* How does one manually transition sources from Lumper to Splitter?

[Gary_G]

I understand from going over old posts that some former RootsMagic users have managed to manually split their imported Lumper data. I'd be interested in knowing exactly how they did it.

Can one also rename the populated template fields in some way without losing the contained data?

I've tried the existing Lumper->Splitter plugin, but is doesn't seem to work in this case (I've passed this on to the author).

[cwhermann]

When FH imported the templates fromRM, all the field names were changed to whatever I had used for hints so I ended up with field names like “City or County, State” or “Author of Chapter”. During the process of cleaning up the templates and renaming the fields, I lost the contained data and had to re enter. A little late for me, but I still have a number of templates to update and am curious to see if there is a way not to lose data.

[tatewise]

I suspect the only ways to preserve the metafield data are:

1. Write a custom plugin that reads the data from the old metafield, deletes the metafield, then creates a new metafield with the original data. Presumably, it would also need to change the metafield name used in any Source Template Format expressions both in the Project records and the global definitions.
2. Add the new metafield to the Source Template definition, then in each Source Citation manually copy the data from old metafield to new metafield. Finally, update the Source Template definition Format expressions to use new metafield and delete the old metafield.
3. Manually edit the GEDCOM file and the global definition file (risky).

In each case, the old and new metafield must be of a compatible type for the data value to be valid.

[Gary_G]

Is this what you meant by working directly on the GEDCOM?

I think that I may need to do this, because one Lumper source has many citation-specific portions.

1) create a blank new Splitter template and attach to an existing record containing the equivalent Lumper template.
2) Open the records window, expand both "source" citation elements and also expand the source portion using the checkbox. Now all fields in both templates are visible.
3) Copy the relevant field content from the old to the new template.
4) Then delete the old source.

Here is what the old structure looks like. During editing, I "think" that one can attach a new Splitter source to the Birth Record and it should be fairly quick to copy from old to new.

Screenshot 2023-04-04 at 9.36.32 AM.png (61.91 KiB) Viewed 405 times

Would this work? It seems a bit faster than using the regular edit screens.

[tatewise]

No, that is not directly editing the GEDCOM file outside FH (Method 3.)

Your description is similar to my Method 2. but with a separate splitter template.
I'm guessing that each of your Source records only has 1 Citation.
If so then the template definition can have both the splitter and lumper metafields defined at the same time.
Then using either the Citaion Window or the All tab as you have illustrated copy values from lumper field to splitter field.
Finally, remove the lumper metafields.

If your Source records have multiple Citations then each one may need a separate Source record, which complicates things.

[Gary_G]

Thanks, Mike.
I think I understand the approach.
Working in the single screen makes cutting and pasting a bit easier.