Genbox News   

Genbox News (16 June 2006)

Genbox News is a free periodic newsletter with product announcements, program tips, and other news of interest to users of Genbox Family History.

In this issue:

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Version 3.6.5 Released

Genbox Family History Version 3.6.5 was released June 16, 2006. This free update contains updated translations and documentation, a few enhancements, and a large number of corrections. To update your copy to the latest version, visit http://www.genbox.com/download.htm.

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Feature Highlight: Directional Templates

Genbox has an elaborate template system to assist you in generating narrative reports with flowing text. One feature of the system is that you can define a pair of directional templates for any relationship between two individuals. One template will be used when each individual is the focus of the report.

When the current event type has been defined on the Event Types View as having a secondary type of Other Individual Link, and is marked Directional, then there will be a pair of sentence templates available: the Forward template and the Reverse template. The Directional Template Button will appear near the top of the page, between the Event Template Link Button and the Event Source Citation Button. It will display the label "F" when the forward template is selected, and "R" when the reverse template is selected. Clicking the button will reverse the direction. Whichever direction is selected for the current (focus) individual, the linked other individual will have the template for the opposite direction. There is no special significance as to which individual gets the "forward" direction. The designation is only used in the selection of the appropriate event template.

To illustrate how this button is useful, consider the Association (ASSO) event type. This is a directional "Other Individual Link" event type. It can be used for any non-genealogical relationships between two individuals. In addition to the two default templates, there are two subtypes defined: "Client" and "Administrator". Each subtype can have its own pair of forward and reverse templates. In this case, the special template code [ET] is used to reference the subtype label, allowing the default templates to simply be reused:

So if Reginald Edward Smythe has a forward association link to George van Stone with a subtype of "client", then George van Stone will have the reverse client template, resulting in the pair of sentences:

    Reginald was a client of George van Stone. (appears in Reginald's narrative report)

    Reginald Edward Smythe was George's client. (appears in George's narrative report)

Now, if you look at the sentences and suddenly think "Hey--it's really supposed to be George is a client of Reginald's!", it's easy to reverse the relationship. Simply click the Directional Template Button. Then the templates would read:

     George van Stone was Reginald's client. (appears in Reginald's narrative report)

     George was a client of Reginald Edward Smythe. (appears in George's narrative report)

Directional templates can be used for any type of event between two individuals. Remember, the [P] code is usually for the individual that has the focus (the subject of the report), and the [O] code is for the other individual. For the reverse template, which is used when the previous "other individual" has the focus, the individual references will be reversed. If you use active voice in the forward template and passive voice for the reverse template, [P] and [O] will appear in the same order for both. If you want active voice for both directions, the codes will need to be reversed:

Forward: (Active) Reverse: (Passive) Reverse (Active)
[P] hired [O] [D+L] [P] was hired by [O] [D+L] [O] hired [P] [D+L]
[P] murdered [O] [D+L] [P] was murdered by [O] [D+L] [O] murdered [P] [D+L]
[P] visited [O] [D+L] [P] was visited by [O] [D+L] [O] visited [P] [D+L]

By defining a pair of templates for these types of events, you only need to enter the event information once: date, place, details, notes, source citations, and the individuals involved. Then the event sentence will read correctly regardless of which individual is selected as the focus of a narrative report.

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Tip: Reversing Mother / Father

When father and mother are entered on the Individuals Summary page, their genders (Male and Female) will be automatically initialized as well. But if a parent is added on the Events page, the initial gender may be set to unknown. Later, when observing the father/mother links on the Summary Page, you may discover that the roles appear to be reversed: the mother is in the father's box, and the father is in the mother's box.

To correct this problem in version 3.6.5, double-click on the name of the father to make his record current. Change his sex to "M" (male). Then go to the record for his spouse (the mother). Change her sex to "F" (female). When this is done, the system will detect that a family record exists for the couple that appears to have the father/mother roles reversed. When it asks if the roles should be reversed, choose "Yes". Then when the parents appear on the Summary page, their father/mother roles will be correct.

Note: this role reversal check is only performed when the gender on a spouse is changed, and only if the change results in male/female genders opposite of father/mother roles. If you have an existing family with roles reversed but correct genders assigned, temporarily change the gender on one spouse to "unknown", then back to the correct gender, to initiate this correction.

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Helpful Links

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Download Current Version (3.6.5):
http://www.genbox.com/download.htm

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© Copyright 2006  Thoughtful Creations. All rights reserved. Last Updated 06/16/2006.