* Record Flags, Icons and Diagrams

[lesleyl]

A little context ..... Long time user, but never really had time to be adventurous and investigate expressions and PlugIns. I'm using V6 and consolidating work done across a PC and a laptop with my Projects on an external drive that was moved between two locations prior to lockdown 1. I am now permanently reunited with my PC, so I've successfully moved the Projects and have been working happily.

The problem .... I have always used icons on my diagrams to help me keep track of the information i have on each individual on a diagram. So for Charlotte for example, I have record flags set for BC, MC, DC, all the census returns, gravestone and will.
I had used the Boxes options to assign the icons to the Record Flags, but although the flags are set, the Record Flag Conditions are no longer there (largely I suspect because my PC had to be rebuilt after a disastrous Windows update last year), so no icon is displayed. I have spent the afternoon trying to see if this is something I can recover, but I've come to the conclusion that it's not!

I can of course recreate the Conditions, but during my reading I read a reply (by Mike I think) that indicated that the way I had been approaching it is considered 'old fashioned' and advised using expressions. I would if I could see the post/Knowledgebase on how to do it; the link in the reply took me to Record Flags Knowledgbase article, which doesn't include instructions on how to use expressions to achieve what I am trying to do, which is achieve something like this

IconsUsage.jpg (48.24 KiB) Viewed 6694 times

I'd be very grateful is someone could point me in the right direction; I guess I'm ready to be more adventurous .....

[tatewise]

Hi Lesley,
Than you for the background which is really helpful. The reason you lost your Box Conditions is that customisations of Diagrams, Reports, Queries, etc, etc, are not saved in Projects, so their backups don't help. There is a Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings plugin that does preserve all customisations. See Backup and Recovery for more details.

It is possible the earlier posting of mine referred to the old Knowledge Base. The new Knowledge Base link is Using Icons and Understanding Data References may also help. See my recent posting V7 icons in diagrams ~ how to add them (18681) which applies equally to FH V6.

The concept is that the BMD & Census facts in your Project data already hold the information that you have Source Citations for BMD Certificates, etc. So why duplicate that with Record Flags that you must remember to add with extra effort. Invoking the Icons by directly checking the Project data means they are automatic and always accurate.

When you have digested the above references, post again with your questions, and hopefully some ideas of what data would be the criteria for involving Icons. e.g. Birth Event has a Source Citation of a Source record with its Type set to Birth Certificate.

[lesleyl]

Thank you...I'll reply tomorrow when I've read thoroughly

[lesleyl]

Thanks Mike, I think that I have absorbed as much information from your links as I can until I try it, so I'm going to start gingerly moving in that direction!
So, I have used Ancestral Sources to enter the census data (1851 to 1881) for this couple and their family.

Expanded.jpg (226.17 KiB) Viewed 6593 times

The Record Flag and the Record Flag Condition were used to display the 51 icon, but I haven't created the Condition for '61, '71 & '81

CensusFlagDisplayed.jpg (39.67 KiB) Viewed 6593 times

The icons exist in C:\ProgramData\Calico Pie\Family Historian\Icons.

So I think I am all set? I can see where/how to add the Expression to the Diagram/Box options, but what exactly do I put in the Expression box and steps do I take so that for example display the 61 census is displayed?

[tatewise]

The first thing to do is delete the Record Flag: 1851 census and on the Boxes tab delete the Record Flag Condition.

The Using Icons article has some example data references for Census facts.
e.g.
%INDI.CENS[year=1901]% will match a Census Event with a Date in 1901.
So you could use %INDI.CENS[year=1851]% for the 1851 Census.

BUT it is more rigorous to check the Census event has a relevant Source Citation.
e.g.
=IsTrue( %INDI.CENS[year=1871].SOUR>_TYPE% = "Census" ) matches a Census Event in 1871 with a Source Citation where its Type is Census.
I assume that if using AS then it will set the Source Type to Census.

Having entered the Box Condition Expression you select the Icon exactly as you did with Record Flag Conditions.

[lesleyl]

Thank you Mike, I'll give that a go shortly, but I can see how this works.

