CD ROM Paradise Collection 4/CD ROM Paradise Collection 4 1995 Nov.iso/hobby/gim_308.zip/GIMA.DOC

Text File | 1995-02-19 | 22KB | 471 lines

          APPENDIX A     REVISION HISTORY


Over time, GIM has matured as the result of enhancements that we (the
GIM authors) are adding from time to time, and as the result of correc-
tions to problems that are reported to us by users of GIM.  A list of
enhancements and release dates is presented in reverse chronological
order below:


version 3.08 (February 19, 1995)
     Changes since the last version:

          A great many two-byte integers, left over from GIM version 2,
          have been changed to four-byte integers.  These were causing
          GIM to crash when certain functions were invoked on folders
          with more than 32,000 persons, families, notes, or dates.

          Automatic child sorting has been added to the Family Edit
          screen.  It may be turned on or off, and is on by default.
          When off, children's sort order may be manually rearranged in
          the same manner that multiple spouses and multiple parents may
          be rearranged on the Person Edit screen.

          Added some more hacks to get around more Family Tree Maker
          GEDCOM inconsistencies.  (See below, version 2.27.)

          The GIM LISTS operands PARENTS and PARENTSETS have been
          renamed NUMPARENTS and NUMPARENTSETS.  The PARENTS operand now
          returns a person's parent's information, allowing for searches
          such as WHERE BIRTH DATE IS BEFORE PARENTS MARRIAGE DATE.

          The GIM LISTS operators STRING IS and STRING IS NOT were
          behaving in a case sensitive manner, whether CASESENS was ON
          or OFF.  This bug has been fixed.

          When 'Q' was used to quit out of a DISPLAYed list, all
          subsequent PRINTs or FILEs of the same list were interrupted
          before they began.  This has been fixed.

          GEDCOM Import now recognizes ASCII and ANSI as synonyms for
          the IBMPC character set.

          The (non-preprinted) Family Group Record form had been known
          to stretch out some of its pages, so that children on one page
          took up more vertical space than the children on another page.
          This has been corrected.

          It was pointed out that, when adding a new child, the names of
          the new child's parents don't appear on the new child's Person
          Edit screen.  This has been corrected.

          In version 3.07, we added one of those press-any-key-to-
          acknowledge warnings to the notes editor, which was intended
          to notify you, in response to an F3-Join-Lines command, when
          two lines couldn't be joined because their combined lengths
          were too long.  It was pointed out that this warning was also
          showing up during plain-old-ordinary-typing text insertion,
          and that this behavior was an annoyance.  This other behavior
          was not intended, and has been corrected; the warning now only
          appears in response to an F3-Join-Lines command, as intended.


version 3.07 (December 30, 1994)
     Changes since the last version:

          The "Generic_ASCII_Text" printer configuration will produce
          pure ASCII text output on the forms.  This can be used to
          print to a file.

          When a file is specified as a printer device, if the file
          exists the forms output will be appended to it, otherwise the
          file will be created.

          Fixed a GIM LISTS bug that caused a crash when the WHERE
          command included either "AND NOT" or "OR NOT".

          Added "STARTS WITH" and "ENDS WITH" to the set of GIM LISTS
          operators for strings.

          Fixed a bug which caused GIM LISTS to crash when given certain
          nonsensical WHERE commands, such as WHERE 15 CONTAINS 7.

          The GIM LISTS continuation prompt, which had read "press any
          key to continue, or C for continuous printing" now also
          includes an option to press Q to quit.

          GEDCOM exports to GIM and Universal destinations are now no
          longer exactly the same:  source and research notes are set
          apart by the identifiers "SOURCE NOTES" and "RESEARCH NOTES"
          for the Universal destination, and "GIM SOURCE NOTES" and "GIM
          RESEARCH NOTES" for the GIM destination.  Formerly, the latter
          pair of identifiers was used for both destinations.

          When you create a person, and if (for some reason) you decide
          that you don't want to continue creating that person upon
          starting to do so, the Person Edit screen used to force you to
          assign a gender to that person, and GIM would create and store
          that person anyway.  This has changed.  Now, if a person is
          created, but no gender is assigned, GIM will query you about
          whether you meant to assign a gender and forgot, as opposed to
          never intending to create that person in the first place.
          Thus, if you leave the Person Edit screen without assigning a
          gender to a person, GIM will now allow you to do so (after
          querying you heavily to make sure that that's what you want to
          do), but will NOT SAVE the person that you started to create.

