Gold Medal Software 3

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Brother's Keeper version 5.1F Table of Contents Description of the program . . . . . . . 1 Installing the program . . . . . . . . . 1 Adding people to the file . . . . . . . 3 Modifying people . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Individual add (single) . . . . . . . . 14 Edit text file . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Print routines . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Descendant chart . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Ahnentafel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Name - Custom - Birthday . . . . . . . . 21 Word search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Printer strings . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Backup data files . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Tree chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Ancestor charts . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Group sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Register style reports . . . . . . . . . 29 Descendant box charts . . . . . . . . . 31 Four family box charts . . . . . . . . . 32 More ancestor reports . . . . . . . . . 32 Merge two databases . . . . . . . . . . 33 Split one database . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Import or export gedcom . . . . . . . . 33 Utility program . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Bar charts (statistics) . . . . . . . . 37 Timeline chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Appendix A. How to correct problems . . 39 Appendix B. Printer problems . . . . . 41 Appendix C. Explain relationships . . . 42 Appendix D. Sample printouts . . . . . 44 Appendix E. Changes from prior versions 46 Appendix F&G. Converting & Suggestions 48 Appendix H. Technical stuff . . . . . 49 Appendix I. Alt keys . . . . . . . . . 50 Appendix J. Shareware . . . . . . . . . 51 Appendix K. Config.sys file . . . . . . 52 Appendix L. Custom reports . . . . . . 54 Appendix M. Picture files . . . . . . . 56 Appendix N. Btrieve stat errors . . . . 58 Appendix O. Function key summary . . . 60 Appendix P. Commonly asked questions 61 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Address and phone numbers for John Steed on page 64 Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 1 DESCRIPTION OF THE PROGRAM BROTHER'S KEEPER is a set of programs that will help you organize your family tree information, and that will print the information in several ways. You will be able to print descendant charts that show how anyone in the file is related to everyone else. You also may print ancestor charts, family group sheets, alphabetical name lists, descendant trees, birthday and anniversary lists, ahnentafel charts, box charts, timelines, and customized reports. For each person entered you may include a date of birth, a date of death, and three other dates, and you may store a place of birth, a place of death, and a place for three other events. You may record source information for every date or location. You also may enter two additional fields that you may define. Each person may have up to seven message lines of additional data or a text file of unlimited size containing additional data. Fields are available to store the person's current mailing address. Each person may have up to eight marriages stored. Each marriage record can hold a marriage date, a place of marriage, one additional date and place, and divorce information, and each marriage can have 24 children. You will need 512K or more of RAM memory in your computer to run the BK5 program (640K is recommended). This program may have problems if you have memory resident programs running also. It is strongly recommended that you install the program and the data files on a hard disk because the program will run very slowly if the data is on a diskette. Note: If you have used a different genealogy program, read Appendix F for information about converting data. Read the README.DOC file for corrections to this manual and to learn about changes made since the manual was printed. INSTALLING THE PROGRAM If you have a HARD DISK, then put disk number 1 in the A: drive and then type A: <enter> and then INSTALL <enter> to create a subdirectory and copy all the files on the program disks into the subdirectory. (If you are a Windows user, then from the program manager pick File, Run, A:INSTALL.) To run the program just change to that directory with CD \BK5 and then type BK5 and the program will start. (If you are a Windows user, then from the program manager pick File, Run, \BK5\BK5.) It is strongly recommended that you put the data files on your hard disk also. The program will create the data files on C:\BK5 unless you specify otherwise. You may enter up to 1,000,000 names with this version (if you have enough disk space). Brother's Keeper starts with a batch file called BK5.BAT. If you use a menu system on your computer, then the menu system should change to \BK5 before starting the BK5 batch file. If your menu system does not return when BK5 stops, then you could add to the bottom of BK5.BAT whatever line is needed to restart your menu. If you have problems starting the program, read APPENDIX P. If you have a 2 DISK DRIVE computer (no hard disk), put BK5.BAT, BTRIEVE, BK5MAIN, and LANGUAGE.BK5 on one disk and have a separate blank formatted disk available for the data files. Start the program by typing BK5. The very first time you start the program it will say, "if you have only 1 disk drive, insert the data disk now." This does not apply to you since you Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 2 have your data disk in the B: drive so just push enter. The program should then ask you for a "path" and you would type B: since that is where your data will be. You may put about 1000 names in the data files before you will fill up a 360K disk and about 2000 names if you have 720K disks. However, if you have a hard disk, use it for your data files. Putting your data on a floppy will result in the program running very slowly. It is strongly recommended that you put the program and the data files on a hard disk, and make backups onto floppies. If you have only 1 DISK DRIVE (no hard disk), put BK5.BAT, BTRIEVE, BK5MAIN, and LANGUAGE.BK5 on one disk and have a separate blank formatted disk available for the data files. Start the program by typing BK5 /H <enter>. The /H tells the program to stop and say "press enter" after the program is loaded. When it says press enter, take out the program disk and insert the data disk. After inserting the data disk, do not remove it until the program is stopped. To run the other programs that appear on the main menu, you will need instead to pick S to stop, and then put in a disk that has the program you want and then start that program. You will need to create for each program a batch file that has a first line that is the same as the first line in BK5.BAT and a second line with the name of the program. Note that this paragraph only applies to people with only one disk drive, such as users of some laptops. This program is designed to be run with the program and the data files on a hard disk, and if you do not have a hard disk you may experience problems. If you cannot get the program to run, see APPENDIX P. GENERAL TYPING INFORMATION When you are typing, use the following keys to make corrections: Backspace - delete the character to the left of the cursor CTRL-F3 - erase the whole field. Push again to restore it. Left arrow - move the cursor to the left Right arrow - move the cursor to the right Del - delete the character the cursor is under Ins - insert mode - to insert letters Home - move the cursor to the beginning of the field End - move the cursor to the last character in the field If you make a mistake and are past the field where the mistake is, you may type Shift-Tab or UP arrow and move back to the field and correct the mistake. Then push Enter or Tab or DOWN arrow to move forward to the next field you wish to input. On most keyboards, the Tab key is to the left of the letter Q. * You may set up Alt-keys to repeat any common names (see Appendix I). * You may type " to duplicate a location name that is above. * If you want to type an accented or foreign letter, hold ALT and press F2 and a chart will pop up. Then hold ALT and type the number that you want on the number keypad. Then release ALT. * Press F4 to display the mailing address fields, and then press CTRL-L (Control L) to print a label. If a person has an address entered, the letter "A" will be above the name on the modify screen. To print all Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 3 mailing labels, see Appendix L. The main menu of Brother's Keeper will show all the routines and programs that you may run. Add names or link Tree of descendants Modify or look anCestors Individual add (single) Group sheets Edit text file Register style report Options Box charts (descendants) Help 4 family box charts Descendants 3 more ancestor reports ahnentafeL merge 2 data files Names-custom-birthday split 1 database Word search gedcom import/eXport Print strings Utilities program bacKup data files * bar charts (statistics) Stop + timeline chart To select the routine you want to start, either type the letter that is capitalized (or the number) or else use the arrow keys to select the desired routine and then press enter. Each menu choice will be described below. ADD NAMES OR LINK You use the Add routine to add new people to the file, and to link together people who were previously entered. The Add screen shows husband information in the top section of the screen, wife information below that, the marriage information next, and then child information. After each child is added, that child's information is erased from the screen and another child may be added. The way to add people is first to type in the husband, then the wife, then the marriage information, then each of their children in order. You may start entering families in any order that you wish. You may start with yourself, or with your oldest known ancestor, or with anyone else that you wish. The reports will look the same, regardless of which family you enter first. An example of adding a family follows a discussion of the fields. When you are Adding someone, you may enter the following information: (size of field) PERSON'S NAME 40 SEX M or F or ? 