* Text Editors with macros to edit Gedcom files.

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jimlad68
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Text Editors with macros to edit Gedcom files.

Post by jimlad68 »

My current favourite text file editor is Notepad++, however, although you can record macros they are fairly basic and very "messy" to edit or amend.

So can anybody recommend another Text Editor with macros (preferably partially recordable) to edit Gedcom files.

For Info: I tried Msword as it has a good Macro system and at first glance seemed OK. An FHv6 Gedcom file is recognised as Unicode, and can be saved OK and read by FHv6. However it created a FH Exception File. I tracked the error to a "spurious" character that came in from my TMG exported Gedcom file. How it got there I do not know, but it was there in 5 instances of the same NOTE (copied 5 times in TMG). It should be a "space", Msword shows it as a Column break, Notepad++ shows it as SO (displayed in reverse highlighted red, hex=0e) and FHv6 shows it as 2 connected musical notes in the Property Box (I think connected demi semi quavers, but it’s a long time since I did my music theory), but it is left out in a narrative report.

So, although according to Notepad++ Msword saves the file as Unicode UTF-16 (UCS-2 Little Indian in Notepad++), it obviously has problems with certain characters when Notepad++ coped OK, although having difficulty displaying it.

At least I found some duff data.
Jim Orrell - researching: see - but probably out of date https://gw.geneanet.org/jimlad68
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PeterR
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Re: Text Editors with macros to edit Gedcom files.

Post by PeterR »

I generally use PSPad; see: fhugdownloads:contents:pspad_editor|Utility ~ PSPad Editor
Peter Richmond (researching Richmond, Bulman, Martin, Driscoll, Baxter, Hall, Dales, Tyrer)
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Re: Text Editors with macros to edit Gedcom files.

Post by tatewise »

It looks like that duff character is the ASCII Shift Out control character (follows Carr.Ret. code 0D).
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII for full details of SO code 0E.

I also think PSPad would be a good choice.

IMO: If this is in support of Sorting none dated facts and keeping them sorted (12944) then I think a simple Plugin would be a better solution.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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Re: Text Editors with macros to edit Gedcom files.

Post by davidm_uk »

In the distant past when I was writing or editing DOS batch files I was often warned against using MS Word to edit text files as it would often insert "odd" characters or strings in the file, even in areas of the file that you hadn't been working on, so best to avoid it for anything like that.
David Miller - researching Miller, Hare, Walker, Bright (mostly Herts, Beds, Dorset and London)
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Re: Text Editors with macros to edit Gedcom files.

Post by jimlad68 »

Many thanks all for those comments and confirmations:

PSPad, yes I have this already, which I like but at present am more used to Notepad++, however although the macros are much easier to edit in PSPad, they are very limited, not even search/replace.

Msword - yes, in this case it changed an "unusual" character for another one.

Plugins - yes still on my todo list!! I suppose at least the date changes should be a simple start point. Although Mike's Search and replace will selectively remove dates (but in this instance probably easier and more controlled to remove via a bespoke fact query) but I cannot find a way to add them, I suppose it is not easy to change something that is not there!!
Jim Orrell - researching: see - but probably out of date https://gw.geneanet.org/jimlad68
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Re: Text Editors with macros to edit Gedcom files.

Post by mjashby »

Akelpad is relatively straightforward text editor and has a Plugin for creating Macros.

http://akelpad.sourceforge.net/en/index.php
http://portableapps.com/apps/developmen ... d_portable

Mervyn
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Re: Text Editors with macros to edit Gedcom files.

Post by jimlad68 »

thanks Mervyn, I tried Akelpad via http://portableapps.com/. Although a "basic looking" text editor, it looked promising, and I could save the macro which looked like it could be edited, but I could not get to replay. Neither could I find much documentation.

However, I did rediscover jEdit http://www.jedit.org/index.php http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/jedit.htm http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-fr ... editor.htm which has a simple macro recorder and the macros stored as text files and are easy to get at and amend and add to the jEdit menus.

I can't quite work it out, although there was a release in April this year, the community seems a little sparse, and help difficult to find, as if it was very big a few years ago, as if Textpad++ and PSPad have overtaken it, but not all its features, in particular the macros.

for me the Plus:
- macro recorder and easy to edit with lots of commands.
- although the main program is neat it lacks some obvious features (e.g. display tab etc marks) but there are many plugins available (sound familiar!).
- the search and replace lets you paste multiple lines (you need to paste if there is more than one line), so that means no need for \n etc, although you can use them as well, and that is what gets put in the macro text.

Minus:
- No standalone version
- Needs JAVA, which many people have for other things anyway, also JDK for some of the Plugins.
- If you are not a programmer, the "style" and "language" might be offputting, but really just another text editor with a good "front end"
Jim Orrell - researching: see - but probably out of date https://gw.geneanet.org/jimlad68
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