          An "add spouse" and an "add parents" function, which are
          analogous to the existing "add child" function, have been
          added to the Multi Area menu for function keys Shift-F4 and
          Shift-F5 (next to Shift-F3, where "add child" is).  Two other
          functions had been in these locations, and have been moved:
          the "Merge Two Persons" function was moved from Shift-F4 to
          Control-F4, and the "Folder Notes" function was moved from
          Shift-F5 to Control-F5.

          Birth and death information for each person has been added to
          the ancestral and descendancy tables.


version 3.06 (November 20, 1994)
     Changes since the last version:

          Fixed a bug in TempleReady GEDCOM Exports which caused all
          submitted names to go to the temple file instead of the family
          file.

          Added more corrections to the Fix Folder function.


version 3.05 (November 7, 1994)
     Changes since the last version:

          Versions prior to this one had a limitation on the total
          number of lines of notes per folder of 32,000.  Although the
          limit on persons was also 32,000, this limit on notes lines is
          typically reached long before the limit on persons is reached,
          which means that most users weren't able to put more than
          about eight or ten thousand people into a single folder.

          Enough people have brought this to our attention that it was
          decided that we ought to increase that limit, and several
          other limits, in order to make GIM available to people with
          very large folders.

          The limits which were changed are:

               Numbers of persons, families, notes and dates per folder
               are now over two billion.

               Number of marriages per person was 12, and is now 24.

               Number of children per family was 32, and is still 32.

               Number of pairs of parents per person was 6, and has been
               dropped to 4.  (We couldn't think of any scenarios in
               which a person might want to have more than that, except
               in very theoretical terms.  Most people only get adopted
               so many times, and their parents only remarry so often.)

          These changes to the numbers of things that are allowed make
          it necessary to convert the disk files which make up a folder
          from version 2.xx format to version 3.xx format.  A folder
          conversion utility called GIMCVT3.EXE is included for this
          purpose.  If you try to open a version 2.xx folder with GIM
          version 3.xx, GIM is smart enough to recognize that fact, and
          will perform the conversion for you, by invoking GIMCVT3.EXE.
          It is important, therefore, that you keep this executable with
          your other GIM executables, at least until you have converted
          all of the folders that you have been using.  (Please note
          that it is NOT possible to convert a folder back from version
          3.xx to version 2.xx.  However, GIMCVT3.EXE will make a copy
          of your version 2.xx folder in a subdirectory called GIMVER2,
          so that you can go back to version 2 if you choose to do so.)

          Starting in version 2.30, there has been a TempleReady place-
          holder in the list of GEDCOM Export destinations, but we said
          that that destination had no effect, and it was not ready for
          use.  This has now been completed, and GIM now creates Temple-
          Ready GEDCOM files.  See chapter 14 of the GIM documentation
          for more details.

          The Prune function now includes an additional modifier.  In
          addition to selecting parents, children, spouses, ancestors
          and so forth, you can also select "self", which marks only
          the highlighted person for pruning.  "Self" has always been
          included by definition whenever any other option is chosen,
          but it was not possible previously to select and prune just a
          single person, if you should want to do so.  The "self"
          modifier allows for this possibility.

          Other minor, almost trivial modifications, such as:  an
          additional (and uncommon) GEDCOM structure is now recognized
          when doing GEDCOM Imports, and the default color scheme has
          been changed a little.


versions 3.00 through 3.04
     These were beta versions, and were never publicly or officially
     released.


version 2.30 (July 19, 1994)
     Changes since the last version:

          When editing notes, if the cursor was positioned after the end
          of a line, and control-right-arrow was pressed, GIM would
          crash.  This problem is corrected.

          GEDCOM exporting to PAF destinations no longer inserts commas
          in long place names.  We believe that the old behavior was more
          of a hindrance than a help, as well as being somewhat confusing.

          Recently (version 2.27), support for the ANSEL character set
          was added to GEDCOM Import.  Now, GIM also supports that
          character set for GEDCOM Export as well.

          In the past, GIM made assumptions about which character set
          was appropriate for each GEDCOM Export destination.  Now,
          GEDCOM Export allows the user to select from among three
          character sets.  This allows greater flexibility, but also
          requires the user to better understand the use of the various
          character sets.

