Family Historian User Group

I have created an individual custom fact, type attribute, called 'Certificates', normal time frame = none. The only field required for this fact is the note field.

This records in a single line which certificates (birth, marriage, etc) I have for a person. I publish this on family trees etc and find it to be a useful way of seeing at a glance which of the main life events I have been able to verify via official documentation.

I have created a template for this attribute as follows -

{individual's} {label} are as follows; . Note; B= birth, M=marriage, D=Death. A suffix number indicates a paper copy is filed and the number indicates its position in the file. A prefix number on M (e.g. 1M) indicates which marriage, first, second, etc, 0M means the individual never married.

This template creates the sentence I want. I would like this sentence to appear in the individual narrative report on a family tree CD that I am creating but cannot find a way to make this happen.

I even tried setting the above template into the Fact Definition Advanced Feature 'Auto-Create Note' field but this had no effect.



ID:6211

The default settings for an Individual Narrative Report should include the sentence defined for every Fact associated with the Individual.
I have created a Certificates Attribute as you described and it appears in the Report OK.

Check as follows:
Select any Individual who has the Certificates Attribute.
Use Publish > Narrative Reports > Individual Narrative to display the Report.
If the Certificates Attribute does not appear then use Report > Report Options and ensure Individual Events/Attributes is set to All near top right of Main tab.

This type of Report must be chosen in the Make a Family Tree CD/DVD wizard at Step 3 - Choose Report Template.

Many thanks for the quick reply! I did as you said and published an individual narrative report, it does include the sentence as you say.

Next I looked at my CD generation and the report I am creating is the individual summary report, not the narrative report, so my initial post was misleading - sorry.

My preference for the CD is the individual summary report. Is there a way to achieve what I want in the summary report? I had thought that using the advanced auto-generate note feature for the certificates attribute would have achieved what I want but I can't get that to work. I could manually copy and paste the sentence into the note field but that is not a very good solution!

Obviously you can't use sentences in non-narrative reports, but it should show the title field etc from your Attribute so if you customise them you should be able show the information. Just not in sentence form. So it should just say

Certificates : BMD

Any reason why you don't use sources for this, that way the source section would show the certificates held and if you wanted images of the certificates.

Thanks Jane. I am using sources as well with links to the actual certificate records which are all viewable in media. The source section of the CD summary report shows all the certificates.

My reason for inventing this additional attribute was just to have a neat way of showing on the family tree what I've got in the way of certificates and what I haven't. It helps me to focus on key missing information.

Next I wanted the summary report to display the sentence to explain what the coding meant. I now realise it can't be done this way.

If I click on the Fact Definition 'Advanced' button there is an 'Auto-Create Note' feature for the certificates attribute. I have now managed to to make this automatically create a note whenever I create a 'Certificates' fact but this feature does not recognise template codes and so does not automatically customise as does the sentence.

Now I'm pondering the next step.

Strictly speaking you should be using the Publish > Miscellaneous Reports > Individual Summary Report (for Web, CD or DVD).
This is the default Report Template chosen by the wizard Step 3.

Your Certificates attribute and its value list of Certificates will be included by default.

To add the Note: B=birth, M=marriage, D=Death.  A suffix number indicates a paper copy is filed and the number indicates its position in the file.  A prefix number on M (e.g. 1M) indicates which marriage, first, second, etc, 0M means the individual never married. to the Report it needs to be in the Note field.

This text can be automatically added to the Note field every time the Certificates attribute is created.
Use Tools > Work with Fact Sets and in the Certificates Attribute Properties click the Advanced button.
Enter your Note text in the Auto-Create Note field.

Having said that, I agree with Jane that Source Records would be a better option.

The Note does not have to be customised because it is just the Note.... part.
The narrative sentence {individual's} {label} are as follows; is replaced in Summary Reports by:
Certificates                B1224, M5678, D8765
which is followed by your Note.....

You can change Certificates above to say Certificates are: by entering that as the Attribute Properties Label.

Many thanks Tatewise for your last two replies, what you say is exactly what I'm now doing now and it works fine

I'm also using sources as well linked to all the certificates in media. The certificates attribute was just an added extra so that I could easily see what I've got and not got on a customised family tree but keeping the display of info to the minimum & also referencing my paper filing system.

I got there in the end thanks to you and Jane!

Glad you got there OK.

FYI: Are you aware of Ancestral Sources that makes entering Baptism, Marriage and Census details much easier?
(It will be adding Birth, Death, Burial & Probate in due course).

Thanks for the tip, I wasn't aware of Ancestral Sources - I'm only getting back into family history after a long gap. A quick skim at Ancestral Sources looks as if it could be good a time saver, I'll set some time aside to check it out.