* Research notes, to do and hash tags

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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by cwhermann »

Mark and Helen - Seeing the column and row definitions/qualifiers would be awesome. Still trying to get my head around queries and I learn better with examples.

Below is my template for Tasks. I’m not sure that the functionality of the backward link, especially in tasks, is important or high on my priority list. Off the top of my head I can’t come up with a situation where I would be entering or updating a task and would need to “click” on the link. I was using them because it was a quick and easy way to add them. Typing them in would be a small price for query capabilities and I think by nature, I would begin to use acronyms or abbreviations for the more common repositories.
My questions from reading through the recent posts:
Can the links (even if typed) be inside the table? The only reason I was using the table(s) is for formatting purposes so would not be a big deal to type in a comma separated list of links.
Do the links need to be in a field like the Title, Type or Status?
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by ColeValleyGirl »

Has anyone yet worked out how to include the linked records in text in a query, as a field, optionally filtered?
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by ColeValleyGirl »

Columns and rows as requested. You'll need to modify them to match your fields.
Columns
Columns
Screenshot 2021-04-04 162806.png (25.38 KiB) Viewed 3411 times
Rows
Rows
Screenshot 2021-04-04 162619.png (48.47 KiB) Viewed 3411 times
GetLabelledText doesn't work within a rich text table and I don't think it works for links.
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by cwhermann »

I am a little confused because this thread keeps bouncing around the topics creating the Research Notes Records, query/search of those records and the import of the records for RM7. I just wanted to clarify that in my mind, there are two different, but also interrelated, situations/issues I am dealing with:

1) Newly created Research Notes (Tasks or Logs) in FH7 - how those are structured, created, and linked to maximize the capabilities of FH7.
2) The import of the RM task list to minimize the re-work required to "convert" them to match item 1 or some preferred format. (which has kinda moved over here from the Import RM to do lists thread.

I was very happy/pleased with the results of my imported tasks via the last revision of the import plug-in. Now that my tasks were in FH, I focused on understand FH7 so I could determine the necessary adjustments to get them in whatever the preferred format should be. Therefore my focus is on the first item, understanding the query capacities and making sure that any new Research Note (either task or log) I enter in FH7 is going to meet the requirements/limitations of FH7 search or query functions.
I only have about 50 open tasks, so didn't think manually going through them was a huge issue, but I also recognize others may have significantly more tasks and the results of the import plug-in is more important to them.

So what I have gleamed from the two threads is:
* I still have a lot learning curve ahead of me on working with queries
* If Gedcom compatibility is important or high priority - then creating "record to record" links are important.
* If Query search functionality is important then links in the note are important, but how the links are generated (typed or use of link icon) and their location (text, field, table) is still being discussed/determined.
* Any "active link" created with the Link icon as part of the text would most likely be changed to plain text without any true link in a Gedcom transfer out.
*A plug-in to add record to record links based on the "embedded" links would be a relatively simple task.[/list]
Thanks to all and let me know if I am missing any key issues with Research Notes.
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by Mark1834 »

I've been experimenting with just a single To-Do task and adding links manually, as below:
Capture.PNG
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Helen is correct. Using the GetLabelledText() function to tabulate the various fields does not work with links. It would have to be plain text to be tabulated or used as a selection criterion. It could be both, such as

Individual: Nigel Munro (Nigel Munro)

but that is messy as it is reported as Nigel Munro ().

A plain text link can be in a table, but it has to be the first item in the first column, and everything else that follows the link (from every column of that row, including the column borders!) is also included so it is not really a practical option.

So we come to a trade off - plain text is relatively easy for new FH users to do useful stuff straight away, as you can tabulate and select values easily (so every open task from a given repository, for example). The significant disadvantage is that you would have to manually add this to every additional task you create, and the linked name, family or repository must be spelt out in full exactly as existing examples.

Smart links do exactly the opposite - they are much easier to create, just point and click to select the appropriate records, but have limited functionality without writing detailed plugins, something that only a very small fraction of even experienced FH users do.

A possible future solution is to adapt the Research Planner to work with imported tasks, and import them in just the format that the planner expects. That does mean using the Planner as your main tool though, as the format of the Notes/Research Notes that it creates is less amenable to the type of ad-hoc management we are doing here.

I think I'm changing my mind on what I said earlier this afternoon - plain text notes gives better functionality now, and we can always convert them to a better format in the future with a dedicated conversion plugin.
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by tatewise »

Helen, I've tried Columns using =ContainsText, =GetLabelledText, =GetParagraph and Rows with Operator: contains

=ContainsText and =GetLabelledText do not find anything involving links.

=GetParagraph does include any link plain text name regardless of whether the link Display Text is Automatic or Text.

The Rows tab Operator: 'contains' does find a link name containing the search text regardless of whether the link Display Text is Automatic or Text. That is in contrast to the =ContainsText function.

It is not clear whether all the above behaviour is by design or whether it is an oversight that some do nothing.
Since such links are very new maybe some 'enhancements' to some functions have been overlooked?
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by Mark1834 »

Additional comment - Curtis's template is good for providing a specific example, and illustrates in a way the point I was making above. It would be easy to populate the table with record links manually, but if you wanted the links in the other direction as well, they would also have to be entered under the relevant Individual, Repository, etc records. And doing any overview analysis on the data would definitely require a dedicated plugin.

