* How to display multiple children neatly
How to display multiple children neatly
I wonder if someone can point me in the right direction for my display problem for all relatives. like a lot of family's my relatives years ago had numerous children, some up to 12, when these are displayed going back 5-6 generations the diagrams become very large, is there a way of compressing all the siblings of a family except the one inline from a descendant, so that they are together and perhaps display name, dob, death. that way you can see the childrens details without makeing the diagram to unweildy. I hope you can understand what i mean
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ID:4989
- tatewise
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How to display multiple children neatly
You may achieve something close to what you need by adapting the Diagram Text Schemes.
Open an All Relatives Diagram and then use Diagrams > Options > Text tab.
Untick the Save as default option bottom left.
Select the Text Scheme you want for your direct Ancestors, and then click the Clone button and give it a new name and click OK.
With this cloned Text Scheme click the Edit button.
Select an Item in this scheme that you want to exclude from siblings of your Ancestor and click Edit.
In the Box Type section, untick all but Ancestor.
Click OK and repeat with other Items.
Click OK &/or Apply to see the results in your diagram.
When happy use Diagram > Save Diagram As > Custom Diagram Type and give it a name.
In future use this Custom All Relatives Diagram.
You can further adapt the box text scheme by having some Items that only display in Ancestor boxes, and others that only display in other box types.
e.g.
Birth, Marriage, Death Items for Ancestor Boxes only.
Life Dates Item for all other box types.
Open an All Relatives Diagram and then use Diagrams > Options > Text tab.
Untick the Save as default option bottom left.
Select the Text Scheme you want for your direct Ancestors, and then click the Clone button and give it a new name and click OK.
With this cloned Text Scheme click the Edit button.
Select an Item in this scheme that you want to exclude from siblings of your Ancestor and click Edit.
In the Box Type section, untick all but Ancestor.
Click OK and repeat with other Items.
Click OK &/or Apply to see the results in your diagram.
When happy use Diagram > Save Diagram As > Custom Diagram Type and give it a name.
In future use this Custom All Relatives Diagram.
You can further adapt the box text scheme by having some Items that only display in Ancestor boxes, and others that only display in other box types.
e.g.
Birth, Marriage, Death Items for Ancestor Boxes only.
Life Dates Item for all other box types.
- Jane
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How to display multiple children neatly
Another option might be to include all the children in the female ancestor box, with just basic details (I can't at the moment think of an easy way to exclude the Ancestor) and then use an hour glass style diagram.
I have done an example line below:

I have done an example line below:

How to display multiple children neatly
Hi Jane,
Have done what u suggested and it puts all the siblings in the mothers box and is just waht i want , however the siblings are still displayed, obviously i want to remove all the ones that aren't a direct ancestor, ie just leave that one in place. Any suggestions
Have done what u suggested and it puts all the siblings in the mothers box and is just waht i want , however the siblings are still displayed, obviously i want to remove all the ones that aren't a direct ancestor, ie just leave that one in place. Any suggestions
How to display multiple children neatly
Used my brain for a change and changed from a all ancestors diagram to anc and dec diagram and looks good, not bothered that my direct ancestors are repeated looks good thx
How to display multiple children neatly
Spoke too soon, sorry to be a pain but whilst its nearly there as using ancestor + descendant diagram , ladies multiple husbands who have died etc are not display as they are on a all ancestors diagram, have played around with text editing with no success, have u any idea how these can be displayed as well
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How to display multiple children neatly
Hi Tatewise,tatewise said:
You may achieve something close to what you need by adapting the Diagram Text Schemes.
.........
I followed your instructions (carefully, I though) but all I managed to achieve was a lot of empty boxes but the same size of chart. What did I do wrong?
Gerry
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How to display multiple children neatly
If you are happy to extend the Female Ancestor list to include each marriage as well as all children then this will do it by taking Jane's idea a step further.
Marriage 1 Template: Marr: %INDI.~SPOU>FAMS>MARR.DATE:ABBREV% in %INDI.~SPOU>FAMS>MARR.PLAC:SHORT% to %INDI.~SPOU>NAME%
Children 1 Template: Child: =LifeDates(%INDI.~SPOU>FAMS>CHIL[1+]>%,STD) %INDI.~SPOU>FAMS>CHIL[1+]>%
Marriage 2 Template: Marr: %INDI.~SPOU[2]>FAMS>MARR.DATE:ABBREV% in %INDI.~SPOU[2]>FAMS>MARR.PLAC:SHORT% to %INDI.~SPOU[2]>NAME%
Children 2 Template: Child: =LifeDates(%INDI.~SPOU[2]>FAMS>CHIL[1+]>%,STD) %INDI.~SPOU[2]>FAMS>CHIL[1+]>%
This lists the children of each marriage in birth order after each marriage event.
