* Bug? _ATTR vs FACT for custom attributes

[kathykult]

Hello,

I was looking at my .ged file from Family Historian v.7.0.17.1 and noticed that my newly-added custom attribute on family records is being saved as "_ATTR" (rather than the newer "FACT" element which was a GEDCOM 5.5.1 change.)

Since the Individual records have FACT for the custom attributes, could the Family record custom attributes be updated as well to save as "FACT" (instead of the old _ATTR)? I didn't know if this was an omission by plan or if it was just missed when the GEDCOM 5.5.1 upgrade was made to Family Historian.

Here's a markup example:
Individual record:
0 @I6057@ INDI
1 NAME Sarah /Burke/ *
...
1 FACT
2 TYPE DNA Common Ancestor

vs. Family record:
0 @F25@ FAM
1 HUSB @I4754@
1 WIFE @I5771@
...
1 _ATTR
2 TYPE DNA Proven Ancestors

THANK YOU for all of your hard work in providing this software!

[AdrianBruce]

Calico Pie deserve the thanks for providing the software - we're just the User Group - mind you, many of the members here deserve many thanks, themselves.

The answer to your query is that FACT was provided in GEDCOM 5.5.1 only for custom Attributes for Individual records and not for Family records. Indeed Family Records don't have any Attributes, they only have Events, whereas Individuals have both Events and Attributes.

You may ask why... I can only imagine that it got put in the too-difficult basket at FamilySearch. Even more baffling - Residence is an Attribute for Individuals, and an Event for Family Records...

This is from page 6 of 5.5.1 (my emphasis):

Added a generic FACT tag to the individual attribute structure. Previously, the generic EVEN
tag was used.

So that's why Calico Pie had to carry on using _ATTR for Family Records...

[tatewise]

Adrian's explanation is largely correct.

Although GEDCOM 5.5.1 defines Family RESI as an Event, FH has implemented Residence (family) RESI as an Attribute.
However, the impact is minimal because, unlike other Attribute facts, RESI is not allowed a value, so is like an Event.

GEDCOM 7.0.1 rationalises things by defining Family Attributes NCHI, RESI & FACT on page 40:

Code: Select all

FAMILY_ATTRIBUTE_STRUCTURE  :=
[
n NCHI <Integer>                           {1:1}  g7:FAM-NCHI
  +1 TYPE <Text>                           {0:1}  g7:TYPE
  +1 <<FAMILY_EVENT_DETAIL>>               {0:1}
|
n RESI <Text>                              {1:1}  g7:FAM-RESI
  +1 TYPE <Text>                           {0:1}  g7:TYPE
  +1 <<FAMILY_EVENT_DETAIL>>               {0:1}
|
n FACT <Text>                              {1:1}  g7:FAM-FACT
  +1 TYPE <Text>                           {1:1}  g7:TYPE
  +1 <<FAMILY_EVENT_DETAIL>>               {0:1}
]

[AdrianBruce]

...
GEDCOM 7.0.1 rationalises things by defining Family Attributes NCHI, RESI & FACT on page 40:
...

Oh good. Eminently sensible.