          GEDCOM Export now provides a placeholder for TempleReady
          compatibility.  Details are forthcoming.  At the present time,
          the TempleReady destination has no effect, and SHOULD NOT BE
          USED until further notice.

          In the past, GEDCOM exporting to all destinations placed all
          notes for each person subordinate to that person.  This had
          the effect of placing all incoming notes in a single note pool
          when the GEDCOM file was read back in.  It also had the effect
          that marriage and family notes were duplicated, because they
          were placed in the GEDCOM file once for the family's husband,
          and once for its wife.  However, several genealogical software
          programs have the ability to attach notes to events and to
          families; it is only sensible for GIM to accommodate such
          software by placing these notes with their respective events.
          GEDCOM exporting to both the GIM and Universal destinations
          now behaves in this manner.  (Because PAF only has the one
          notes field per individual, GEDCOM exporting to the PAF
          destinations still has all the notes lumped together in one
          block.)

          Notes exported to PAF are no longer indented.

          GEDCOM Import also recognizes that when the line "GIM SOURCE
          NOTE:" or "GIM RESEARCH NOTE:" appears at the head of a note
          on a line by itself it marks the difference between GIM's
          source and research notes.  This means that GIM can now export
          to a GIM destination and then import the same GEDCOM file
          while preserving the original note structure.  (The use of
          "GIM SOURCE NOTE:" text as the method of distinguishing
          between source and research notes here may seem contrived;
          but is necessary because GEDCOM doesn't distinguish between
          different flavors of notes.  Although GEDCOM has NOTE, SOUR
          TEXT, and the now obsolete COMM tags, these tags are used by
          various software packages to mean very different things.
          Moreover, some software packages make up tags like INFO and
          MEMO which are not compliant with the GEDCOM standard and
          hence are incompatible with other compliant programs.  As a
          result of this lack of standardized usage, the GIM Authors
          feel that it would be counterproductive to add to the
          confusion by adding any non-standard meaning to any of these
          tags.)

          When the GEDCOM Import function encounters more than one
          GEDCOM note for a given GIM note (say, a birth source note),
          these multiple notes are now separated by blank lines.

          Further corrections were applied to the handling of slashes
          in names and titles in imported GEDCOM files.  Earlier
          comments (see versions 2.29 and 2.27 below) about this
          subject reflected a misunderstanding about the proper use of
          these delimiters.

          The text of the copyright notice at the start of an exported
          GEDCOM file has been revised.

          The overall performance of Grafting has improved.

          Added a 5-generation Pedigree Chart to the Forms Area.

          Changed the defaults for graphics support.  The default is
          to auto-detect Hercules, CGA, EGA, or VGA, but not to detect
          Super-VGA (SVGA).  To activate SVGA, place "VESA" on the
          program command line or in the GIM environment variable.

          Several obsolete sections of the documentation and help text
          have been updated or rewritten, as necessary.


version 2.29 (first part of May, 1994)
     Changes since the last version:

          Fixed another bug in GIM LISTS.  When the WHERE command
          included a reference to a person's "SPOUSE" or "MARRIAGE"
          (instead of a qualified reference, like "ALL SPOUSES" or
          "FIRST SPOUSE" or "ANY MARRIAGE"), the program would crash.
          This has been fixed.

          Removed slashes, if any, from the TITL field in GEDCOM files.

          IBMPC is now the default, instead of ANSEL, if no character
          set is specified in a GEDCOM file.  This change violates the
          GEDCOM standard in a minimal way, but it conforms more
          realistically to real life.


version 2.28 (late April, 1994)
     Changes since the last version:

          A new module has been added to the Multi Area.  Shift-F4
          now activates an area that combines two persons into one
          person, for use when a person is duplicated in a folder.

          Garbage collection has been added to the Folder Check, to
          correct a problem of records appearing on the free list that
          don't belong there.  The Folder Check now tests the integrity
          of the free list and then conditionally does a garbage
          collection search.

          The Graft Area now uses exact comparisons on names and places
          instead of similar spellings for discrepancy detection.

          The Fix Folder function now includes new fixes for a person's
          source and research notes, and for the clipboard.


version 2.27 (March 9, 1994)
     Changes since the last version:

          When importing GEDCOM files, if the forward slash at the end
          of the surname wasn't also at the end of the entire name, the
          slash wasn't removed.  This bug has been fixed.

