* Descendant Diagram question

Questions regarding use of any Version of Family Historian. Please ensure you have set your Version of Family Historian in your Profile. If your question fits in one of these subject-specific sub-forums, please ask it there.
Post Reply
avatar
neil40
Superstar
Posts: 302
Joined: 12 Apr 2012 13:42
Family Historian: V7
Location: Bicester, Oxfordshire

Descendant Diagram question

Post by neil40 »

Something that's baffling me, and probably really simple.

If I click on the Descendant Diagram, or indeed any of the 4 diagram tools on the bar, some married females have their married name with "a.k.a" prefixed while others have nothing.
As far as I am aware, I just enter the marriage each time without entering anything special.

Prime example, my own two daughters, both married with all details of marriage and husbands etc.
One has aka, the other not.

Thanks
Neil
Neil Grantham
Researching Grantham, Skuce, Barrow and Birchall
User avatar
LornaCraig
Megastar
Posts: 3190
Joined: 11 Jan 2005 17:36
Family Historian: V7
Location: Oxfordshire, UK

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by LornaCraig »

I assume you mean some women have their married name prefixed by aka in addition to, not instead of, their birth name? This will happen if you are using a diagram text scheme which includes a line for Name (a.k.a.) and you have entered an Alternate name for them in FH by clicking on more (+)... next to their primary name on the main tab of their Property Box.

If you don't want the aka name to show in diagrams, you could delete that line from your diagram text scheme (or clone the scheme first, then delete it from the cloned copy so that you still have both versions). However that would mean no altenate names will we displayed for anybody, and you may have some people for whom you do want to display a genuine alternate name, other than a married name. The other solution is to delete the extra 'alternate' (married) names from FH. The convention is to record women under their birth names, and the married names will be evident from the diagram.
Lorna
avatar
neil40
Superstar
Posts: 302
Joined: 12 Apr 2012 13:42
Family Historian: V7
Location: Bicester, Oxfordshire

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by neil40 »

Lorna,

Yes I mean exactly that. At the top it shows in Red their Birth name in full, and then below 'some' have the aka married name.
As far as I know I have NOT added an alternate name for anyone by default, only for specific individuals where they are/were known differently (EG my Uncle William Edwin Grantham was known in the family as 'Ted')

I have just looked at the Facts for my two daughters, and neither has an 'Alternative Name' fact, yet on diagrams, one has aka the other not!

I DO want the aka names to show as default

However..... I just re-read your description of more... and note that one does have the alternate name in there!

I didn't knowingly add that, BUT, my file is an export from TMG, so maybe I did it in there. If I remember correctly, when I was using TMG before it's demise, one daughter was married the other not, so the first marriage was entered in TMG (which may have added the alternate name automatically?!) and the second marriage in FH.
Hmm. Messy!

Is there a way to make them all have aka! I'd hate to go through all the marriages in my file to resolve this.

What/where is the 'diagram text scheme' by the way?
Neil Grantham
Researching Grantham, Skuce, Barrow and Birchall
User avatar
Jane
Site Admin
Posts: 8507
Joined: 01 Nov 2002 15:00
Family Historian: V7
Location: Somerset, England
Contact:

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by Jane »

Personally I would remove the Married Name Alternates. You can easily use a Query to find all the alternates for Females and then select all the ones you want to get rid of and press delete.

It's not common practice to add them when using FH, as the index can search for them even if you don't include them. I have attached a quick query which will list the first 3 alternate names for a Female along with the first 3 Spouse surnames.

To access the Text scheme just select Diagram>Options from the menu and then the Text tab.
Attachments
Find Alternate Names on Females.fhq
(1008 Bytes) Downloaded 160 times
Jane
My Family History : My Photography "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."
avatar
neil40
Superstar
Posts: 302
Joined: 12 Apr 2012 13:42
Family Historian: V7
Location: Bicester, Oxfordshire

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by neil40 »

Jane wrote: I have attached a quick query which will list the first 3 alternate names for a Female along with the first 3 Spouse surnames.
Thank you Jane.... need some help here! I have never used the query tool, but have loaded it via the toolbar icon and can't see anywhere that I can import your downloaded query?
Neil Grantham
Researching Grantham, Skuce, Barrow and Birchall
avatar
neil40
Superstar
Posts: 302
Joined: 12 Apr 2012 13:42
Family Historian: V7
Location: Bicester, Oxfordshire

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by neil40 »

….ah, double click it and install it!
Neil Grantham
Researching Grantham, Skuce, Barrow and Birchall
avatar
neil40
Superstar
Posts: 302
Joined: 12 Apr 2012 13:42
Family Historian: V7
Location: Bicester, Oxfordshire

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by neil40 »

OK. so I ran it, and get lots of results, probably as a result of my TMG conversion some time ago.

