* Export GEDCOM File Plugin with TNG Options

[ADC65]

This is probably a question for Mike Tate.

I'm using your Export GEDCOM File plugin to generate a file for TNG, as you might remember.

I have noticed that the media files do not have any change tags associated with them (CHAN / DATE / TIME), unless I am missing something.

I believe I have the standard options for TNG set, with (FULL~LMO) for Multimedia Preference and (FOLDER) for file naming format. On the Extra Options tab the "Updated 1 CHAN" option is set to "Keep Optional Tag", which is the only option I can see referring to CHAN.

As an example, in the generated file, the following GEDCOM lines are produced towards the end of an INDI record:

Code: Select all

1 OBJE
2 FILE F:\Family Historian\ADC\Public\Export\[0]\Photo - Phipps, Constance 14.jpeg
2 FORM jpeg
2 TITL Photo - Phipps, Constance 14
2 NOTE Connie Phipps, about 1922.
3 CONT 
3 CONT Photo courtesy of Constance Harris.
2 _DATE ABT 1922
2 _TYPE ADC-PHOTO

Everything works as it should when importing to TNG, but because there is no change date, the "What's New" feature does not work, as all the change dates for media are 00-00-0000.

Is this by design, or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks

[tatewise]

Adrian, you need to understand the difference between Local Media Objects (LMO) and Media Records.

FH almost exclusively uses Media Records that are separate from Individual Records, Note Records, Source Records, etc.
They are all shown in separate tabs of the Records Window with an Updated column.
It is that Updated date/time stamp that is held in the CHAN / DATE / TIME tags of each separate record.
Media would appear in GEDCOM as 1 OBJE @O321@ that links to a separate Media Record with Rec Id 321.

Many products like TNG prefer to use Local Media Obects (LMO) as shown in your CODE snippet.
They are embedded within Individual, Family, Source, or other records, so do not have Updated CHAN / DATE / TIME tags.

For comparison, consider local Note fields embedded within records and shared linked separate Note Records.
Both types can be seen in the FH Sample Project, Property Box Notes tab for Ian MUNRO and Anthony MUNRO.

I don't know what the TNG change dates for media are looking for. Perhaps a TNG user can help with an explanation.

At the risk of upsetting the TNG Media associations, you could try the plugin Multimedia Preference (FULL~ABS) instead of (FULL~LMO) which uses Media Records and see if that gives change dates for media.

[ADC65]

Thanks for the quick reply Mike. You've confirmed most of what I was thinking but I wanted to know if I was on track or not. I could see the effect of the difference between LMOs and Media Records but wasn't sure if there was a reason for one over the other.

I am clear in how TNG works with the dates, I just need to get the dates into the GEDCOM to start with. I will take your advice and run the Export with (FULL~ABS) instead of (FULL~LMO) and see how TNG deals with it. I used to do this before I discovered your Plugin so I think it will work. I do my Media associations in FH and so it doesn't matter if the import into TNG upsets anything; I can easily reset it.

Thanks for your help. I will report back.

[ADC65]

The Export went well and the Change Dates exported as expected, and TNG imports them successfully. I think I used to do it this way some time ago, and I can't remember why I switched or if I was just experimenting and forgot to switch it back.

I do now have a side-effect I wish to get rid of. The Note attached to the Media Record, which is a description of the photograph, now appears in the GEDCOM file with a "Caption Note: " prepended to the text. I would like to get rid of it. See the fifth line below:

Code: Select all

0 @O3257@ OBJE
1 FILE F:\Family Historian\ADC\Public\Export\[0]\Photo - Phipps, Constance 14.jpeg
1 TITL Photo - Phipps, Constance 14
1 FORM tiff
1 NOTE Caption Note:	Connie Phipps, about 1922.
2 CONT  
2 CONT Photo courtesy of Constance Harris.
1 _DATE ABT 1922
1 _TYPE ADC-PHOTO
1 CHAN
2 DATE 26 SEP 2021
3 TIME 15:23:23

I have read the Help text for the Plugin, but I can't figure out if it is possible to suppress this or not. Also, the Help file seems to suggest that this should be a "Picture Note:" rather than a "Caption Note:" (not that I want either of them).