1 DATE OF BIRTH 15 PLACE OF BIRTH 40 DATE OF DEATH 15 PLACE OF DEATH 40 3 OTHER DATES 15 each 3 OTHER PLACES 40 each REFERENCE 15 OCCUPATION 25 MESSAGE LINES (F5) (7 lines 78 characters each) Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 4 TEXT FILE 120 lines each SOURCE LINES (F6) (3 lines for each date) MAILING ADDRESS (F4) (6 lines 40 characters each) When you are adding a marriage, you may enter: MARRIAGE DATE 15 PLACE OF MARRIAGE 40 OTHER DATE 15 OTHER PLACE 40 MARRIAGE CEREMONY Y or N 1 DIVORCED/SEPARATED/ANNULLED 1 END YEAR 4 The person's name and sex are required information. The rest is optional. The sex is needed so that the program can correctly compute the relationships when printing. Use a ? if the sex of a child is unknown to you. * When you are entering names, use maiden names. All date fields are 15 characters long. You may type any information into a date field and it will be accepted. If you type a date in the form MMDDYYYY where MM is the month, DD is the day, and YYYY is the year, then the program will convert the date into a standard format. If you enter MMDDYY (i.e. you only enter 2 digits for the year), the program will convert the year to 19YY. Each date will be converted to whatever format (0-11) you have set in the options area. Format type 0 (zero) means no change from the way you type it. The other date formats (1-11) will do a conversion on the date you type (provided it is typed as MMDDYY or MMDDYYYY). If you wish to include /'s around the day you may, e.g. 5/4/1954 is acceptable for input. The following is an example of how the dates will be changed based on the format you have set. If you enter 05041954, it will be changed to (based on the date type you have chosen): Type 1 04-MAY-1954 Type 2 04 MAY 1954 Type 3 05/04/1954 Type 4 05-04-1954 Type 5 MAY-04-1954 Type 6 MAY 04 1954 Date types 7, 8, and 9 are only used when you want to ENTER dates in European date format (DDMMYYYY). Using the European date input, if you enter 04051954 you would get: Type 7 04-MAY-1954 Type 8 04 MAY 1954 Type 9 04-05-1954 Use date format type 10 or 11 if you will be entering the dates in the format YYYYMMDD. Type 10 1954-05-04 Type 11 1954.05.04 If you do not use one of the above date formats, the program will not be Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 5 able to compute ages for people. You may change the option called "Months capital or lower case" on Options screen 1 so that the months will appear as May instead of MAY and the day will appear as 4 instead of 04. If you have already entered dates in one format and wish to change to another format, you may use the utility program to change all dates. Generally, if you type in less than 6 digits or more than 8 digits or type any alpha characters (A-Z), then no date conversion will take place no matter which date format type you have set. You may, however, type either a ? or a _ for parts you don't know and it will still convert. For example if you don't know the day of the month you could type 05__54 and it will convert to __-MAY-1954 if you are using type 1 dates. Most dates will require 10 or 11 characters when converted. However, the field is 15 characters long to accommodate the exceptions. If you are not sure of a date, you may add additional information. The program will automatically recognize certain 3 character abbreviations such as ABT for about, CIR for circa, BEF for before, and AFT for after. For example, if you know a person died before March 15, 1920 you may enter BEF 031520 and the program will convert it to BEF 15-MAR-1920 if you are using type 1 dates. The abbreviations (ABT, CIR, BEF, and AFT) may be in upper or lower case. You may also enter dates with dual years such as 15-MAR-1680/81 The location fields each hold up to 40 characters. These fields will not print on the descendant printout, but they do print on the family group sheets, the ancestor charts, and on the register number system printout. Since many locations will be repeated, there are a few short-cuts to speed up your work. If the location has been entered previously, then type the first three or four letters and then press the F8 key. A list of matching locations will pop up and you may use the up and down arrow keys to pick the one you want and then press enter. This will guarantee that you are consistent in the spelling of the locations and that will result in a savings in disk space. Another short-cut is to use the ALT-keys (see Appendix I) to have the program remember 36 commonly used names or locations. Using the ALT-key routine, you can enter a location by pressing just two keys. Another short-cut is that you may enter a quote or ditto mark in a location field and the program will copy into that field whatever location is shown in the field above. For example, if you enter the birth location as Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, and then move down to the place of death, you may enter either " or ' as the first character in that field and when you push enter, the field will show Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan. When you use either the " or ' , the program will duplicate the closest non-blank location field above the one you are entering. If you are entering a wife or child, it will even go to the person above to find the field to duplicate. Some disk space is used for every unique location, however once a location has been entered, it does not take any more disk space to have several people use the same location. Another short-cut when entering locations is = (the equal sign). When you enter = in a location field, it will make the location equal to what that same field was for the last person you entered or displayed. For example, if you are entering data for a wife, and she was born in the same city as the husband, you may enter = for her place of birth. When you push enter, Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 6 it will display the same location that you entered for the husband. This is handy for times when " would not work because there are other locations directly above (such as husband's place of death) that are different. Using = will work even when the last person you entered is no longer showing, such as when you are entering children. If several children were born in the same location, you may enter = in the birth location and it will duplicate the location for the previous child. You may use = to duplicate any