Can I use this query to remove them or do I have to go to each record to remove them?
Neil Grantham
Researching Grantham, Skuce, Barrow and Birchall
avatar
neil40
Superstar
Posts: 302
Joined: 12 Apr 2012 13:42
Family Historian: V7
Location: Bicester, Oxfordshire

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by neil40 »

So, I didn't read you post properly Jane!
I see you say select the names to delete, presumably those in the 3rd (and even 4th and 5th columns)

Question: If I do this, will all my aka's disappear on the diagrams? I rather like them, and trying to achieve all aka's rather than lose them! :lol:
Neil Grantham
Researching Grantham, Skuce, Barrow and Birchall
User avatar
Jane
Site Admin
Posts: 8507
Joined: 01 Nov 2002 15:00
Family Historian: V7
Location: Somerset, England
Contact:

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by Jane »

Just select all the "Cells" , click on the first one and the either use CTRL or SHIFT to select additional cells and then press the delete key. Remember to click on the Alternate names you want to get rid of and not the first column.

If you want to keep them you could still remove them and then put an expression to add the ones for Married women back in, it's not normal to show them though as it simply repeats what the diagram is already telling you.
Jane
My Family History : My Photography "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."
avatar
neil40
Superstar
Posts: 302
Joined: 12 Apr 2012 13:42
Family Historian: V7
Location: Bicester, Oxfordshire

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by neil40 »

Jane wrote:If you want to keep them you could still remove them and then put an expression to add the ones for Married women back in, it's not normal to show them though as it simply repeats what the diagram is already telling you.
But with no alternate name added, it doesn't show me the aka, which is what I like, to show the persons maiden and married name.
To be honest, before I spotted the missing ones, I thought it was default!
Neil Grantham
Researching Grantham, Skuce, Barrow and Birchall
User avatar
LornaCraig
Megastar
Posts: 3190
Joined: 11 Jan 2005 17:36
Family Historian: V7
Location: Oxfordshire, UK

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by LornaCraig »

If you really want to display women's married names as aka names in a diagram then don't delete anything. But for consistency you would need to add the married name as an alternate name for ALL married women.

As Jane and I have both said, it's not common practice to add them when using FH. The convention is to record women with their birth names. The married names will be evident from diagrams which show their husbands, and the filter options in the Records Window can be set to include husband's surnames when searching. It's also possible to add a column in the Records Window to display spouse's names, for both men and women.
Lorna
avatar
neil40
Superstar
Posts: 302
Joined: 12 Apr 2012 13:42
Family Historian: V7
Location: Bicester, Oxfordshire

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by neil40 »

LornaCraig wrote:As Jane and I have both said, it's not common practice to add them when using FH. The convention is to record women with their birth names.
Thanks Lorna

I think I said earlier, that I have never added alternate names in FH other than where I want show a name that is used by family or how they are known - my Dad's brothers are Dennis, Roland, William Edwin and Joseph Robert, but known as Den, Ron, Ted and Bob, my grandma was Susan Ada, but called Ada, so I added alternates for them

I believe these aka's are coming from my imported TMG Gedcom export, as some have more than one aka for females who married multiple times.
In TMG, I don't believe I entered these alternates but they were added automatically by TMG

Thanks to everyone for all the advice.
Neil Grantham
Researching Grantham, Skuce, Barrow and Birchall
User avatar
Jane
Site Admin
Posts: 8507
Joined: 01 Nov 2002 15:00
Family Historian: V7
Location: Somerset, England
Contact:

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by Jane »

If you really want to include them without having to put them in manually you could use

