* Child count in focus window

[ColeValleyGirl]

I'm revisiting my FH, reviewing/re-validating all my conclusions and ensuring they're properly documented.

For privacy reasons, I'm starting with my parents and only recording details of their offspring in a private note (easier than remembering to exclude the children before I publish on the web) and I'll do the same with other couples of their generation.

However, I do want to publish how many children were born to each "marriage". So for my mother I've recorded 2 child count attributes (one for her first child to an unknown relationship dated 1946 and one for her marriage dated 1956-1962). And I've recorded a child count for my father of 4 (dated 1956-1962).

My chosen method of publication is a website.

Problem 1: The focus window shows Children 0 for each relationship so I'm guessing this is based on recorded descendants not Child Count for the individuals. My installation (bog standard) doesn't include any custom fact sets. Is this interpretation correct and does it seem reasonable to others, or should I raise a wish list request to base this on child count if greater or equal to recorded children otherwise on recorded children.

Problem 2: In the website, I get a weird gap below child count -- why?

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[tatewise]

Problem 1:
It seems reasonable that Focus Window Children count should be the greater of the Child Count fact value and the actual number of Children. Although some may say it is confusing to show a Children count greater than zero when none are listed below.

Problem 2:
Have you got several [[private bracketed notes]] in the Note field?
If so, are there newline characters outside the brackets?
e.g.
[[comment one]]

[[comment two]]

Those will cause blank lines in the report, as illustrated by Publishing an ISR or FGS and seeing how it changes as you edit the Note.

In the above example you need:
[[
comment one

comment two
]]

[ColeValleyGirl]

Mike, a single bracketed private note. No external newline characters.

Interestingly, the gap appears for the mother but not for either of the fathers.

[tatewise]

Helen, I cannot find any mechanism to cause the gap, other than some white space characters (newlines, spaces, tabs) before or after the [[brackets]] in the local Note or a shared Note record.

I assume you have checked all four Child Count attributes.

Presumably the gap is present in a simple ISR produced for the mother.
I cannot imagine why the sex of an Individual would affect the ISR.

BTW: Strictly speaking the Child Count attribute Date should be a Date Period or a simple Date after the last child was born. See my advice in Query over a date range. (14149)

[ColeValleyGirl]

I've tracked down the reason for the gaps after the child count -- there were some weird invisible characters trailing the end of the private notes in some instances. Deleting and recreating the notes has fixed it.

[tatewise]

I'm glad those gaps are sorted out.

I've had second thoughts about showing Child Count in the Focus Window.
The problem is that Child Count is per Individual record, whereas the existing Children count is per Family record.

So taking your example, for your parents marriage there are three Child Count attributes ~ one for your father (4) and two for your mother (1 & 4) ~ which one should be used for their Family in the Focus Window? Especially as it could be argued that your mother's last Child Count should actually be 1 + 4 = 5.

Now consider the 1946 relationship. Which Child Count attributes should be used for that Family in the Focus Window? Clearly not the largest Child Count value (4) in your mother's record, as suggested elsewhere.

To me it seems that, especially with multiple Family partnerships, that it is not possible to reliably associate Child Count attributes with each Family in the Focus Window, especially if they are not Dated. So a general software change is compromised by a raft of conditions.

[ColeValleyGirl]

In my mother's instance, the first Child count relates to her first relationship, and the second child count to the second relationship, so I'd like to see 1 for the first family and 4 for the second. I agree it would be better to use the Family attribute for count of children, rather than individual attributes. From the GEDcom definition:

COUNT_OF_CHILDREN: = {Size=1:3}
The known number of children of this individual from all marriages or, if subordinate to a family record, the reported number of children known to belong to this family, regardless of whether the associated children are represented in the corresponding structure. This is not necessarily the count of children listed in a family structure.

To define this in FH for a family requires going to the All tab for that family and then Add Miscellaneous. But the Focus window still doesn't display the Count of Children.

I'll edit my wishlist request to base it on the family count of children.

[ColeValleyGirl]

Apparently, an ISR can't include the Count of Children attribute in the marriage section -- I feel another wishlist item coming on!

[tatewise]

It is not included in Attribute section because according to the Gedcom it is NOT an Attribute fact.
It is NOT part of the FAMILY_EVENT_STRUCTURE so you cannot add Date, Place, Note, etc.
Thus you cannot add your [[private notes]] to it.

[ColeValleyGirl]

It's subordinate to FAM_RECORD, at the same level as HUSB and WIFE, so why can't it be displayed? I don't need to attach a note to it -- I can attach the note directly to the marriage record.

[tatewise]

I am not disagreeing, simply highlighting that like HUSB and WIFE it is not an Attribute fact, and that explains why it is under Add Miscellaneous instead of Add Attribite/Event and is not in Reports under the Events/Attributes lists. If it were added to the Marriage Events/Attributes list then some users may expect Date, Place, Note, etc, to be available. In other words there are side issues to consider, and the FH software would have to treat it as a special case to display it like an Attribute.

BTW: It is easy to customise the Count of Children into the Shared Details section at the bottom of the Main tab of the Individual Property Box. So assuming that is displayed when the Focus Window is displayed, then the Count of Children is easily accessible alongside the Children: count.