Genealogica Grafica: What's the problem? (FAQ)

• Introduction
   
• I can't edit my Home link
• Names don't show in chart
• Suppressed names still show
• Names broken incorrectly
• Labels cover each other
• Not all generations show up
• Children not shown with their birth years
• Report is (nearly) empty
• I don't want NOTEs in my report
• Stillborn child has a life-line in timeline chart
• Report does not show children
   
• There's no frames page
• There's no report page
• Name index is missing
   
• It says 'married' but they were living together
• The report spelling is sometimes incorrect
• Gedcom check: FAM or CHILD out of order
• Dates are not recognized
• License required
• Why does it want to export settings?
   
• My web doesn't display special characters correctly
• My map doesn't show up on the web
• My map filter does not work
• I work with several tableaus and want them similar
• My language is not included
• I want two languages
• Can I automate the production?

• Date/place formats
• Report phrases
• Language rules
• Gedcom translation
• Mapping of birthplaces
• Report Specification

This means that the name has been suppressed. Suppression can be achieved in two ways: manually and automatically. Yo do manual suppression and un-suppression by right-clicking in the box while in the 'edit tabsheet'. Automatic suppression is a result of privacy rules. Go to menu Layout - Privacy rules and see if you have specified a rule that will suppress some persons (for instance the living persons).

Note that suppressed persons show in gray in the edit tab if their box is empty in the HTML output.

This is the result of a 'relaxation' you have specified for the suppression. Go to menu Layout - Privacy rules and see if you have checked the name box in the middle of the window.

This implies that no frames page was produced. That must be because you do not need one. This is the case when you integrate the report text into the tableau or display tableau and text in the same html window.

First of all: it is only a warning. Secondly, it will not show up in the reports because Genealogica Grafica takes care to correct the right order. Thirdly: you can click the warnings off in menu Options - Gedcom checks (rightmost tab).

This is most likely the result of non-standard abbreviations for the months. Genealogica Grafica will recognize the default names (such as "MAR" for March and "ABT" for About). But when your gedom writes out the names or uses other abbreviations (eg. "MRT" for March, "CIRCA" for About) then you must tell it what to do.

Once you have done this it is wise to save your settings and restart. You have to be aware that the same gedcom will not be re-read if you try to open it. So to be sure: leave Genealogica Grafica and start anew. It will apply your date rules when reading the gedcom.

In particular: some prepositions are treated as part of the given names or part of the surname. Was the componist called "Johann" "von Beethoven" or "Johann Von" "Beethoven"?

You can specify the number of generations to be shown in a chart. This is particularly usefull when a 'tree' becomes too full when left to automatic selection of the number of generations.

You must have specified that the report shouldn't contain anything.

Go to menu Layout - Report layout (left-most tab) and click on the sections that you want to be included. On the next tab, check how detailed you want to report on certain aspects.

Go to menu Layout - Report layout (left-most tab) and click on the bottom checkbox.

Genealogica Grafica is shareware. Its basic functions are free to use. But we have adopted the policy to restrict some functions to those people that have shown a serious interest. This brings in some money to cover costs. But also it increases the chances that we get feed-back, resulting in a better product.

There is no license fee. The amount of a contribution is left to the user's discretion. Every contributor receives a personal key and his html outputs will indicate that he is holder of that key.

Licensed functions are:

• 'Tree' displays;
• Printing;
• Timeline charts;
• Name index.

Genealogica Grafica will suggest this when you have made a change to parameters that have to do with the phrasing of your report. That will be the case when you have changed or added a FAM relation type or when you have modified a phrase or a 'language rule'.

We recommend that you do the export but make sure to exclude files that relate to reports in another language.

The translation from gedcom to a readable report in your own language is complex. There are two main issues:

• how does the gedcom represent special forms of relationship?
• how would you like to phrase these relationships?

But first of all, check that you have not turned off advanced phrasing in menu Layout - Report layout (Information depth tab). If the middle section says that you want all phrases based on eg. Marriage, then that is what Genealogica Grafica will do.

Ask in a newsgroup if there is someone who uses the same program you use to create the gedocm. He/she may have definitions for the various relation forms (living together, lived together, common law, etc). You can then import them in the same way, but using Browse rather than Defaults. If you can't get help, send us a gedcom and indicate a person for each type of special relationship.

