* Auto Source Records Title Problem

[Chrisv]

I am using Auto-generated Source Record Titles in the Source Records Window. All but a dozen of my Census records are working properly and they all use the same Record Title Format. The few that are being stubborn will not change - even if I try to manually change the title in the properties box or under the All tab. They change in the Properties window, but they will not change in the Records Window. I have set up the columns in the Records window using the Configure Columns for the Source Records List, but they are all set up the same. I have pressed the Auto-generate button twice as needed. The formula used is as seen below. The items in Red are the problem. The Records below are all acting normal.
Does anyone know what I am doing wrong?

[tatewise]

Something odd is happening, not just with the ones starting Census.

The ones starting USA do not all seem to be using the same format.
Most have the State first like MI, Kent, Grand Rapids which agrees with the Format.
But some have the reverse Grand Rapids, Kent, MI, USA and include the country.

Are you sure they all use the same Source Template and are all fully synchronised with the Source Template Definition?
Use Tools > Source Template Definitions... and check the Used column does not say mod for your Census template and use the Compare/Sync with Source Template Record... button as necessary.

[Chrisv]

Some of those were because I had not updated them by clicking the cog wheel twice, but one of them shows another problem I have not solved, which I will outline below. But as far as the Census being updated - They are all fully synchronised with the Source Template Definition. No matter what I do, they will not update per the settings, or if I try to type it in manually. Could it have something to do with settings in the Configure Columns for the Source Records List?

I just fixed the other problem I was having. It was that my formula only allowed 3 parts being used in the Place. Any Place with more than 3 did not work. I added the 4th Part in my formula and now it works with this:

USA • {Event_Date:YEAR} {State} {Type} • {=TextPart(%SOUR.~PL-JURISDICTION%,4)}, {=TextPart(%SOUR.~PL-JURISDICTION%,3)}, {=TextPart(%SOUR.~PL-JURISDICTION%,2)}, {=TextPart(%SOUR.~PL-JURISDICTION%,1)} • <({Principal} household) •><{Event_Date:}>

[tatewise]

Having typed in IT WON'T CHANGE what do you do?
You must press the F5 key or click in another field for the change to propagate to the Property Box caption on the top border and the Source Records list in the Records Window.

The Columns Configured in the Records Window cannot affect the Source Template Title Format templates.

Are you sure the records starting Census are all using the same Source Template as the ones starting USA?

They seem to be following a different Title Format template.
I can see the Source Template is called • Census Records but what template are the USA Sources using?
Click the cog in the Template field and Go to Source template record.
Are its Name, Category, Collection, and Record Title Format what you are expecting?
Check the Source Template record id in the caption on the top border.

I wonder if the USA Sources use a similarly named Source Template but with a different record id in a different Collection.

[Chrisv]

What is so odd is that it won't allow me to change it manually either! I did click another field and also tried the F5 key, but it simply will not populate the Source Records field. I re-started FH, but still no-go. See below for screenshots showing they both are from the same template.
I did just realize something - These were generated through AS. Could that be what is causing this? Is there possibly a setting I have wrong there? I was playing around in AS with the Title template a week or so ago...

[tatewise]

Ah! Yes, it may be an AS setting!
In AS see Tools > Options > General settings and lower right Templated Source Title Generation.
Is Generated by AS: no update in FH selected, which the Help page explains is a special setting in FH added by CP for AS.
So you could try changing that setting to Generated by Family Historian.

However, I have no idea where that setting is held in FH so it only affects a subset of Source Records.
There is nothing that I can see in FH Tools > Preferences... anywhere.

Check the All tab of those problem Source Records to see if there is any unusual field present.

[Chrisv]

That did it Mike!
Thank you so much! Yay!! Now I have to figure out how to fix the 7 entries that won't allow me to change it, but worst case, I can just re-do those 7 entries.

Now just another small matter - Remember when I fixed the problem with Places that had more than 3 parts, in that they were not pulling in the 4th because it was not part of the formula. Well, there was a reason I had it set to only bring in 3 Parts. It was so the "United States" or "USA" would not be pulled in because I have it set to have the Country column at the front of the Title and I don't want the redundancy. Is there a way to pull in the 4th part as needed, unless it is a country, or more specifically, "United States", "USA" or "NL"?
Is there a way to update the Places in Excel and then bring them back into FH. It would be SO much easier using find and replace in Excel!

