The files in the "ttt" folder are of two types, identified by their filename extensions. The extension ".ttt" stands for "twistory text." These files contain information on places, people and events. There are also files with the extension ".geo" which are actually just ".ttt" files, but which are so named as a comment that they contain only place data. (You can actually call the files anything you want.)
The other kind of file has the extension ".poly" for "polygon." These are also text files, but are most easily created and edited with a separate program called "PolyTool." They contain descriptions of closed or open polygons on the surface of the earth. Their vertex data is in minutes of latitude and longitude. A line beginning with "m" indicates a move to absolute coordinates; other vertices are relative.
The following sections describe the format of the ".ttt" files. The characters "#," "<" and ">" are reserved. They may only be used as documented below. "C++ and C-style" comments may also be used. You will see examples of these in the files.
#file "ttt/egypt.ttt"
This tells Twistory to look in the folder "ttt" for a file called "egypt.ttt" and to read its data in right away.
The order in which files are listed in the index, and the order in which items appear in the files, is significant. For example, a place description must be read in before it is referred to in a person record.
#c <n>Canada<l>55N100W<rad>1200<nat>Canadian<col>100 60 80 #c <n>Saskatchewan<l>54N106W<rad>400<sup>Canada #c <n>Ontario<l>49N83W<rad>600<sup>Canada #c <n>Toronto<l>4339N7920W<sup>Ontario
As you can see, places also have a hierarchy. When the map is at small scales, cities are not shown. An event occurring in Toronto would then appear next to the word "Ontario." At even smaller scales, events occurring in both Ontario and Saskatchewan would appear next to the word "Canada." The meaning of the individual fields are given below.
A change in the default era made within a file is forgotten once that file ends and reading returns to a file which is higher up the hierarchy. But a change is passed down to a lower file. The safest practice is to specify either #bc or #ad at the beginning of every file.
#p <nat>British<o>king<n>George V<fa>Edward VII<b>1865 Jun 3<ac>1910 May 6<d>1936 Jan 20 #p <nat>British<o>king<n>Edward VIII<fa>George V<b>1894 Jun 23<ac>1936 Jan 20<ab>1936 Dec 11<d>1972 #p <nat>British<o>king<n>George VI<fa>George V<b>1895 Dec 14<ac>1936 Dec 11<d>1952 Feb 6 #p <nat>British<o>queen<n>Elizabeth II<fa>George VI<b>1926 Apr 21<ac>1952 Feb 6 #p <nat>British<o>prince<n>Charles<mo>Elizabeth II<b>1948 Nov 14
More information on the format and meaning of fields is given below.
Family relations are described by the father (<fa>) and mother (<mo>) fields. The creation of the family tree in the genealogy views is dependent on those links being specified in the database. A person's database record may have his/her father and/or mother specified. The parents must then also be in the database, and must appear in the listing prior to their children.
Children are specified only by their own links to their parents. This seems to be the simplest way to implement family relations in the database, since one may have many children, and several spouses, but one usually has unique parents. (In the case of adoption, often only one of the parents is a historical figure who would appear in the database.) Unions (marriages, etc.) do not appear in genealogy windows, but that may be an option in future. Relations other than parent-child cannot be specified directly; the intermediate person(s) must also be in the database. (For example, the relationship of uncle requires both the appropriate parent and grandparent to be in the database, in order for that relation to be revealed in some genealogy window.)
#bc #e <t>battle<n>Fall of Jerusalem<d>586<c>Jerusalem<info>The city and the temple are destroyed #ad #e <t>use<n>decimal numbers in commerce<c>India<d>600 #e <t>invent<au>Gutenberg<n>movable type<d>1456<c>Germany #e <t>wreck<n>The Vasa<d>1628 Aug 10 #e <t>war<n>Third Anglo-Dutch War<d>1672<e>1674 #e <t>extinct<n>Dodo<c>Mauritius<d>1681
The various fields are described below.
#bc #s <n>Old Babylonian Empire<col>80 100 100<d>1800(100)<poly>"oldbab.poly"<e>1600(100)
The sample polygon has only one date interval, but it could have more. If you construct the polygons corresponding to the growth and decline of an empire, all of them can be linked into one sphere record by repeating the <d> and <poly> fields. Then end it with one <e> field. Information on these fields is found below.
Mark-up Description Applicability Remarks <n> name c p e s <sup> super-region (name of place) c s used to link places into a hierarchy <aka> alias or alternate name c p <wat> body of water c boolean mark-up (no field following) <l> location (georef) c see below for format <adj> national adjective c the name for a person who lives there <col> colour c s The colour of a place is used in time-line bars. <sur> surname p <nat> nationality p should match some region's <adj> field <fem> female p boolean mark-up (no field following) <o> occupation p <b> date of birth p see below for format <d> date of death p <fa> father's name p <mo> mother's name p <ma> name of spouse p <ac> date of accession p <ab> date of abdication p <ap> date of appointment of power p <pow> date of taking power p <depo> date of being deposed p <el> date of election to office p <ret> date of retirement from office p <pro> rank and date of promotion p <c> place link (name of place) p e <dep> date of departure p <arr> date of arrival p <info> additional information p e <ref> reference p e <d> date e s <e> ending date e s <au> link to author (name of person) e <vic> winning side of battle e <poly> polygon file name s
year number [ era ] [ month name [ date number ] ] [ (uncertainty) ]The square brackets indicate optional parts. The year is the only mandatory element. It may be followed by either "A.D." or "B.C." to indicate an era other than the default; it is necessary to do this for lives or events which span the boundary between the B.C. and A.D. eras, since the default cannot be changed in mid-record.
Following the year, the month name or its abbreviation (not number) may appear, if it is known. If the month is given, the date of the month may follow.
Finally, an uncertainty may be given. There is already an implied uncertainty in any date that has only a year, or only year and month. For example, if only 1520 is stated, the actual date Twistory uses to draw the event is 1520 July 1, but the uncertainty will be plus or minus six months. To specify another uncertainty, put a number in round brackets following the date. (No spaces are necessary.) The units are those of the last element of the date. For example, 1889 May(3) means three month either side of 1889 May 15.
Last modified on 1998 May 9