* Links to external multimedia file

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michele
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Links to external multimedia file

Post by michele »

My goal is to create a gedcom file as compatible as possible with other applications.
I use Family Historian because it seems reliable, but I found some difficulty using external multimedia files.
Actually FH in multimedia links puts a user-defined _FILE tag

Code: Select all

0 @O1@ OBJE
1 _FILE Mediafoo.jpg
that is not recognized by other applications and therefore images are not found.

FH strangely does not use the standard FILE tag

Code: Select all

0 @O1@ OBJE
1 FILE Mediafoo.jpg
which is correct in GEDCOM 5.5 as specified in http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ ... MEDIA_LINK

I just opened the gedcom in Notepad, replaced the various _FILE with FILE, imported in other programs (Family Tree Maker 2011, My Family Tree...) and images show up correctly!
But in this way the gedcom is no longer compatible with Family Historian, because FH does not recognize the standard tag FILE, which for me is really incomprehensible.

Is there a way to force FH to use the standard FILE tag instead of the user-defined _FILE?

Thanks

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Michele Salvador - www.familygem.app
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PeterR
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Links to external multimedia file

Post by PeterR »

Strictly speaking, the GEDCOM standard does not allow the FILE tag for a Multimedia Record:
MULTIMEDIA_RECORD: =
 n @@ OBJE  {1:1}
   +1 FORM  {1:1}
   +1 TITL  {0:1}
   +1 >  {0:M}
   +1 >  {0:M}
   +1 BLOB        {1:1}
     +2 CONT  {1:M}
   +1 OBJE @@     /* chain to continued object */  {0:1}
   +1 REFN  {0:M}
     +2 TYPE  {0:1}
   +1 RIN  {0:1}
   +1 >  {0:1}
The standard only allows the FILE tag for directly linked files, and FH supports this for Add Local Multimedia Object to this Record:Image
The resulting GEDCOM is:

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0 @S10@ SOUR
1 AUTH Judith Anderson
1 TITL The Life of Ian Scott Munro
1 PUBL Rydell House
1 OBJE
2 FORM jpeg
2 TITL The Munros
2 FILE MediaIMG_0076.jpg
Peter Richmond (researching Richmond, Bulman, Martin, Driscoll, Baxter, Hall, Dales, Tyrer)
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tatewise
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Links to external multimedia file

Post by tatewise »

Peter is absolutely correct as specified in http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ ... DIA_RECORD.

Plugins could be written to convert the valid but custom tags in FH GEDCOM into whatever tags other software uses.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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michele
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Links to external multimedia file

Post by michele »

Peter and Mike, thank you for clarifications.

In short, 2 ways to link a multimedia file:
[pre]
   'Link to Multimedia Object'            'Local Multimedia Object'
   MULTIMEDIA_RECORD                      MULTIMEDIA_LINK
   independent record                     inside individual/source record
   only user-defined _FILE tag            allows standard FILE tag
[/pre]
Michele Salvador - www.familygem.app
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