You can carry on adding marriages & children by changing ~SPOU[2] to ~SPOU[3] et seq.
Marriage 1 Template: Marr: %INDI.~SPOU>FAMS>MARR.DATE:ABBREV% in %INDI.~SPOU>FAMS>MARR.PLAC:SHORT% to %INDI.~SPOU>NAME%
Children 1 Template: Child: =LifeDates(%INDI.~SPOU>FAMS>CHIL[1+]>%,STD) %INDI.~SPOU>FAMS>CHIL[1+]>%
Marriage 2 Template: Marr: %INDI.~SPOU[2]>FAMS>MARR.DATE:ABBREV% in %INDI.~SPOU[2]>FAMS>MARR.PLAC:SHORT% to %INDI.~SPOU[2]>NAME%
Children 2 Template: Child: =LifeDates(%INDI.~SPOU[2]>FAMS>CHIL[1+]>%,STD) %INDI.~SPOU[2]>FAMS>CHIL[1+]>%
This lists the children of each marriage in birth order after each marriage event.
You can carry on adding marriages & children by changing ~SPOU[2] to ~SPOU[3] et seq.
- tatewise
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How to display multiple children neatly
Peter1948,
There are errors in my previous posting that sometimes give wrong details. Here are the corrections.
Marriage 1 Template: Marr: %INDI.FAMS>MARR.DATE:ABBREV% in %INDI.FAMS>MARR.PLAC:SHORT% to %INDI.~SPOU>NAME%
Children 1 Template: Child: =LifeDates(%INDI.FAMS>CHIL[1+]>%,STD) %INDI.FAMS>CHIL[1+]>%
Marriage 2 Template: Marr: %INDI.FAMS[2]>MARR.DATE:ABBREV% in %INDI.FAMS[2]>MARR.PLAC:SHORT% to %INDI.~SPOU[2]>NAME%
Children 2 Template: Child: =LifeDates(%INDI.FAMS[2]>CHIL[1+]>%,STD) %INDI.FAMS[2]>CHIL[1+]>%
This lists the children of each marriage in birth order after each marriage event.
You can carry on adding marriages & children by changing [2] to [3] et seq in each template.
There are errors in my previous posting that sometimes give wrong details. Here are the corrections.
Marriage 1 Template: Marr: %INDI.FAMS>MARR.DATE:ABBREV% in %INDI.FAMS>MARR.PLAC:SHORT% to %INDI.~SPOU>NAME%
Children 1 Template: Child: =LifeDates(%INDI.FAMS>CHIL[1+]>%,STD) %INDI.FAMS>CHIL[1+]>%
Marriage 2 Template: Marr: %INDI.FAMS[2]>MARR.DATE:ABBREV% in %INDI.FAMS[2]>MARR.PLAC:SHORT% to %INDI.~SPOU[2]>NAME%
Children 2 Template: Child: =LifeDates(%INDI.FAMS[2]>CHIL[1+]>%,STD) %INDI.FAMS[2]>CHIL[1+]>%
This lists the children of each marriage in birth order after each marriage event.
You can carry on adding marriages & children by changing [2] to [3] et seq in each template.
- tatewise
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How to display multiple children neatly
Gerry,
Can you see in Jane's example scheme the Ancestor Box Type is ticked?
This means that only Ancestors will display this Item.
If every Item is set this way, then only Ancestor Boxes of the Diagram Root Individual will display anything.
A few items such as Name should have all Box Types ticked to prevent the above happening.
You must choose the Diagram Root Individual to be someone whose Descendants are of little interest, and the majority of boxes are Ancestors.
I also suggest you add the Standard Life Dates Item for Descendant and Spouse Box Types only.
Can you see in Jane's example scheme the Ancestor Box Type is ticked?
This means that only Ancestors will display this Item.
If every Item is set this way, then only Ancestor Boxes of the Diagram Root Individual will display anything.
A few items such as Name should have all Box Types ticked to prevent the above happening.
You must choose the Diagram Root Individual to be someone whose Descendants are of little interest, and the majority of boxes are Ancestors.
I also suggest you add the Standard Life Dates Item for Descendant and Spouse Box Types only.