It's probably a fair comment to say that Research Logs are a new feature in FH7, and the tools required to exploit them to their full potential are not yet available (either via features baked into FH, which may come in FH7.x, or via user-written plugins).
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by ColeValleyGirl »

Mark1834 wrote: 04 Apr 2021 17:12
A possible future solution is to adapt the Research Planner to work with imported tasks, and import them in just the format that the planner expects. That does mean using the Planner as your main tool though, as the format of the Notes/Research Notes that it creates is less amenable to the type of ad-hoc management we are doing here.
The only thing RP would do with imported tasks (1) allow you to generate a custom query with field names of your choice; and to install that query for you to use. The format of the Notes/Research Notes will be customisable as well -- I'm thinking for V7 it will use Research Notes Autotext, so I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be able to use any format you want, and do the ad-hoc management you refer to (using plain text.) It might also be possible to use formatted text as long as the queryable fields are not in a table and not embedded links -- I'd need to experiment.
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by ColeValleyGirl »

tatewise wrote: 04 Apr 2021 17:18 =GetParagraph does include any link plain text name regardless of whether the link Display Text is Automatic or Text.
GetParagraph might be the way to go -- my query turns a labelled Individual field on a line of its own into a link. (Won't be very useful if the Text isn't automatic).
It is not clear whether all the above behaviour is by design or whether it is an oversight that some do nothing.
Since such links are very new maybe some 'enhancements' to some functions have been overlooked?
I wouldn't be surprised; the API has matured for other features as we've moved from v5 to 6 to 7.
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by Mark1834 »

I tried GetParagraph(), and all it seems to do is retrieve the nth paragraph from a text field.

What we want to do is display and/or select based on the general expression "Parameter: Value", irrespective of precisely which line it is on. GetLabelledText('Parameter: ') works well for plain text, but I can't see any way of doing it for link text using built-in functions (i.e. without using a plugin).
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by ColeValleyGirl »

If you can get the text you can transform it to the corresponding record in a query.
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by Mark1834 »

Right, so store it in the (Research) Note as plain text, and get the linking functionality back via a Query. That's better than storing as a link and having it inaccessible.
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by ColeValleyGirl »

If you want to see how to get it in a query have a look at the columns I posted. Specifically the Individual column
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by Mark1834 »

Version 4 of the plugin is available here.

I have gone for plain text links, as these are the most useable at the moment for the relatively simple linking options available in RM7. This enables a simple Research Note query to tabulate, select and sort on any of the additional fields using a GetLabelledText() function as per Helen's example above. For example, you could list all open tasks at a specified Repository sorted by priority and date without having to worry about links to other records and which direction they go in.
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by cwhermann »

Thanks Helen for the query info - just have to figure it all out. Is there a list of what I call the sort commands out there. e.g. Getlabelledtext, %NOTE.TEXT%, TextToNumber, etc.
(This will date me, but it reminds me of a previous life creating ladder diagrams for IF-THEN, AND, OR relay logic in process controls before something called a "programmable controller" was available :D )
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by cwhermann »

If I understand the recent posts, when I create a Research Note (task or log) I should put all the links (repository, individual or place) in plain text outside a table.
If I have more than one link, should they be comma separated or separate lines:
Repository 1, Repository 2
or
Repository 1
Repository 2
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by Mark1834 »

I know I'm not Helen, but it's late in the UK and she's probably tucked up in bed.... :)

Check out the FH Help - General Topics > Advanced Topics > Understanding Functions. The individual pages are quite informative, and it sounds like you have an IT background so the language will be familiar.

You need to put multiple links on different lines, so

Repository: Details of first one
Repository: Details of second one

And as I pointed out in one of my postings, the disadvantages of plain text is that it is just doing a dumb text-matching search. If you get the smallest thing wrong, such as a misplaced space or comma, it's a different string. Smart links are much more elegant, but cannot be searched as easily with the current tools.
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by tatewise »

Curtis, I'm also not Helen, but to supplement what Mark has said...
=GetLabelledText and =TextToNumber are Functions.
%NOTE.TEXT% is a Data Reference.
They are combined in Expressions.
The associated FHUG KB pages are Understanding Expressions, Understanding Data References & Understanding Functions that cross-refer to each other and FH Help pages and give examples.
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by cwhermann »

Mike and Mark
Thanks - and even though you are "not Helen", the help is greatly appreciated. :) especially since I did not anticipate an answer until tomorrow because of the time difference.
Probably should have created 2 posts - one to thank Helen and the other to ask the question.
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by ColeValleyGirl »

Right, I'm out of bed! And see that the people who aren't me have been very helpful...

For context when understanding the query, it might be useful to see the format of a Note that my query works on:

https://fhug.org.uk/kb/kb-article/resea ... heading-14
Screenshot 2021-04-06 074618.png
Screenshot 2021-04-06 074618.png (203.26 KiB) Viewed 3265 times
Ignore the privacy markers; they're there to exclude the Note from reports (which is now done automatically for Research Notes.)

RP allows you to customise all of the field names (see https://fhug.org.uk/kb/kb-article/resea ... heading-12) plus the unique tag (e.g. #RP) that's used to identify Research Notes. You can modify the field names in your query likewise (or add new fields and corresponding lines in the query, or remove fields ditto.)
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Re: Research notes, to do and hash tags

Post by cwhermann »

Yes, seeing the output is helpful. I need to print these posts so I’m not scrolling back and forth on the thread. Also, waiting for the arrival of “Getting the most out of FH6” to review chapters on queries.
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