One other thing, whilst I think of it.... I also have some quirky Record flags for 'early deaths' (i.e. infant deaths), 'research suspended' and 'further non-urgent research required', which also have icons. I assume that I continue to apply those in the way I have been doing, as they have no associated source citation to check against

[tatewise]

Probably. Some things cannot be related to data.

However, 'Early Deaths' could be based on Age at Death which is easily determined.

Research related criteria could be associated with the new Research Notes in FH V7.

But keeping Record Flag Icons is OK.

[lesleyl]

One step at a time
I hadn't thought of doing Early Deaths that way. Thanks for the suggestion

[lesleyl]

I'm pleased to report that I've done the '41 and '51 expressions successfully.
One thing I cannot work out how to do is delete the appropriate Record Flag from the Record Flag list - did you just mean untick it? If not how do I remove it from the list?

Thanks again for your patience and help

[lesleyl]

Sorry, one more thing.... this link is dead - it's the link that is in the para "For a full list see Expressions and Contexts of Use"
https://www.family-historian.co.uk/help ... press.html

[tatewise]

Use Tools > Named Lists and Record Flags... select Record Flag and perform task 3. Clear the flag...
Also, click Flag Status... button and ensure Always include... is not ticked.

Please report the link problem in the Web Site Usage forum and identify exactly where that broken link exists.
i.e. On the 'Understanding Data References' page I think?

[phende]

If I may jump in here, I, too, have been trying to catch up with the idea of doing away with census flags. (I know expressions have been available for years, but, when they were introduced, they were thought to be for advanced or techie users. I think they were not wrong in that.) I have successfully created expressions to use Jane's census icons (albeit without the SOUR bit, but that will be easily fixed). I have also deleted the original flags. However, how do I write an expression to deal with Canadian censuses? I now have Canadian relatives with two icons, one generated by the simple expression and another called up by the Canadian census flag generated by AS. The same question applies for other countries, though the USA dates are different and I could use the simple expression.

Peter

[tatewise]

Peter, that was discussed in Change from Flags to Expressions for Diagram Icons (13295) last October but the thread is quite long so I will summarise here.
Remember that AS V7 does not manage Record Flags. You need to remove the Canada Census Flag as well.

The Box Conditions strategy is to ensure all Expressions are mutually exclusive. They must somehow distinguish between UK and Canadian Census events/citations on the same date by including any UK or Canada reference. That does make each Expression a bit more complex.
e.g.
=ContainsText( %INDI.CENS[year=1911].SOUR>TITL%, "1911 UK Census", STD )
and
=ContainsText( %INDI.CENS[year=1911].SOUR>TITL%, "1911 Canada Census", STD )

Those assume you have mentioned UK and Canada in the Source record Title.
The specific Expressions you need will depend on where you have mentioned UK and Canada.
If they are not in your Source records then the Place field could be used.

Does that make sense? Where do your facts identify UK versus Canada?

You are correct about countries such as USA that have Census events in different years from UK and Canada.
But for consistency, it does no harm to include USA in the Expression in the same way.

[lesleyl]

Thanks for spreading the discussion Peter. As I have Oz and NZ and a couple of US bods as well, it could be very useful.

Mike, you will be pleased to hear that I am having considerable success with BMDs and census expressions; it all still feels a bit like magic when I do the data entry in AS and switch back to FH. But it's early days and I feel increasingly confident ...

[phende]

Thanks, Mike. I had tried to find a relevant discussion but wasn't bright enough to get the exact form of words needed. I see what is required but I don't think it is going to be easy. AS creates a title from an amalgamation of Type, Place, Ref ID (which includes the year from the pull-down menu) and Other Info. It is incumbent on the user to be consistent enough with these entries to ensure that expressions will work. I think I have been, but I shall have to trawl through the lot to be sure. AS selects the correct flag when you choose a Region from the menu but does not record the region anywhere that I can see. I know I have been consistent in naming census images, including USA or Canada in the title, but this is no help as I do not have an image for every source.
Flags were so much easier.
Peter

[tatewise]

The Expression does not have to rely on the Source Title and can use any field that always differentiates UK from Canada.
It can use any field in the Source record or the Census event itself such as the Place field.
Does your Publication Info or the Text From Souce hold anything that identifies UK versus Canada?
Do your Place names have countries UK and Canada in a consistent position, i.e. always on the right?
( If not then maybe you need to review your Place name consistency. )

As long as you can rely on another tool like AS to set Flags for you then they are marginally simpler.
Otherwise, you would have to remember to set the Flags yourself, which applies for facts not handled by AS.
In most cases, the Expression is really quite simple. It is only when dealing with British Commonwealth countries that have Census events on the same Date that get a bit more tricky.