How to display multiple children neatly
Hi Tatewise, Must admit i am a bit confused , should I replace the atrtribute jane defined as child;, with a series of child, marriages as u have defined. I have one lady with 3 husbands and several men with two wifes, so as new to the program finding it all a bit confusing what i have to do
- tatewise
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How to display multiple children neatly
You are on the right lines.
Your chosen Text Scheme probably already had a Marriage Item, and you have added Jane's Children Item.
(Jane's example should have filled in the Description field as Children so it is identified in the Items Used in This Text Scheme list)
In the Diagram > Options > Text tab select your Text Scheme and click Edit button, and then...
Marriage 1
Select the Marriage Item and click Edit button.
Replace the Template at the top with my Marriage 1 suggestion.
Change the Description to Marriage 1.
Ensure Ancestor females only is selected as in Jane's example.
Click Test button to test template is OK, then click OK button.
Children 1
Select Jane's Children Item and click Edit button.
Replace the Template at the top with my Children 1 suggestion.
Change the Description to Children 1.
Ensure Ancestor females only is selected as in Jane's example.
Click Test button to test template is OK, then click OK button.
Marriage 2
Select the Marriage 1 Item and click Clone Line button, and then Edit button.
Replace the Template at the top with my Marriage 2 suggestion.
Change the Description to Marriage 2.
Ensure Ancestor females only is selected as in Jane's example.
Click Test button to test template is OK, then click OK button.
Children 2
Select the Children 1 Item and click Clone Line button, and then Edit button.
Replace the Template at the top with my Children 2 suggestion.
Change the Description to Children 2.
Ensure Ancestor females only is selected as in Jane's example.
Click Test button to test template is OK, then click OK button.
Select the Marriage 2 Item and use the down arrow button to shift this Item below Children 1 Item but above Children 2 Item.
The only Items that you might want to appear after these Marriage & Children Items are Death & Burial Items.
Use the up/down arrows to adjust the order.
Click OK out of dialogue and check the Diagrams.
When happy, repeat the above process to clone Marriage 2 and Children 2 Items into Marriage 3 and Children 3 Items.
This time you only have to change each [2] to [3] in the Template lines.
This scheme will list, in each Female Ancestor Box, her first three marriages, and the children of those marriages.
It will not list Male Ancestor marriages, but this can be rectified by altering all three Marriage n Items such that their Box Type Sex is any.
However, then spouses have their marriage listed in both spouse boxes.
Your chosen Text Scheme probably already had a Marriage Item, and you have added Jane's Children Item.
(Jane's example should have filled in the Description field as Children so it is identified in the Items Used in This Text Scheme list)
In the Diagram > Options > Text tab select your Text Scheme and click Edit button, and then...
Marriage 1
Select the Marriage Item and click Edit button.
Replace the Template at the top with my Marriage 1 suggestion.
Change the Description to Marriage 1.
Ensure Ancestor females only is selected as in Jane's example.
Click Test button to test template is OK, then click OK button.
Children 1
Select Jane's Children Item and click Edit button.
Replace the Template at the top with my Children 1 suggestion.
Change the Description to Children 1.
Ensure Ancestor females only is selected as in Jane's example.
Click Test button to test template is OK, then click OK button.
Marriage 2
Select the Marriage 1 Item and click Clone Line button, and then Edit button.
Replace the Template at the top with my Marriage 2 suggestion.
Change the Description to Marriage 2.
Ensure Ancestor females only is selected as in Jane's example.
Click Test button to test template is OK, then click OK button.
Children 2
Select the Children 1 Item and click Clone Line button, and then Edit button.
Replace the Template at the top with my Children 2 suggestion.
Change the Description to Children 2.
Ensure Ancestor females only is selected as in Jane's example.
Click Test button to test template is OK, then click OK button.
Select the Marriage 2 Item and use the down arrow button to shift this Item below Children 1 Item but above Children 2 Item.
The only Items that you might want to appear after these Marriage & Children Items are Death & Burial Items.
Use the up/down arrows to adjust the order.
Click OK out of dialogue and check the Diagrams.
When happy, repeat the above process to clone Marriage 2 and Children 2 Items into Marriage 3 and Children 3 Items.
This time you only have to change each [2] to [3] in the Template lines.
This scheme will list, in each Female Ancestor Box, her first three marriages, and the children of those marriages.
It will not list Male Ancestor marriages, but this can be rectified by altering all three Marriage n Items such that their Box Type Sex is any.
However, then spouses have their marriage listed in both spouse boxes.