Code: Select all

=TextIf(IsTrue(Exists(%CUR~SPOU>NAME%) and IsTrue(%INDI.SEX% = "Female")),"a.k.a " . %INDI.NAME:GIVEN_ALL% . " " . %CUR~SPOU>NAME:SURNAME%,)
and then add a flag to any women who don't adopt their husbands surname on marriage and condition the line on the flag not being set.
Jane
My Family History : My Photography "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."
avatar
neil40
Superstar
Posts: 302
Joined: 12 Apr 2012 13:42
Family Historian: V7
Location: Bicester, Oxfordshire

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by neil40 »

Jane wrote:If you really want to include them without having to put them in manually you could use

Code: Select all

=TextIf(IsTrue(Exists(%CUR~SPOU>NAME%) and IsTrue(%INDI.SEX% = "Female")),"a.k.a " . %INDI.NAME:GIVEN_ALL% . " " . %CUR~SPOU>NAME:SURNAME%,)
and then add a flag to any women who don't adopt their husbands surname on marriage and condition the line on the flag not being set.
Nice. That might be more consistent.
How/where do you do that!?!
Neil Grantham
Researching Grantham, Skuce, Barrow and Birchall
User avatar
LornaCraig
Megastar
Posts: 3190
Joined: 11 Jan 2005 17:36
Family Historian: V7
Location: Oxfordshire, UK

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by LornaCraig »

neil40 wrote:my Dad's brothers are Dennis, Roland, William Edwin and Joseph Robert, but known as Den, Ron, Ted and Bob, my grandma was Susan Ada, but called Ada, so I added alternates for them
The first four of those are not really alternate names because they are diminutives of the first 'given' name, so I would enter them as Nicknames. The last, Ada, is a case of someone using their second given name rather than the first. So I would enter that as Given Name Used. These fields are also accessed via the More... next to the primary name.

There is no particular harm in entering them as alternate names, but if you decide to delete the married names which have been imported from TMG as alternate names be careful not to delete those others as well.
Lorna
User avatar
Jane
Site Admin
Posts: 8507
Joined: 01 Nov 2002 15:00
Family Historian: V7
Location: Somerset, England
Contact:

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by Jane »

If you want to use the expression just add a custom line to your chosen text scheme.
Jane
My Family History : My Photography "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."
User avatar
tatewise
Megastar
Posts: 28333
Joined: 25 May 2010 11:00
Family Historian: V7
Location: Torbay, Devon, UK
Contact:

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by tatewise »

Despite having used FH for a while, Neil is clearly an inexperienced user regarding Diagram Text Schemes, so needs a lot more detailed guidance about customising them.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
User avatar
LornaCraig
Megastar
Posts: 3190
Joined: 11 Jan 2005 17:36
Family Historian: V7
Location: Oxfordshire, UK

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by LornaCraig »

Neil,

With a diagram open, use Diagram > Options and click on the Text tab.

The text scheme you are using will be highlighted. Click the Clone button to make a copy of it and give the copy a distinct name (e.g. add the word 'modified' to its name). The copy will now be selected and you can experiment with it without losing your original text scheme.

Now click Edit. From the list in the left hand column select <Custom Item> and click the > symbol in the middle.
In the next window, in the Template field, enter the code Jane gave in her earlier post. (Copy and paste it). Then click OK. The new line you have added will now be at the bottom of the list on the right hand side. Select it and use the arrows at the bottom to move it up to just below the line for the main name. (You will see there is already another 'aka' line there. This is the line which displays all the alternate names, including those like 'Ron' and 'Ted' if you have entered them as alternate names rather than nicknames). Now click OK again.

The diagram should now display the aka names of married women. However, some women will now have their married name shown twice unless you delete their alternate names using the query as described by Jane earlier. Be careful not to delete ALL alternate names, only those which are married names which were imported as such from elsewhere.

As Jane said, if you have any married women who did not adopt their husband's name you can use a flag to avoid their aka names from showing. Ask again if you need to do this.
Lorna
avatar
neil40
Superstar
Posts: 302
Joined: 12 Apr 2012 13:42
Family Historian: V7
Location: Bicester, Oxfordshire

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by neil40 »

tatewise said:
Despite having used FH for a while, Neil is clearly an inexperienced user regarding Diagram Text Schemes, so needs a lot more detailed guidance about customising them.
That's right! I've always just used the diagrams to visualise the families from time to time, and only just realised some things weren't looking quite right

Lorna said:
With a diagram open, use Diagram > Options and click on the Text tab.
…..
….
As Jane said, if you have any married women who did not adopt their husband's name you can use a flag to avoid their aka names from showing. Ask again if you need to do this.
Perfect! I've applied all this and now have the beginnings of what I want. Now to consider the deletions with the custom query.