          Added recognition of the ALIA tag to GEDCOM imports.

          Added some hacks to get around Family Tree Maker GEDCOM
          inconsistencies.

          GIM documentation now recognizes the 10/93 edition of the
          preprinted Family Group Record form.

          Added recognition of the ANSEL character set when importing
          GEDCOM files.  Exported GEDCOM files still use the IBMPC
          character set, but the exported HEADer now includes a keyword
          to that effect.

          Added PARENTS and PARENTSETS keywords to GIM LISTS, making it
          possible to search for persons with given numbers of parents,
          and making it possible to ORDER lists by numbers of parents.

          When deleting a family, children with multiple parents are now
          handled correctly.

          The pedigree chart now follows traversal screen selections.

          Fixed a bug in GIM LISTS involving the PLUS and MINUS
          modifiers, which caused GIM to crash under certain conditions.

          It is now possible to run GIM from any directory on the
          system, not just from the directory where GIM resides.


version 2.26 (February 7, 1994)
     Changes since the last version:

          Rearranged an internal global structure so as to free some
          space on the heap.

          Saved the selected child for the ten most recently visited
          families in the GIMVAR.AUX file.

          When using the C or S commands on the Multi Area's traversal
          screen to move from the selected person to his or her children
          or spouses (respectively), it was possible to cause a range
          check error if a very large value were used, such as "C1234".
          This bug has been fixed.

          Added recognition of the PAGE tag to the GFE Area, which fixes
          an incompatibility with Brother's Keeper GEDCOM files.

          Fixed a bug in GIM LISTS which caused a hang (actually an
          infinite loop) when ORDERing by AFN, REFN, or CODE.

          Added text file reading and writing in the notes area.

          Added page up/page down functionality to the drive, directory,
          and file selection screen.  This selection screen is used in
          the Folder, GEDCOM, and Notes Areas.

          Fixed a bug, making it possible to delete the Code.

          Fixed a bug which assigned bad soundex codes to the spouses
          of children added with the F3 Add Child command on the Multi
          Area screen.  Also added checks for bad soundex codes to the
          folder check, and fixes for this situation to the fix folder
          utility.

          Enhancements to prune and graft, making them more robust and
          easier to use, and also fixing a bug which reversed the
          meanings of the control-F2 and control-F3 keys when pruning.


version 2.24 (December 22, 1993)
     Fixes several items that were reported since version 2.22 was
     released.  Among them, this version:

         allows more control in the Prune Area over the selection of
         branches of genealogical trees to be split off, copied, or
         deleted.

         fixes problems with GEDCOM transfers in the GFE Area, including
         special cases involving:  persons with more than one set of
         parents; the use of the new five-letter LDS temple codes; and
         the use of extra long notes lines.

         adds page numbers to the Ancestral and Descendancy Tables.

         allows print sessions to be aborted during printing.

         documents the use of command line arguments and environment
         variables.

         reflects Blaine's change of address.  (Can I mention that he's
         getting married?  :-)


version 2.22 (November 17, 1993)
     Fixes several minor bugs that were reported since version 2.20 was
     released, including:

          a bug in the Descendancy Table in the Forms Area which
          prevented the descendants of a person with no spouses from
          appearing on that form.

          a bug in the non-preprinted Family Group Record form which
          prevented place names from taking up the full width of the
          page when the LDS ordinances were turned off.

          a bug in the preprinted Family Group Record form which failed
          to include family notes unless both a husband and wife was
          present in the family.

          a bug in GFE Import which arose when the user attempted to
          select "new folder/file" as the name of the GEDCOM file to
          import.

          a bug in GIM LISTS which caused GIM to crash if a list was
          sent to the printer when the printer was off or unavailable.

     Also provided several enhancements, including:

          an enhancement to the pedigree chart to remove given and
          surnames when they are integers.

          an enhancement to GIM LISTS to allow the ORDER command to sort
          in reverse order.

          an enhancement to GIM LISTS to allow SCRIPT commands to
          default to the .SCR extension.

          an enhancement to the GIMPRN.GIM file to allow subscript and
          superscript printing on a DeskJet 500.


version 2.20 (September 10, 1993)
     First general public, non-beta release.