Also making the phrasings is quite a lot of work. Here we can't help you: you must find someone who is native in your own language.

There is a whole section about this subject here.

This is not a subject we are experts in. For some non-Western languages you need to inform the browser that your html uses a special way of formating the characters.

In the mouse-over pop-ups NOTEs will be shown when you are in 'Nearby family' or 'Edit' tab sheets. This is just a display of what is in the gedcom for the person.

If such a life-line is shown this means that Genealogica Grafica has not recognized the stillborn aspect. This may depend on how the condition is recorded in your gedcom.

Go to menu Options - INDI conditions and specify the relevant string and in which field it can be found.

There are two types of maps: Yahoo! and Google. For Yahoo! maps Genealogica Grafica supplies a universally valid key and such maps should always show up. Google maps require a key that is specific for the site from which you publish. If they do not show up, a message will be shown (by Google) telling you about the key mismatch.

While resolving place names in Genealogica Grafica, you will always see a Google map.

"Overleden te op zee" should be "Overleden op zee", etc

These are cases where the normal rules for insertion of a name or place in a report phrase (like "born at @place") must cope with special spelling rules. These rules can be specified via menu Options - Spelling rules.

The matrix to the left in the specification window shows for what combinations of 'end-letter, blank, begin-letter' there are rules defined.

Under the list we show the success of the filtering operation (from V0.99.9). If the result of filtering a place name is a unique place, it is counted as 'unique'. This person will disappear from the list.

The application of filters is explained here.

Genealogica Grafica provides two mechanisms for the harmonization of tableaus: import and export of parameters. They serve different purposes.

Menu Files - Import parameters offers you a way of copying settings from another tableau. You can select which parameters you would like to copy. It is basically provided for the situation that you start with a new tableau, which you'd like to base on another one. But the import works also later in the tableau's life.

• gedcom FAM definitions (see options)
• gedcom INDI conditions (options - from V0.99.9)
• date and place formats (options and layout)
• language phrases (options)
• spelling rules (options)

That means that nobody yet has translated the User Interface. More problematic though is when you don't have report phrases in your language.

The User Interface language consists of all the static labels on the forms and all the dynamic messages the program uses to communicate with the user. Anybody can make a new UI. Go to menu Options - User preferences and select the language you want as a basis. Then, from the form's menu select New Language. Translating the labels will be easy since you can ask to show their context. Translating the messages is harder, since the context may be hard to guess. If so, make a note and send the files to us for comment.

The same is true for all the report phrases. This may be a bit of a job, but all the originals are already there in the language of your choice. The principal work is in menu Options - Report phrases. And thereafter you go through the other options and layout windows to check for other language-dependent strings.

Once you have a base set, we can include it in the distribution set, with or without a corresponding User Interface.

All the report texts are language dependent. There are default phrases for every language supported. So, changing the UI language will change the report accordingly and that's what you'll have to do.

In detail:

1. Create a new directory where you can save the parameters and where the output sub-directories will be placed.
2. Start with your existing language. Save the parameters in the newly created directory.
3. Change the User Interface language to the one you want for the new report (Options - User preferences).
4. Import the defaults for Language Rules, and FAM types and phrases and Date and Place formats via Files - Import parameters. Make sure you overwrite the existing settings rather than merge them. You now have the original tableau/report with new language phrases.
5. Set the program interface back to your working language.

You also need to check the labels in your tableau. They have a visible text and maybe a hint text (which will show when the cursor is moved over it in the browser). Both may need translating. This you do in the Make and edit tree tab of the main form.

Finally, when you save your settings, Genealogica Grafica will ask you if you want to export your settings to other files. This involves only the language-specifics (the language rules, FAM types  and the phrases). It is wise to update your other tableaus with new language settings. But make sure you only export to files with the same language. Otherwise you may end up with English phrases added to a Dutch tableau.

There are already facilities to manage easy access to several tableaus. Genealogica Grafica starts automatically with the most recent one (unless you want to bypass that: keep Shift pressed when starting the program). And the menu File - Recent files gives you quick access to other known tableaus.

Put a number of such commands in a batch file and execute the batch. Make sure that both the program path and the parameter path are fully qualified.