* Y DNA Diagram - Reset Root

[Electrovellum]

If I select Charts/DNA Diagrams/Shared Y Chromosome, I get exactly what I want except that the diagram root is changed to the top of the tree. I can, perhaps, see the logic to that, but I need to be able to select the Root, as in other diagrams, in order to correctly indicate the relationships between members of the tree. I can't see how to change that in the Diagram Options offered when the chart background is right clicked. Any ideas?

[LornaCraig]

I'm not sure what you mean by "diagram root is changed to the top of the tree. " If you mean the orientation of the chart (top-down, right-left), that is determined in the diagram options, general tab.

After clicking Charts>DNA Diagrams>Shared Y Chromosome you should see a window like this, where you can select the diagram root ('starting person'):

snip.JPG (21.13 KiB) Viewed 1407 times

[Electrovellum]

In this instance, that choice doesn't work. Therein lies the problem.

[LornaCraig]

I am not finding any problem with it. After the starting person/ diagram root has been selected the diagram displays the root in a grey box and all others in pale yellow boxes. The position of the root's box in the diagram will obviously depend on how many generations up and down from the root have been recorded in your gedcom file. If the root has no recorded ancestors, or only one or two generations of ancestors, but several descendant generations then the root is bound to be near the top of the diagram.

Are you saying that the diagram has the wrong root person, or that the root is not where you expect him to be in the diagram? Can you explain in a bit more detail what the problem is?

[Electrovellum]

When I select myself on a diagram at the top of the screen, eg Rels, my box is marked as the Root. If I then select, as described above, either the shared Y or the shared Mitochondrial DNA, my box turns deep yellow and the diagram root is changed to my most distant ancestor at the top of the tree. This happens to be yDNA Haplogroup names. It may be that the yellow box indicates a fault of some sort, in that the application loses its way in calculating the Y DNA and Mitochondrial DNA relationships. I attach a screenshot to show this. I hope it is legible. The "Names" at the top of the tree are haplogroup names rather than real persons. They are all marked as males, so should work, I think!

[Electrovellum]

Ah!! I have discovered I can change root successfully if I right click on diagram background rather than use the Edit command. Ignore the query, the workaround is ok.

[LornaCraig]

[Edit: I have just seen you latest post. I'm glad you have solved the problem, although I'm not sure what it was!]

I am not sure why, in the new diagram, your box is bright yellow because when I create a Y-DNA chart the root box is grey. I'm fairly sure I haven't changed the default colours for this particular type of chart. Have you changed any of the defaults?

Anyway, the diagram you have shown appears to be correct. It is displaying yourself as the diagram root. Why do you think the root has changed to your most distant ancestor? It is inevitable that a Y-DNA chart will be in the shape of a descendants diagram displaying all (and only) the males who are descended from your most distant known male ancestor. This is because those are the people you share Y-DNA with. You could choose any of the other males in that chart and make them the root, but the resulting diagram would be exactly the same shape, with the earliest male ancestor at the top. But the box for the diagram root will always be distinguished by a different colour.

By the way, just to be clear, when you select yourself in an exiting diagram and then choose the DNA chart, FH is actually creating a new diagram, not changing the existing one.

[mjashby]

Lorna,

I've just checked the display of the 'YDNA' Diagram on my installation, never having used this before; and get the same bright yellow box for the selected individual and pale yellow for all others.

Mervyn

[LornaCraig]

Thanks Mervyn. I have now worked out why the root box in my DNA charts was grey instead of bright yellow. It turns out that in the DNA charts the root is a 'Marked' box. In Diagram Options>General tab>Sundry Colours I must have set the colour for Marked boxes to grey a long time ago. The default colour for marked boxes is bright yellow. That solves that mystery.