- Jane
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How to display multiple children neatly
I had another quick thought on this one which might be easier, if you have a all relatives diagram, to hide the 'extra' boxes, you could use a query finding the relations with uncle, aunt or cousin to mark the boxes and hide them.
- tatewise
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How to display multiple children neatly
Jane's idea is useful for hiding unwanted boxes, but peter1948 still wants a list of all siblings of every Ancestor including multiple marriages.
If you hide all the sibling and half-sibling boxes, then some of these children are not listed anywhere.
So the sibling box hiding idea allows multiple marriage spouse boxes to remain displayed, but you still need the Marriage 1-n and Children 1-n lists in the female Ancestor boxes.
If you hide all the sibling and half-sibling boxes, then some of these children are not listed anywhere.
So the sibling box hiding idea allows multiple marriage spouse boxes to remain displayed, but you still need the Marriage 1-n and Children 1-n lists in the female Ancestor boxes.
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How to display multiple children neatly
Yes, I had already done that but how do I get rid of all the empty boxes? I have obviously missed something but all I managed to achieve was the same chart but with the unwanted boxes still displayed.tatewise said:
Gerry,
Can you see in Jane's example scheme the Ancestor Box Type is ticked?
This means that only Ancestors will display this Item.
...
Gerry
How to display multiple children neatly
hi fatewise,
Thanksforyour help so far, i am going through your suggestions line by line, have started with creating marriage1, have put the following as template
Marr:%IND1.FAMS>MARR.DATE:ABBREV% in %IND1.FAMS>MARR.PLAC:SHORT% to %IND1.~SPOU>NAME%
when i come to test or save it says it doesnt recognise item at postion 6, which is highlighted i think as the 'in'
command, help please
Thanksforyour help so far, i am going through your suggestions line by line, have started with creating marriage1, have put the following as template
Marr:%IND1.FAMS>MARR.DATE:ABBREV% in %IND1.FAMS>MARR.PLAC:SHORT% to %IND1.~SPOU>NAME%
when i come to test or save it says it doesnt recognise item at postion 6, which is highlighted i think as the 'in'
command, help please
- tatewise
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How to display multiple children neatly
Gerry,
Changing the Diagram Text Scheme will never remove boxes, even if they are empty.
(Howevewer, this might be a handy feature for the Wish List.)
What peter1948 wanted was a more compact diagram that still listed most relatives.
So there are a number of options on offer.
With All Relations style diagrams you can reduce non-Ancestor box content to minimise their size, but still retain all the relationships.
This was my first suggestion, and you appear to have taken it to the extreme of eliminating all non-Ancestor box content.
If you want to remove these (empty) boxes you will have to Hide them using Jane's idea of a Query and Mark the boxes to Hide.
With Ancestors style diagrams non-Ancestor boxes are automatically eliminated.
The Marriage n and Children n Items for Text Schemes offer a way of listing non-Ancestor details in Female Ancestor boxes.
Thus achieving the compact diagram requested by peter1948.
Changing the Diagram Text Scheme will never remove boxes, even if they are empty.
(Howevewer, this might be a handy feature for the Wish List.)
What peter1948 wanted was a more compact diagram that still listed most relatives.
So there are a number of options on offer.
With All Relations style diagrams you can reduce non-Ancestor box content to minimise their size, but still retain all the relationships.
This was my first suggestion, and you appear to have taken it to the extreme of eliminating all non-Ancestor box content.
If you want to remove these (empty) boxes you will have to Hide them using Jane's idea of a Query and Mark the boxes to Hide.
With Ancestors style diagrams non-Ancestor boxes are automatically eliminated.
The Marriage n and Children n Items for Text Schemes offer a way of listing non-Ancestor details in Female Ancestor boxes.
Thus achieving the compact diagram requested by peter1948.
- tatewise
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How to display multiple children neatly
peter,
May I suggest you copy and paste the Templates from my postings in this thread into the Template fields in FH.
The Template you have posted has a digit 1 instead of capital letter I in every case of INDI which is short for INDIvidual.
If I put IND1 in my Templates I get the same TEST error message.
May I suggest you copy and paste the Templates from my postings in this thread into the Template fields in FH.
The Template you have posted has a digit 1 instead of capital letter I in every case of INDI which is short for INDIvidual.
If I put IND1 in my Templates I get the same TEST error message.