[NickWalker]

That did it Mike!
Thank you so much! Yay!! Now I have to figure out how to fix the 7 entries that won't allow me to change it, but worst case, I can just re-do those 7 entries.

There's certainly something odd going on there - if the source title shows in yellow then this means it is auto generated. If you manually edit it or untick the 'Autogenerate record title' option under the settings cog (next to the source title) then it changes to a white background. I can't explain why the title doesn't match what you're seeing in the records window.

I don't think it can be anything to do with AS. The _AUTO sub-tag of a title can be either 0, 1 or 2. If it is 1 (or there is no _AUTO sub-tag) then the title is auto-generated. If it is 0 it is fixed and won't be updated. If it is 2 when the file loads up, FH automatically generates a title and then removes this subtag (this is the extra feature added for AS by Calico).

[tatewise]

After some experiments, I can confirm what Nick has described.

It is only the _AUTO 0 tag that gets retained to prevent FH from updating the Title using the Source Template Title Format.
However, that _AUTO 0 tag is NOT shown in the All tab as a subsidiary to the Title.
In that case, clicking the cog to the right of the Source record Title field has Autogenerate Record Title unticked.
In all other cases, that option is ticked.
In the _AUTO 0 case, tick that Autogenerate Record Title option to revert to the default mode where FH will update the Title.

Chris, it would be interesting to see what _AUTO tag value is saved in those 7 problem Source records.
So don't change anything just yet.
Close FH and open your Project GEDCOM file in a plain text editor and find each of those 7 Source records in turn.
Search for 0 @S1011@ SOUR, then 0 @S1118@ SOUR, then 0 @S1123@ SOUR, and so on for S1124, S1136, S1138 and S1146.
In each record find the 1 TITL tag that holds the title and note whether there is a 2 _AUTO tag on the next line.

Please copy & paste some of those records from the GEDCOM into your reply posting.
Hopefully, that will reveal some unusual tag values that are causing your problem.

Then we can discuss how to fix the problem.

[Chrisv]

I followed you until where you asked for "In each record find the 1 TITL tag that holds the title". I don't understand what you are asking for here. I did take a screen shot...

[tatewise]

Chris, you have not searched far enough down the Source record, which in your case has many _FIELD tags, etc.
The Title tag will start with 1 TITL Census and is probably just a few lines off the bottom of your screenshot.
It can be anywhere before the next Source record starts with 0 @S1012@ SOUR but usually seems to be near the end of the current record just before the 1 CHAN updated 2 DATE and 3 TIME.

BTW You don't need a screenshot, just copy & paste the text.

[Chrisv]

Not sure if this is the correct one since I don't see the _AUTO tag below, but let's give it a shot.

[Chrisv]

There is only one 1 TITL Census in the whole file. It is as follows:

[tatewise]

Not sure if this is the correct one since I don't see the _AUTO tag below, but let's give it a shot.

You still have not scrolled down far enough to find the 1 TITL tag.
The first word in the title may not be Census. I just guessed that from your screenshot on Sat 31st Dec 2022 14:55.

[tatewise]

There is only one 1 TITL Census in the whole file. It is as follows:

That is Source record 1123 and I think I can see the problem as it has a Short Title (1 ABBR tag).
FH always shows the Short Title rather than the Title everywhere such as in the Sources tab of the Records Window, in the caption at the top of the Property Box, in the Sources For yellow pane, etc.

So I guess you made another change to the AS settings.
AS Tools > Options > Census settings - method 1 has Allow entry of source short title ticked.
So untick that to avoid the problem in future.

To cure your 7 problem Source records, delete the Short Title from the All tab of the Property Box.

You also need to tick the Title field cog menu option Autogenerate Record Title to invoke the Title Format.

Sorry this took so long to resolve, but it is amazing how often the most recent changes are the cause of unexpected behaviour.

[Chrisv]

I was just looking in the settings of AS and noticed that the Source Short Title matches exactly what the problem Titles say (see snip). I have a vague memory of wondering what this does (the mouse-over explanation does not seem to work on this item), so I may have checked it, forgot about it, and then entered the "problem" sources, and then later unchecked it?? Sorry, my short term memory is a little challenging at times. It just seemed odd that it matches exactly. Also, I definitely had the Templated Source Title Generation: set to Generated by AS: can update in FH. It of course does not explain why the Titles are still locked.

