* Showing CustomID in the Focus Window

[DavidNewton]

First of all let me state that I am a rank beginner with FH - I started to use it in earnest yesterday - so please forgive me if I use the incorrect terminology.

An important part of my family history file is the CustomID and I really would like it to be visible wherever I am editing records. I have had no problem adding the CustomID column to the Individual tab of the records sheet and I have also modified the header of an individual's property box to show the CustomID after the name. Where I am failing is in showing the CustomID instead of the RecordID after names in the focus window. Is it possible to do this?

David

[tatewise]

Welcome to the FHUG David and to the world of FH.

Sorry, but the Focus Window is not very customisable and the Custom Id cannot be added.

May I ask why you need the Custom Id rather than use the Record Id which is guaranteed to be unique?

As well as using the Property Box Caption to show the Custom Id you can customise the Main tab to show the Custom Id.
Either way, one click on any Individual in the Focus Window shows their Custom Id in the Property Box docked to the right.

[ColeValleyGirl]

I'm not David, but I use CustomID as a a (unique) cross-reference to the same individual in another programme -- Record ID has no meaning there. It would be very useful to see it in the Focus window.

[DavidNewton]

Many thanks for your rapid responses.

I use the CustomID as a unique identifier (a variation of Dollarhide numbering) so that I can tell at a glance which subtree an individual belongs to , how close to the main ancestral trunk they are, whether they are directly related or related by marriage and how many generations they descend from an ancestor. At the same time I use the CustomId as the first part of my filename identification system. For that it is no better than a record number and of course I have to make the effort of filling them in which brings me back to the reason why I would have liked then in the Focus Window. But the records window will do a similar job.

David

[DavidNewton]

As well as using the Property Box Caption to show the Custom Id you can customise the Main tab to show the Custom Id.
Either way, one click on any Individual in the Focus Window shows their Custom Id in the Property Box docked to the right.

Mike, thanks for pointing that out, sometimes I'm blind to what is in front of me. That does the job I wanted perfectly.

David

[tatewise]

Dollarhide numbering is a new one to me, but having looked it up online, I wonder if you are using Terry Cole's variation.

Either way, I suspect it may be possible, with a little human initialising per Family Pool, to write a Plugin to compose the numbers automatically.
FH already can compose standard Ahnentafel numbers, and can use d'Aboville numbers in some Reports.
There is a Plugin that composes d'Aboville numbers (very similar to Henry numbers) into the Custom Id field.
The sibling and spouse suffixes should equate to GEDCOM Family indices, so there is a little project for you in due course.

[DavidNewton]

Yes I am using something similar to Terry Cole's variation, that was my starting point.

The variations I have made are fairly minor; choosing symbols which would be acceptable to the Windows file system was the first main step and I set it up from the start to deal with a collection of trees each with different roots. All of this is simple enough. However, the major block to algorithmic implementation is that it is fundamentally a batch system. Normally you would not assign numbers to the children in a family until you have all of them arranged in birth order, which is why I was looking to put numbers on the focus screen. Not so that I could see them rather so that I could see which ones were missing. I have to say that FH is very good, filling in the gaps is very straightforward now that you have given me the clues to the Property box customizing.

David

[tatewise]

The file-name compatibility was mentioned in a description I read about the Terry Cole variant.

Your manual phase would work OK with a Plugin, because you choose when to run the Plugin.
Between runs you can assign whatever Custom Id you like, then when everyone is in order, or you know they are in order straight away, or you have just added one previously unknown sibling, then run the Plugin.
Any side effects of any renumbering throughout the tree would automatically be updated by the Plugin.

It is dealing with the different roots where the Plugin would need assistance.
Conveniently, FH assigns all related Individuals in one tree to a numbered Pool.
Use View > Standard Queries > Search For Orphans (something of a misnomer) and you should see what I mean.
The Plugin would simply need to known the root Individual and their distinct Dollarhide code for each Pool.