Yes, I have a couple of people I know that use their maiden name, so the flag would be handy

Thanks again
Neil Grantham
Researching Grantham, Skuce, Barrow and Birchall
avatar
neil40
Superstar
Posts: 302
Joined: 12 Apr 2012 13:42
Family Historian: V7
Location: Bicester, Oxfordshire

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by neil40 »

So, I found an easier way (I think) of avoiding removing all the names via the query.
So this is the default diagram Text
Default Diagram.JPG
Default Diagram.JPG (31.56 KiB) Viewed 14393 times
I've changed it to this, using Lorna's instructions, and moving the text to replace the removed (default) 'aka'
Diagram Modified.JPG
Diagram Modified.JPG (26.49 KiB) Viewed 14393 times
Seems to work.
Just need the help with the flag for persons not using their married name
Neil Grantham
Researching Grantham, Skuce, Barrow and Birchall
User avatar
LornaCraig
Megastar
Posts: 3190
Joined: 11 Jan 2005 17:36
Family Historian: V7
Location: Oxfordshire, UK

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by LornaCraig »

That change is OK as long as you don't want to show any other alternate names which are nothing to do with married names. You did say you had entered nicknames like 'Ted' as alternate names, and if you want them to show in diagrams you do need that original aka line as well.

For those women who continue to use their maiden name start by setting a new flag on them. Select one of them in the list in the Records Window, right-click and choose Set Flag, then <New Flag>. Call it something like 'Maiden Name'. Then add this flag to others as required. (If there are a lot you can do them all at once by adding them to a Named List first, but if only a couple it's not worth doing it that way.)

Now Select your new text scheme and click Edit. In the list on the right hand side select the new aka line and click Edit below. Tick the box for Flag Conditon near the lower right, then select your new Maiden Name flag from the drop-down list, then choose not set. This aka line will now only be displayed if the married woman does NOT have the flag set.
Lorna
avatar
neil40
Superstar
Posts: 302
Joined: 12 Apr 2012 13:42
Family Historian: V7
Location: Bicester, Oxfordshire

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by neil40 »

Thank you to all those who responded.

I think I have this all sorted now.

Another question (or should I post a new topic) - is there a way to highlight all 'blood' relatives of a given person in a chart, perhaps specifically all direct descendants of a focus person, so they are easily seen on the chart (so that spouses etc are not highlighted)

Thanks again
Neil
Neil Grantham
Researching Grantham, Skuce, Barrow and Birchall
User avatar
tatewise
Megastar
Posts: 28333
Joined: 25 May 2010 11:00
Family Historian: V7
Location: Torbay, Devon, UK
Contact:

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by tatewise »

See Colour coded pedigree chart (16256) that describes the general principals.
Just substitute IsDescendantOf(...) where appropriate.
There are four options for choosing who will act as the root/focus person.
You will only need the simplest expression without need of the ~MOTH> and ~FATH> cases.
e.g.
=IsTrue(IsDescendantOf(%INDI%,%CUR_FILE_ROOT%) or IsSameItem(%INDI%,%CUR_FILE_ROOT%))
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
avatar
neil40
Superstar
Posts: 302
Joined: 12 Apr 2012 13:42
Family Historian: V7
Location: Bicester, Oxfordshire

Re: Descendant Diagram question

Post by neil40 »

tatewise wrote:See Colour coded pedigree chart (16256) that describes the general principals.
Just substitute IsDescendantOf(...) where appropriate.
There are four options for choosing who will act as the root/focus person.
You will only need the simplest expression without need of the ~MOTH> and ~FATH> cases.
e.g.
=IsTrue(IsDescendantOf(%INDI%,%CUR_FILE_ROOT%) or IsSameItem(%INDI%,%CUR_FILE_ROOT%))
Wow, thanks Mike.
Neil Grantham
Researching Grantham, Skuce, Barrow and Birchall
Post Reply