Spaces and inverted commas in text schemes

brucep · Post by **brucep** » 24 Sep 2006 05:44

Not sure whether this is a bug or a wish list item but either way it's driving me nuts!

Leading and trailing spaces are instantly stripped out of a text template. This is a right nuisance at times! An example would be my main working diagram where the death details are three grouped items on a single line so that it will read ...

d. 1851 in Dewsbury, Yorkshire Age: 32

The thing is, I *don't* enter an age in the death record unless it has a source so I need a calclulated age if one isn't entered. That means three items in the template set to appear on the same line as follows

d. %INDI.DEAT.DATE:COMPACT% in %INDI.DEAT.PLAC:MEDIUM%
Age: %INDI.DEAT.AGE%
Age: %INDI.DEAT[1+].DATE:AGE_AT%

with the third line only output if the second line is blank.

However, it needs a leading space on the second and third lines otherwise it will read ...

d. 1851 in Dewsbury, YorkshireAge: 32

Not the end of the world on a working diagram but a PITA on an output chart.

And yes, I could put the age on the line below but that isn't what I want to do! [smile]

The other similar problem is with inverted commas. I like to display a persons name where they have a nickname like this (taking myself as an example) ...

Bruce Dykes 'Bru' Peckett

This works as long as I keep FH open but I have to go and put the inverted commas back again every time I restart the program! [cry]

Again, not a show stopper but def a nuisance!

ID:1856

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 24 Sep 2006 12:07

I suspect the ' problem is because the schemes are stored in text files and ' have special meaning when stored, have you tried using ' rather than ', you could even use 2 ' ?

On the other point have you tried using the existstext or combine text functions rather than using multiple lines?

I have managed to reproduce the problem as below. It's only where the second line is used. I will highlight the Age one to Calico.

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 24 Sep 2006 12:24

brucep · Post by **brucep** » 25 Sep 2006 00:22

Hmm, haven't got as far as figuring out the functions much yet! I'll have to have a play with 'em as it may well be the solution (if a slightly obtuse one!)

On the inverted commas, a ' is just a character as far as a plain text file is concerned. No reason I can see why it shouldn't be usable in a text template. Obviously, for some reason, it ain't and if I recall correctly single inverted commas do the same as doubles

I suspect the problem may be something embedded in the compiler runtime routines associated with input/output rather than a bug in the FH code itself

It's a minor annoyance in what is otherwise by far and away the best piece of software around! V.2 was good, V.3 is brill! Especially the diagrams which are just out of this world - I still haven't finished playing with 'em yet [grin]

Post by **SimonOrde** » 25 Sep 2006 16:40

Bruce - thanks for the kind words about the program. Both of the problems you mention should be fixed in the next release. Leading and trailing spaces will still be removed, but a space will be inserted when an item continues on the same (non-blank) line as a previous item.

brucep · Post by **brucep** » 26 Sep 2006 14:27

That'll fix it [smile]!

Cheers

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