[DavidNewton]

Mike

With my limited knowledge of FH I think I am getting in over my head. I tried running the query that you mentioned with some surprising results, e.g., my eldest son was put into a pool on his own and I am pretty sure he is related to me. But I really don't want to get into this just now.

I have to spend some time learning the basics of FH and then get to the exciting bits later.

Thanks for your help.

David

[tatewise]

The Pool number is unlikely to be wrong, so it should not go without investigation.
I would be extremely surprised if FH made that sort of mistake.

I am sure your eldest son is related to you, but perhaps that relationship has not been recorded correctly in the FH data.

Perhaps there are accidentally two entries for your eldest son, one related and one not.
Where did you import your data from?

If you check yourself in the Focus Window presumably your eldest son is listed as such.

If you inspect the Records Window in Individual Records name order, are there two entries for your son?

[DavidNewton]

As you guessed there are duplicate records one related and one not. I have deleted the one not related and that resolves that problem. The duplication probably crept in when I merged two trees so I will be checking the root ends of my tree to see if there are any more.

David

[DavidNewton]

I hope it is OK to revisit old posts.

Although the existing property box status and main tab of the property box do a good job of showing the custom ID I still find myself having to "dig aorund" to find it and am still missing having the ID showing in front of the name. I have therefore written a couple of very simple plugins which add/remove the custom ID by putting it in front of the first name. Can anybody see any nasty consequences of that? Oh I have made sure that running the Show multiple times does not add multiple copies of the ID

[Jane]

A couple of things to watch is that it will update the record changed date when you apply it.

I am not sure where you are "digging around" you can show it on the records window and therefore on any of the record prompt boxes, you can show it on your diagrams and it can be included on some reports.

If you really want it on the Focus window another option would be to write a plugin to add a note (as the first note) with the custom Id in [[ ]] that way it could easily be excluded from reports by hiding private notes and would appear on the records window for the selected person and their spouse.

[tatewise]

Sounds like you have got the bases covered.
I presume you are adding the Dollarhide ID as a preliminary Forename so that it appears everywhere with the person's name.
To make it distinct I would enclose it in [square] or {curly} brackets.
The only side effect is that every time you run the Plugin the Updated date/time stamp will get changed, so you lose that useful bit of historical info.

[DavidNewton]

Jane

Perhaps "digging around" was the wrong expression and possibly I am not doing things the right way. During changing a Method 2 to a Method 1 source I select the main person involved in the focus window and the source I want to change and copy the source citation text into a notepad window. I then move to the records window show the sources select a suitable source template and clone the source, show the property box for the new source and then move back to the focus window. At this point I need to see the custom ID because it forms part of the short title of the source and it is not visible without "digging around". Once I have the custom Id the rest is straightforward. Your suggestion of adding it to the main note is good and should be just as easy to implement. However it will only show up for the two in the focus window whereas this shows for children parents etc.

It's swings and roundabouts because the records window list does look untidy.

Mike

I have enclosed the custom Id in {} because it was the only way I could think of to make it easy to remove.

To you both I have not yet made any real use of the updated stamp but it is a valid point which I have not addressed.

At some point I am going to have to do this on the live copy of my data rather than just a copy

David

[Jane]

Can I suggest a completely different solution.

Write a short plug in to copy the custom ID for the current record to the clipboard and you can add that to the tools menu. You can grab the current record easily in the plugin.

Install CLCL or another clipboard tool (CLCL is in the Downloads section). I have it set up so that ALT-C shows the list of items from the clipboard. I can't use a PC without for long before it gets installed.

[DavidNewton]

Good idea Jane. This is a good learning experience for me as so far I am working on a "need to know" basis with plugins and I didn't know about the function to get the current selected records. I will work on that one. It occurs to me that if I can get the custon Id onto the clipboard then with a bit more effort I can get the short title for the source I am working on.

David

[DavidNewton]

Jane. It took me a while to find the clipboard functions and in the meantime in my usual "I had failed to see what is in front of me fashion" it hit me that as I was already using notepad so I might as well copy the custom ID into the notepad window

David