentence Templates for details.

Presumably, your Birth events have gained Fact Witness Roles indicated by the three blue ball icon in the More column of the Facts tab. Double click the Birth event fact to see a list of Witnesses and their Roles.
If you have not added those Fact Witnesses then presumably they were imported from another product such as TMG?

Miketate, I don’t think you answered John’s question, an answer I’d like to see myself

I.e if you change the birth fact sentence, is it reflected in ALL existing birth facts, or only new ones created following the change? If not, how do youapply the changes to the existing birth facts?

Mike,

Yes, I imported my project directly from TMG. Those imported individuals have the 3 blue balls against the Birth Event in the More column as you predicted.

There is a single dark blue bullet icon for the top pane of the Birth Fact.

I notice that none of the Birth Events in the Sample Project (Munro) feature the 3 blue balls Birth Events - well, they were not imported from TMG so that's the reason.

I am amazed that I have not noticed this before. Probably because I export via the GST plugin to GedSite where the generated reports all read e.g. "Birth: She was born on 30 January 1875 in 22 Barmouth Street, St. Martin, Liverpool." ... so I have never noticed that the record in FH carries the problem in the Birth sentence structure

So ... Gowermick has posed the question. How can I apply the changes to the existing birth facts?

Any change you make to a Fact Type sentence is automatically used for all existing and future facts of that type UNLESS you have chosen to override the sentence at an Individual / Family fact level.

If you change the Tools > Fact Types... default Sentence Template it is immediately applied to all principal facts of that type, except those with a Specific Fact Sentence Template local to the Fact as explained in Narrative Report Fact Sentence Templates.

However, Fact Witness sentences are governed by the Witness Sentence Template for the associated Role and is also explained in Narrative Report Fact Sentence Templates.
That is confirmed in this case by the template format "{individual} was a {role name} at {label} of {principal} {date} {place}" which is the default for a Fact Witness Sentence Template.

The Birth events with the dark blue bullet should normally use the default Sentence Template automatically.

The Fact Witness entries with the light blue arrow will normally use the Witness Sentence Template, which necessarily must be different from the sentence for the Birth event itself because it must relate to the witness Role.

It is not clear from your response how you want to handle the Fact Witnesses that you did not realise had been imported until today.

If you don't want Fact Witnesses for the Birth event then they must be deleted.
Double-click the Birth event with the 3 blue ball icon in the More column and Delete the unwanted Witnesses.
I am guessing that the Witness is the same person as the person being born and in FH only one sentence is allowed per fact per Individual, so perhaps the Witness Sentence Template is overriding the Sentence Template.
In this case the only solution is to Delete the Fact Witness.
If you have too many to delete manually then we must devise an automated solution.

Thank you again Mike for your consideration.

Firstly, the reason why I have not bothered with this before, is that GedSite has a feature in its Utilities that allows you to write your own sentence structure for each Fact/Event type. This means that simple events like Birth, Death and maybe Burial which don't normally accommodate witnesses, can be easily managed. Joint "events", "facts" and "attributes" like weddings, censuses, baptisms, monument inscriptions can be set up for multiple participants and sentence structures based on roles. So I have never been concerned with what FH sentences say .

But NOW, I am in the process of writing another book, again using the FH Publish feature, but this time I have suddenly woken up to the meaning of the 3 blue balls in the More Column of the Individual Fact panel. I have seen them of course for years but have never thought about what they actually meant.

You are right Mike, the Witness is the same person as the person being born, dying or buried. I have tested this and the only solution is to Delete the Fact Witness. This results in the disappearance of the 3 blue balls indicator.

So, how easy or difficult is it to devise an automated solution. I would probably like that to be used also for the Death, Burial and perhaps other Facts. I think I understand that this would be "a special" - and the risks involved.

Thanks for your advice, it is very informative and is appreciated. Amazing that I could sail on for the last 6 years with FH and not even notice this stuff. Makes me feel like a right wally. No comments please. Such is life.

john

OK, it is possible to create a semi-automated solution using a custom Fact Query.
I suggest you start with a Knowledge Base Download of All Facts Filter by Label.
That will list any type of fact via a user prompt, but you can modify it list as many fact types as you like.

In the Rows tab filters, untick the Parameters option lower right and Update the filter.
That will list all Birth facts but by adding Rows tab filters will also list Death, Burial and any other Facts.

On the Columns tab you need to add a reference to Fact Witnesses so they can be selected and deleted in bulk.
There is an option in the Fields on the left to > add a Witness> with data ref %FACT._SHAR[1]>%
However, if that is used to delete items it will also delete the Individual record of the Fact Witness person.
Therefore, remove the > link pointer to leave just %FACT._SHAR[1]% so just the Fact Witness link is removed.

Click on the [+] next to Witness> and you can also > add the Witness> + (Role) data ref %FACT._SHAR[1].ROLE%

Select the above entries in the Columns pane and use the Move Up black arrow to move them up nearer the top.

Run the Query and all chosen facts are listed along with their details including each Fact Witness and Witness Role.
Hold down the Alt key while clicking the Witness column header to bring them all to the top.
Now drag the cursor over every Witness you wish to delete and hit the Delete key or use Edit > Delete.
Note the warning and click OK.

You could practice on just a few at first until comfortable that it is doing what you want.
If uncertain then you can use Edit > Undo Delete Selected Data Item(s)

Run the Query again to check for any residual Witness entries.

Mike,

Thanks for this. Much appreciated.

This is a steep curve for me, as I know next to nothing about Queries and writing this code. However, I have managed to get this routine working as I understand the principles of the process.

I have a routine working and it is indeed deleting the witness references and the 3 blue balls for individuals - and I can undelete deletions successfully.

This is very encouraging.

My only issue then is the term %FACT._SHAR[1]% .... I cannot get the expression to include the [1] ... so the column in the first row reads %FACT._SHAR% and the second line is ... %FACT._SHAR.ROLE%

It still seems to work. As I am only guessing at what these parameters mean, and knowing that every character in programming is meaningful, is the omission of the [1] safe ?

Thanks for your time Mike ... you will be turning me into a Query programmer !

john

On the Columns tab, although it does not show the [1] instance index in the Columns pane, if you select the Witness item then the Expression below does say %FACT._SHAR[1]%

What that [1] instance index refers to is the 1st of potentially many Fact Witnesses.
The same concept applies elsewhere to refer to the 1st of multiple Facts or multiple Citations.
See the Knowledge Base Understanding Data References for details.

Anyway, if the [1] index is omitted such as in %FACT._SHAR% then the [1] index is assumed by default.

Got it.

Brilliant. Thank you Mike.

john