More on Date Formats

rivimey · Post by **rivimey** » 15 Jan 2007 00:45

I would like to be able to indicate Period dates where one or the other end of the period is not a simple date.

For example, the following is ok:
'Q1 1993'
but this isn't:
'from Q1 1993 to Q2 1994'
or:
'from 1994 (approx) to 1996'
or even:
'from 1 Jan 1994 (approx) to between 23 Jan 1996 and 1 Mar 1996'

... although I can't see a use for this last quite yet [wink]

It would be nice to be able to omit the initial 'from', also, when there is a 'to' or 'and' and the text is unambiguous, making these valid entry forms which get converted as appropriate:

1992 to 1996 [ becomes 'from 1992 to 1996' ]
2001 and 2003 [ becomes 'between 2001 and 2003' ]

Hope you can help,

Ruth

ID:2112

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 15 Jan 2007 08:28

What is the difference between
Q1 1993 to Q2 1994 and
Jan 1993 and Jun 1994

rivimey · Post by **rivimey** » 23 Jan 2007 00:13

1) Q1 1993 to Q2 1994

Means:
[1] 'a period starting from a date that is sometime between 1st January 1993 and 31st March 1993 and ends at a date sometime between 1st April 1994 and the 30th June 1994'.

2) Jan 1993 and Jun 1994

Means:
[2] 'a period starting from a date that is sometime between 1st January 1993 and 31st January 1993 and ends at a date sometime between 1st June 1994 and the 30th June 1994'.

You could also render [2] as:
[3] 'a period starting from a date that is sometime during January 1993 and ends at a date sometime during June 1994'.

[2] and [3] are the same; [1] is different.

Does this help?

Ruth

JonAxtell · Post by **JonAxtell** » 23 Jan 2007 18:50

Just to be pedantic, you could also have

2) Jan 1993 to Jun 1994

Means:
[4] 'a period encompassing the 1st January 1993 to the 30th June 1994'

Sorry. [smile][smile]

Post by **nsw** » 25 Jan 2007 12:06

As far as I know Quarter Dates are not part of the GEDCOM standard. Calico have implemented quarter dates by converting to a 'between' date.

E.g. if you type in:

Q4 1970

it is recorded as:

btw Oct 1970 and Dec 1970

I think you might find the opposite is true too, so if you type in a between date as Jan 1970 to March 1970 Family Historian will show it as Q1 1970 (I've not got Family Historian here at work so can't be certain of this).

So to do a range between two quarter dates would require something like (in psuedo-GEDCOM):

frm btw Jan 1993 and Mar 1993 to btw Apr 1994 and June 1994

which I am fairly certain wouldn't be alowed in the GEDCOM standard.

rivimey · Post by **rivimey** » 30 Jan 2007 14:02

The GEDCOM standard does indeed forbid the syntax from between x and y to between a and b. However, it does allow some others.

See http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~pmcbride ... ATE_PERIOD

for the from..to structure and note that a DATE can be an approximate date as well as an exact one. So the following could be a valid Family Historian date:

from 1966 (about) to 1980

but is currently considered a phrase.

For the rest, is there any way to prompt a GEDCOM 6?

Ruth

Post by **nsw** » 30 Jan 2007 20:20

I don't think that the GEDCOM standard in the link you sent does allow the example you gave:

from 1966 (about) to 1980

Rather difficult to clearly explain but a 'Date Period' only includes the structure 'Date'. The definition of 'Date' doesn't allow for approximation. That is in the definition for 'Date_Approximated' which isn't part of the definition of 'Date' but is part of the definition of 'Date_Value'

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