{"id":11110,"date":"2020-08-05T14:14:10","date_gmt":"2020-08-05T14:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fhug.org.uk\/kb\/?post_type=kb_article&p=11110"},"modified":"2024-02-24T15:21:51","modified_gmt":"2024-02-24T15:21:51","slug":"an-overview-of-queries","status":"publish","type":"kb_article","link":"https:\/\/www.fhug.org.uk\/kb\/kb-article\/an-overview-of-queries\/","title":{"rendered":"An Overview of Queries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h2>\n

According to the Family Historian Help file “A query<\/span> is a reusable set of instructions for extracting information from a Family Historian file. The information returned by a query is called a Result Set<\/span><\/em>, and it is laid out in tabular form, in a grid of rows and columns. Each row in the Result Set corresponds to a record. If the query is an Individual<\/span> query, each row returned will correspond to an Individual record. If it is a Source<\/span> query, each row will correspond to a Source record.”<\/p>\n

There are more types of queries, of course: you can create a query based on any Record Type that \u0192h<\/span><\/span> support, and also on Facts.<\/p>\n

Queries are a very powerful feature of \u0192h<\/span><\/span> because they allow you to analyse your data in an almost any way you can think if. What did my direct ancestors die from? How large were the families of the people in my tree? What facts have I entered without citing a source? All these and many more questions can be answered using Queries.<\/p>\n

Standard and Custom Queries<\/h2>\n

Queries fall into two categories: Standard Queries, which are distributed with \u0192h<\/span><\/span> and cannot be edited (except to change the behaviour when printed) , and Custom Queries which are created by users (either for personal use or to share via the Queries section of our Downloads page<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Queries are accessed via the Query Window (View > More Workspace Windows > Query Window<\/a>) or the Query Window icon \"\" in the main toolbar. If you want to navigate straight to a Standard query, use View> Standard Queries > Query name<\/em><\/a>; and if you want to navigate straight to a Custom Query, use View> Custom Queries > Query name<\/em><\/a>\n

See The Query Window<\/a> for instructions on how to use the Query Window and all its tabs. You are advised to read the Help file before moving on to the Hints and Tips below.<\/p>\n

Working with Query Results<\/h2><\/summary>

Any entry that is a Record can be double-clicked to open its Property Box to review or edit fields.<\/p>\n

Any entry that is a Data Field can be right-clicked to choose Locate in Property Box or Locate in All Tab.<\/p>\n

Any entry that is a Data Field can have its contents deleted by pressing the DELETE key. Also, by selecting multiple entries such as an entire column, then bulk deletes can be applied.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/details><\/div>\n

Printing the Results Set from a Query<\/h2><\/summary>

It is possible to Print the Results Set<\/em> from a Query, and there are Print Detail<\/em> options to configure the printed output on the General<\/em> tab of the Query Window.<\/p>\n

Most of the Print Details options are self-explanatory, but the Title<\/em> and Subtitle Custom<\/em> options have some undocumented features to incorporate any Value entered via a Rows Tab<\/em> prompt for a Parameter<\/em>. Any such Value is represented by [\u201cPrompt\u201d]<\/code>, where Prompt is the name of the parameter Label, and to include it in the Title or Subtitle it must be enclosed in a Type Specifier Function of a matching type: Text([\u201cPrompt\u201d]), Number([\u201cPrompt\u201d]), Individual([\u201cPrompt\u201d]), Date([\u201cPrompt\u201d])<\/code>, etc.
\ne.g. Date =Number([\"Day\"]) of =Text([\"Month\"]) for =Individual([\"Person\"])<\/code><\/p>\n<\/div><\/details><\/div>\n

Saving Results to a File<\/h2><\/summary>

Since \u0192h<\/span><\/span> V6 the Save Results to File menu \"\" offers two Save As Comma-Separated CSV File<\/em> options for UNICODE UTF-8 and ANSI encoding, but some spreadsheet programs do not handle UNICODE UTF-8 well, so try both options, or even the Save As Text File options with either Tab character or Comma as the Column separators. See also How to Open UTF-8 in Excel 2013-2016<\/a> and How to Import CSV file that uses UTF-8 in Excel 2007<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You should note that Excel (as shipped) does not support Dates earlier than 1 January 1900.\u00a0 There are two approaches to dealing with this:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Use numerical columns for Day Month and Year in your queries if you intend to export them to Excel.<\/li>\n
  2. If you’re very comfortable with Excel, explore the techniques in How to Work with Dates Before 1900 in Excel<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div><\/details><\/div>\n

    Custom Queries<\/h2><\/summary>

    You can create your own custom queries — see Searching and Querying Videos<\/a> for video tutorials on how to do so.<\/p>\n

    Or you can download a Custom Query that somebody else has written (for example from the Queries section of our Downloads page <\/a>or the FHUG forums).<\/a> If you download a Custom Query, you must install it before you can use it. The simplest way to do so is to double-click on the file to open it; \u0192h<\/span><\/span> will automatically install it.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/details><\/div>\n

    Custom Query Types<\/h2><\/summary>

    It is important to consider which type of Query will be most useful for the problem you want to solve.<\/p>\n