So, I just put AS set as above and it duplicated the problem (see snips) - and the titles do not match and are locked in the Source Records window. It is identical to what was happening before!

[NickWalker]

I was just looking in the settings of AS and noticed that the Source Short Title matches exactly what the problem Titles say (see snip). I have a vague memory of wondering what this does (the mouse-over explanation does not seem to work on this item), so I may have checked it, forgot about it, and then entered the "problem" sources, and then later unchecked it?? Sorry, my short term memory is a little challenging at times. It just seemed odd that it matches exactly. Also, I definitely had the Templated Source Title Generation: set to Generated by AS: can update in FH. It of course does not explain why the Titles are still locked.

So, I just put AS set as above and it duplicated the problem (see snips) - and the titles do not match and are locked in the Source Records window. It is identical to what was happening before!

Yes as Mike has explained the fact you have a short title means it is overriding the full title when displayed on the Records Window. If you delete the short title shown in the 'All' tab in your final screenshot, then all should work correctly.

[NickWalker]

The next version of AS won't record short titles if templated sources are used.

Although it is probably better to remove the short titles as I mentioned in my previous post, there is also an option in Family Historian that you could untick. Tools->Preferences->Records Window->Use Short Title for Source record names if available.

[tatewise]

Thanks for pointing out that Tools > Preferences > Records Window setting Nick.
I looked for it, but didn't expect it there, as it affects the title display everywhere not just the Records Window!

It is not such a problem with Generic Sources because both Title and Short Title are shown in the Property Box.

Chris, the Titles are not locked. The problem is that the Titles are not being displayed.
It is the Short Title that is being displayed and that is a different field which has no Format template in FH.
Your changes were all affecting the Titles but they were not being displayed.
Delete the Short Titles (or change the FH preferences setting) so Titles are displayed and all will be OK.

BTW When there is no Short Title the Title gets shown instead and that applies to all but your problem 7.

[Chrisv]

Thanks to both of you!
I am sorry I did not understand some of your suggestions. I need to read more carefully and stop messing around with things I don't understand. The Records Title is working great now.
Thank You!

[tatewise]

Remember when I fixed the problem with Places that had more than 3 parts, in that they were not pulling in the 4th because it was not part of the formula. Well, there was a reason I had it set to only bring in 3 Parts. It was so the "United States" or "USA" would not be pulled in because I have it set to have the Country column at the front of the Title and I don't want the redundancy. Is there a way to pull in the 4th part as needed, unless it is a country, or more specifically, "United States", "USA" or "NL"?

To restate the requirement, you want the Place parts to be reversed, and then the new first part removed, i.e. the country.

TextPart( %<Place>%, 1, 0, TIDY_REV ) will tidy and reverse any %<Place>% field parts.
TextPart( %<Place>%, 2, 0, STD ) will return all except the 1st %<Place>% part.

So put those two together with %<Place>% = %SOUR.~PL-LOCATION% and you get the Title Format place definition:
{=TextPart( TextPart( %SOUR.~PL-LOCATION%, 1, 0, TIDY_REV ), 2, 0, STD )}
That does what you requested for Location Place fields with any number of parts.

Is there a way to update the Places in Excel and then bring them back into FH. It would be SO much easier using find and replace in Excel!

You don't need to use Excel because I think FH has all the tools you need.

Start with the Tools > Work with Data > Places... dialogue that lists each unique Place name just once.
The Used column shows how many times each Place name is used in your Project.
You may have to use the Columns... button on the right to adjust the number of Part columns shown.
Click on any Part column to sort those Parts alphabetically.
Tick the Reverse Display Order option bottom right to put your last Part (i.e. country) in the Last column on left, then state in the 2nd Last column, the county in the 3rd Last column, and so on.
Click on the Last column header to sort into country order, then state, then county, and so on.
Click on the 5th Last column header and scroll to the bottom to find all Place names with 5 or more Parts.
You can Edit... any Place name and Merge... similar Place names into one single Place name.