[phende]

I have suggested on the AS forum that Nick consider adding the Region as selected from the pull-down menu to the default title, but with UK rather than the individual country so the the Title would be Census UK Year etc.
I am now editing my existing census titles to this form. I have tried it and it works. Being a numpty, this will be done manually unless I can come up with a clever Search and Replace procedure.

Peter

[tatewise]

Peter, use the Search and Replace Plugin with Extra Filters tab having only Records Names/Titles ticked and Source Title (SOUR.TITL) chosen. Otherwise, the default settings will be OK. That restricts its scope to just Source Titles.
Run the Plugin once for each country to replace for example England with UK or perhaps England UK.

[phende]

Thanks again. Your S&R plug-in is certainly a powerful piece of kit. It would do the job but the titles were generated in the format of Type-Year-Place-Ref No-Other Info, where Type is Census The plug-in would pick up the country in the Place entry and modify that. I don't think that would be neat. Instead, I think I shall run it and change every occurrence of Census to Census UK. I can then manually go through the relatively small number of foreign entries and change the UK to USA or Canada as required. (What else have I got to do during lock-down?) When using AS in future, I will manually edit the Title to include the region.

Peter

PS I will do a back-up first.

[NickWalker]

If you edit the Method 1 census title under the options and replace where it says {COUNTRY} with the following, then for England, Wales and Scotland it will add , UK on the end.

{COUNTRY}=IF[=OR[=EQUALS[{COUNTRY}%Scotland]%=OR[=EQUALS[{COUNTRY}%Wales]%=EQUALS[{COUNTRY}%England]]]%, UK%]

e.g. If you usually use the default method 1 title then you could replace it with this:

{SOURCETYPE} {YEAR} {COUNTRY}=IF[=OR[=EQUALS[{COUNTRY}%Scotland]%=OR[=EQUALS[{COUNTRY}%Wales]%=EQUALS[{COUNTRY}%England]]]%, UK%] {REF} ({OTHER})

I hope this helps

Nick

[lesleyl]

OK, I need help!
How do I get a marriage icon to display when I have a marriage date - not simply for having added a spouse. I have tried various Data References and I've either ended up with no icon or an icon as soon as I added a spouse, which isn't much help and is driving me mad!

I suspect that I'm not understanding the use of the date formats .....

[tatewise]

Peter, the Search and Replace can recognise your Type Year Place format and replace appropriately.

Ensure the Lua Pattern Mode is selected.

Search: Census (%d%d%d%d) England which matches Census 4 year digits England
Replace: Census UK %1 England which inserts UK and repeats the original 4 year digits

That must be repeated for Scotland, Wales, Ireland

BTW: I assume you don't actually have hyphens in the Title.

Lesley, it is probably the more complicated Family Marriage event data refs that are the problem.
In Diagrams, an Individual can be shown in the context of one of several Families if married more than once.
To identify the 'current' Family there is a special Contextual Data Reference %CUR~FAMS>% (see the FH Help).
So use %CUR~FAMS>MARR.DATE% which is only true if the Marriage Date exists.
Why are you testing the Marriage Date as that does not prove you have a Source Citation or a Marriage Certificate?

[lesleyl]

Thanks again Mike
In answer to your last question, up to now I have only entered the marriage date if I either have the certificate certificate or the parish record, entering through AS. Other instances I have dealt with using directentry, a custom icon and record flag; I guess I may need to rethink this

[tatewise]

Lesley, if that is your strategy then that will work, but what do you enter if you only have the GRO Marriage Index Quarter Date?

[lesleyl]

I have a flag and a round icon with an M in it (actually a converted stamp from SnagIt) to indicate marriage index (I actually have similar for birth and death index refs). I add the year and the full ref into the note.

Does MARR.DATE use the full date? If it uses just the year then my strategy is in trouble!