Media Notes
The textual Media fields are usually converted to labelled Note field text, where the label is defined by the Labels Set A/B tabs:

Caption Note: text is from the Link Note in the Links tab of the Media Window and the bottom of the Edit Media Item dialogue associated with the Use Note as Caption option.
Picture Note: text is from the Note box in the Media Record and the Picture Note in the Edit Media Item dialogue.
Media Date: text is from the Date in both the Media Record and Edit Media Item dialogue.
Keywords: text is from the Keywords in both the Media Record and the Edit Media Item dialogue.
Those appear in each Media Note as summarised below:

PART~LMO & PART~ABS & FULL~LMO include any Caption Note specifically linked to the original Media item, and any Picture Note, Media Date, or Keywords.
FULL~ABS & FILE~REL & FILE~ABS include EVERY Caption Note linked to the original Media item, and any Picture Note, Media Date, or Keywords.
ALL~LMO & ALL~ABS usually export a pair of images:
The cropped image includes any Caption Note specifically linked to the original Media item OR any Picture Note but never both, and any Media Date, or Keywords.
The full-frame image includes any Picture Note, Media Date, or Keywords.

This is the Media Record:

Screenshot 2023-02-27 235403.jpg (52.44 KiB) Viewed 813 times

Any advice appreciated, thanks.

[tatewise]

Is it possible that you have the Use Note as Caption option ticked wherever that photo is used?
Does the associated Note box contain any text?

Anyway, in the plugin on the Labels Set B tab, try clearing the entries for Caption Note and Picture Note.
That should eliminate those labels from the Note.

[ADC65]

Ah, thanks Mike, clearing those boxes did the trick. As far as I can see the Use Note as Caption isn't ticked on any of my media, and, having checked, specifically not on this one. There is text in my note box, as per the screenshot in my last post. I'm not sure where else I would put the narrative for the photo.

Just one last thing, please (hopefully). The original file is a TIFF but has been converted, correctly, to a JPEG by the plugin, and the filename correctly reflects that. However, you can see from the snippet below that the FORM tag still has TIFF. I think this might be a small bug, as you can see from the snippet at the top of this thread that when (FULL~LMO) instead of (FULL~ABS) is selected, the FORM tag is correctly produced as JPEG.

I imagine the FORM tag isn't used much, but in TNG it determines whether the file opens in the native Media Viewer (JPEG) or in a new browser window (non-JPEG). I can do a quick Replace-All in the GEDCOM, but maybe you could add it to your list of fixes at some point please?

Code: Select all

0 @O3257@ OBJE
1 FILE F:\Family Historian\ADC\Public\Export\[0]\Photo - Phipps, Constance 14.jpeg
1 TITL Photo - Phipps, Constance 14
1 FORM tiff
1 NOTE Connie Phipps, about 1922.
2 CONT  
2 CONT Photo courtesy of Constance Harris.
1 _DATE ABT 1922
1 _TYPE ADC-PHOTO
1 CHAN
2 DATE 26 SEP 2021
3 TIME 15:23:23

[tatewise]

Well spotted Adrian.
That FORM tag error will be fixed in the next plugin version.

[ADC65]

Thanks for your ongoing support Mike, much appreciated.

[tatewise]

If you would like to try the plugin attached to Exporting to RM8 using modified settings in Export to Gedcom Plugin (21607) it should fix the FORM tag error.

[harold]

Thanks for spotting the TIFF issue Adrian. Thank you also Mike for a quick update. It solves an issue I recently observed with a couple of media items on my own local site. This checks off another box on my "To Investigate" list.

[ADC65]

Yes, thanks for the update Mike. Just did a test and all appears to work fine now.