Now open the Records Window and view the Places tab which lists each unique Place name record.
The Links column shows how many times each Place name is used in your Project.
Use the Place Name Filter top left to find any Place name that contains the text you enter.
The columns can be customized to show each Place Part in its own column and sorted (similar to the dialogue above).
These Place records can be edited and merged in much the same way as the dialogue above.

After some experimentation, let us know what features that you need are missing.

[Chrisv]

Mike, I can't' figure out where in the formula I should paste your additions. I've tried in front of, behind, and just raplacing it with yours, but I have not yet gotten it correctly. Can you tell me where in the following formula it should go? And what does the "...1,0,..." and "...2,0,..." do in your formula?{=TextPart( TextPart( %SOUR.~PL-LOCATION%, 1, 0, TIDY_REV ), 2, 0, STD )} (I'm trying to understand it better).

USA • {Event_Date:YEAR} {State} {Type} • {=TextPart(%SOUR.~PL-JURISDICTION%,4)}, {=TextPart(%SOUR.~PL-JURISDICTION%,3)}, {=TextPart(%SOUR.~PL-JURISDICTION%,2)}, {=TextPart(%SOUR.~PL-JURISDICTION%,1)} • <({Principal} household) •><{Event_Date:}>

I really like the reverse sorting method of the Place List. It puts everything in an orderly manner and lets you see where merging needs to occur and where any problems are. One of my problems is that a lot of Places imported from RM used, for e.g. Cemetery names within the Places. I know this is allowable, but it is not the way I would prefer. I put my cemetery names in the Address field, so I have a lot of cleanup to do. The other challenge I have is that there are hundreds of instances where the State and Country names use long names such as Michigan, or United States instead of my preference of MI and USA. Is it possible to open the GEDCOM in a program such as TextPad and use the Find and Replace feature to search for these and change them all at one time? This is way above my head, so just give me the simple answer). I tried it on an old copy of my GEDCOM and it seemed to work, but I don't know what else it probably messed up.
Thanks for your help, Mike!

[tatewise]

Chris, you replace your three {=TextPart(...)} functions with my single expression:

USA • {Event_Date:YEAR} {State} {Type} • {=TextPart( TextPart( %SOUR.~PL-LOCATION%, 1, 0, TIDY_REV ), 2, 0, STD )} • <({Principal} household) •><{Event_Date:}>

Don't forget to Compare/Sync with Source Template Record... after changing the definition.

I also found that the Source Record Title did not always automatically adjust to the new Format, and I had to untick and then tick the cog Autogenerate Record Title option.

The TextPart(...) function parameters are explained in the FH Help page TextPart.
The parameters 1, 0, mean start at the Part 1 section and return all remaining Part sections, i.e. everything.
The parameters 2, 0, mean start at the Part 2 section and return all remaining Part sections, i.e. omit Part 1.

You could use a plain text editor such as TextPad to edit the GEDCOM file but it is not advisable. It is too risky.
It would be better to use the Search and Replace plugin from the Plugin Store that is designed for the job.
In its Major Options tab set the Search Scope: to Place Records (_PLAC) so only those are affected.
In the Basic Filters ensure that only All other Text fields is ticked.
In the Search: box enter United States (i.e. What name you want to find.)
In the Replace: box enter USA (i.e. What you want to replace that with.)
Select Case Sensitive if you think that is important.
Click the big Search & Replace button.
Check the replacement is handled correctly and if Ok then untick Confirm every item found and click Replace to replace all other instances as illustrated below.
Afterwards, a Result Set lists all the replacements for you to check.
If anything is unsatisfactory, use Edit > Undo Plugin Updates to cancel all the changes.

Repeat the above process for each change such as Michigan to MI, etc.

There is also a Plugin to move your Cemetery names to the Address fields, but we can discuss that later.

S&R USA.png (75.22 KiB) Viewed 909 times

[Chrisv]

Something isn't quite right yet. I copied/pasted the supplied function into the Census template. I then synced the two (updated the Compare/Sync with Source Template Record... after changing the definition, and then hit the Source Record Title to untick and then tick the cog Autogenerate Record Title option. it gives me a return as seen below (I obviously missed an important step):

[tatewise]

Sorry!
The expression I posted still uses my Location place field %SOUR.~PL-LOCATION%
Replace that with your template's Jurisdiction place field %SOUR.~PL-JURISDICTION%