Question about reports

RandyP · Post by **RandyP** » 30 Jan 2010 19:24

I know I'm being a bit of a pest, but I'm trying to learn this proggie.

What I'd like to know is why the 'additional information' at the bottom of a report is not in any kind of proper order, such as alphabetized order. Is there a way to re-sort that information into some semblance of organization, rather than leaving the reader hunting for the proper data?

I've enclosed a screenshot to illustrate.

ID:4321

RandyP · Post by **RandyP** » 30 Jan 2010 19:37

I wanted to add something else, but the software doesn't allow me to add another screenshot (upon modification) to ask a question concerning the reports.

WW I Draft registration is a custom fact for US-required military registrations for that era. As you can see, in the report, there is a -; and I've not the foggiest as to how to remove that. I have a date, place, age, that's it. What's the -; for, and how do I get it out of there?

Thanks for the answers!

Randy

Bilko · Post by **Bilko** » 30 Jan 2010 19:42

If you applied common sense (and a little courtesy to others) you would have already realised that the additional information IS in a VERY sensible order IE that in which the EVENT occurred.
[tongue]

Bilko · Post by **Bilko** » 30 Jan 2010 19:46

For your '-;' problem, you will have to correct the custom fact, itself.

If you are unsure on how to do this, a polite request will get you some assistance.

RandyP · Post by **RandyP** » 30 Jan 2010 19:53

I thought I was being courteous; my apologies if I came across as rude. That certainly wasn't my intent! I get so focused on things that I tend to forget the 'tone' of online stuff.

I see what you mean about being in the order that the event occurred, but is there a way to alphabetize the information to make it easier to find? The reader of the report might not realize the event order fact.

And how would I go about fixing the custom fact, please?

I would appreciate any help that could be rendered.

Randy

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 31 Jan 2010 09:08

If you screen shot the Fact set entry and the Fact against the person we should be able to spot the problem.

JonAxtell · Post by **JonAxtell** » 31 Jan 2010 22:15

Sorry Bilko, your response comes across very badly compared to RandyP's. RandyP's message is probably not the most polite and well presented question and it might be a bit abrupt but it is not discourteous to anyone as he has also included a smiley to be a bit self-effacing (sp?).

Unless someone knows the information very well, there is no clue in the presented data that it is being shown in chronological order as there are no dates shown. In fact after the shortest period of testing, I can say that the additional notes data is NOT shown in chronological order but in the order in which the events appear in the person's record. I can for instance make an engagement appear after a marriage event though the engagement's date is before the marriage by just re-arranging the two events.

Now it could be argued that since the data is RandyP's then he should have known better, but you always have to give the questioner the benefit of the doubt on Internet forums as you don't know the level of competence of the other person. From my point of view there are many other users of FH who come across as not having much common sense, RandyP is not one of them.

As for actually being helpful to RandyP, I can say that if you wish to edit your custom fact to see if you can get rid of the ';-', check (and double check) that the place you have entered for the event itself is right as that is what is being shown in the report. To edit the custom fact's properties select the Tools menu, then 'Work with Facts...', then select the event in question and then click Properties and have a look at the various fields to see if your ';-' appears. I don't think it does from what I can see in attempting to get characters to appear before the place in the Individual Summary Report (which is the one I assume you are using), but just in case.

In FH, if you can't see an option in a Tools->Preferences, then FH doesn't have the ability for further customisation. It doesn't have any secret settings or weird and wonderful keyboard invocations to get it to do something different other than getting the program itself updated.

RandyP · Post by **RandyP** » 31 Jan 2010 22:33

As Jane requested, (and following Jon's advice) here's a screenshot: (had to use photobucket, as I seem to have run into an unknown size limit of some sort...). And Jon, yes, it's the indiv. Summary report.

And on the additional notes data:

I gather from what's being said that there's no way to rearrange the additional notes data other than by manipulating the events, which throws those entirely out of kilter?

Thank you for your help!

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 01 Feb 2010 11:35

I see you have created your fact as an attribute, as you have nothing in the data field FH will add a -; prior to the Place field.

If you do not need to enter any data I would recommend using an Event.

On your second question, the information will appear in the same order as the events above it, which is normally date order.

RandyP · Post by **RandyP** » 01 Feb 2010 15:47

I'll switch it to an event, then, and see if that does the trick. (Edit: it did! [grin])

Thanks for the info on additional notes - maybe I'll find some kind of workaround for it.

[strike](Edit: A thought. Perhaps an addendum to the line 'Additional Information' would be in order, such as (in event order) would be helpful to those who read the reports. They may not realize it's designed that way, and it might help them. (Not to mention, avoid the confusion for people less-experienced with the program, heh!).

(Query: Is it possible to change that on my own?) [/strike]

EDIT:I went poking around the report options and found under 'Format', 'Heading', you can indeed customize that line. Good 'enuf for me! [grin]

Thanks for all your help, everyone!

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