How to display multiple children neatly
sorry for being blind, comes with getting older
How to display multiple children neatly
thanks, works like a dream, I have one small conumdrum, I have a male married a lady and had 2 children, she died and then he remarried again and had 5 other children. I can like u say put ancestor to any in text box, but like u say this affects all marriages, obviously the new wifes children are not listed, would i better to deal with this case just by attaching a text box to this male in the diagram with all the details i want
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How to display multiple children neatly
Hi Tatewise,
The idea of putting the children in the spouse box is attractive (have I got that correct this time?) so I might experiment with that.
What I would really like to achieve is to be able to selectively list the children in a vertical format with their spouses (but not their children?) shown. Not sure if that is going to be possible.
It would look like:

Gerry
Thanks for clarifying the situation - I obviously mis-understood what you were trying to achieve.tatewise said:
Gerry,
Changing the Diagram Text Scheme will never remove boxes, even if they are empty.
(Howevewer, this might be a handy feature for the Wish List.)
The idea of putting the children in the spouse box is attractive (have I got that correct this time?) so I might experiment with that.
What I would really like to achieve is to be able to selectively list the children in a vertical format with their spouses (but not their children?) shown. Not sure if that is going to be possible.
It would look like:

Gerry
- tatewise
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How to display multiple children neatly
There is a generic solution, which allows you to choose which Ancestors display which Marriage & Children lists.
This uses the concept of Flags that can be added (and removed) by selecting any Individual and using the Edit > Record Flags option.
We shall introduce New Flags Marriage 1, Marriage 2, etc.
What they will do is swap the Marriage & Children lists from Female to Male spouse.
Choose your Male Ancesor who married twice and add the Marriage 1 and Marriage 2 flags.
Repeat for his wife.
Back in the Diagram Text Scheme edit the Marriage 1 Item and change its Description to Marriage 1 Female.
Tick the Flag Condition option, select Marriage 1 flag and must be not set.
Clone this Item and change the Description from Female to Male, and Box Type Sex to males only, and Flag Condition to must be set.
Repeat this process for Children 1.
Then repeat whole process for Marriage 2 and Children 2 but for Flag Marriage 2.
Eventually, you could repeat for 3rd Marriage and Children.
This should leave most lists as they were, but for your particular case the male Ancestor will list both marriages & children.
This uses the concept of Flags that can be added (and removed) by selecting any Individual and using the Edit > Record Flags option.
We shall introduce New Flags Marriage 1, Marriage 2, etc.
What they will do is swap the Marriage & Children lists from Female to Male spouse.
Choose your Male Ancesor who married twice and add the Marriage 1 and Marriage 2 flags.
Repeat for his wife.
Back in the Diagram Text Scheme edit the Marriage 1 Item and change its Description to Marriage 1 Female.
Tick the Flag Condition option, select Marriage 1 flag and must be not set.
Clone this Item and change the Description from Female to Male, and Box Type Sex to males only, and Flag Condition to must be set.
Repeat this process for Children 1.
Then repeat whole process for Marriage 2 and Children 2 but for Flag Marriage 2.
Eventually, you could repeat for 3rd Marriage and Children.
This should leave most lists as they were, but for your particular case the male Ancestor will list both marriages & children.
- tatewise
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How to display multiple children neatly
Gerry,
I think this Template will give you what you want.
Child: %INDI.FAMS>CHIL[1+]>% =LifeDates(%INDI.FAMS>CHIL[1+]>%,STD) =ExistsText(%INDI.FAMS>CHIL[1+]>~SPOU>NAME%,' = ') %INDI.FAMS>CHIL[1+]>~SPOU>NAME%
The equals (=) has to be handled specially, because it introduces a function and must be hidden in quotes (').
Remember to add [2] to each FAMS for children of the 2nd marriage.
I think this Template will give you what you want.
Child: %INDI.FAMS>CHIL[1+]>% =LifeDates(%INDI.FAMS>CHIL[1+]>%,STD) =ExistsText(%INDI.FAMS>CHIL[1+]>~SPOU>NAME%,' = ') %INDI.FAMS>CHIL[1+]>~SPOU>NAME%
The equals (=) has to be handled specially, because it introduces a function and must be hidden in quotes (').
Remember to add [2] to each FAMS for children of the 2nd marriage.
How to display multiple children neatly
Hi Tatewise,
Is their anywhere i can read about the syntax that makes up templates, so that i can experiment myself
Is their anywhere i can read about the syntax that makes up templates, so that i can experiment myself
- tatewise
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How to display multiple children neatly
Yes, click the Help button on the appropriate window.