of the five location fields from the previous person entered. Remember that " will copy whatever is currently above on the screen at the time, whereas = will duplicate from the same location field from the previous person you entered, whether or not the person is still showing. While you are in a date or location field, you may press the F6 key and a screen will pop up allowing you to enter up to three full lines of information to describe your source. The information you are collecting and entering about people should be documented so that other people will know what your sources were. Often there will be a conflict regarding a date, and after a few years, no one (including yourself) will remember where you obtained the information. So "cite your sources" as the experts say. If the information is from a book, give the title, author, publication information, and perhaps where to find the book. Use the page number field to cite a specific page if you wish. Use the quality of data field to assign a number if you wish. Some people use a system to show which information has been proved, and which is questionable. If you are referring to a source you have previously entered, just type the first few letters in the source field and then press the F8 key to show the complete source. Each unique source takes up disk space, but duplicates take up no additional space. If your information is from personal knowledge or from a letter from someone, cite that also. On the modify screen, each date that has a source will have a dash on the left of the screen. The Reference field (which shows as REF: unless you change it in the options area) may be useful if you want to print out some other information about the person. For example, if you are getting your information from a family history book, you may use the Reference space to show the number already assigned to this person. When you print the descendant report, you have the option of printing this field in brackets after the name. In this version of Brother's Keeper you may also search and find people based on what is in their Reference field. For example, if you put JS1234 in the reference field, then whenever you want to find a person to modify or to print, you may type /JS1234 when asked for the name. The / character notifies the program to search based on the Reference field. If you want to use your own numbering system, put your number in the Reference field. Do not put the / character in the Reference field, just use it when searching. You may want to have this field automatically right justify the number. See the example given on page 19. The program assigns a code number for each person added, but it is not a genealogy number. It is just a number used by the program to help keep track of people. You do not have to print the BK code number on reports, so it makes no difference what a person's BK code number is. Genealogy numbers are computed automatically and printed on the appropriate reports. For example, when printing ancestor charts you have the option to print the "standard" number for each person. That is the same as the ahnentafel number (starting person is number 1, father is 2, mother is 3 and so on). When printing the Register report, the program will automatically compute Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 7 the Register number for each person. You may assign any name you wish to the 3 extra date fields, the Reference field, and the Occupation field. Use the options routine to assign new names to these fields. Whatever names you assign in the options area will display on the screen and show on the printouts. If you need to change other words which are built into the program or on the printouts, there is a program available called BK5WORDS that will let you change any or all of the words. This program is used by those wishing to translate the BK programs into another language. The program has been translated into several languages already including French, Danish, German, Norwegian, Polish, Finnish, Swedish and Dutch. Before you go to the work of translating, check with John Steed to see if someone has already translated into the language you want. Note that the BK5WORDS program does not do any translation from one language to another. It does not read your messages and translate them. It allows you to change words built into the program such as mother, father, etc. * After you have entered all the fields that you wish to for a person, push F10 (Function 10) and you will be moved on to the next person. Information you have entered is automatically written to the disk when you change to the next person. If you are adding people who are not already in the file, just type in the person's information (type the name in normal first-middle-last name order). If you are adding a spouse to someone who has already been added previously, you may type the person's code number or the person's first and last name and then F8 (F8 is the search key). For example to find John Smith type John Smith then F8. Since you pressed F8, the program will not add John Smith as a new person in the event you misspelled his name. If you type John Smith and press Enter, the computer will still search for him, and if he is not found, it will add him. Here is an example to clarify this. Let's suppose you type in the following people. Husband - John Smith Wife - Jane Jones Child 1 - James Smith Child 2 - Carol Smith After typing them all in, press the F10 key to clear the screen. Now you want to type in information about John Smith's second marriage. Since you have already added John Smith, you now only have to let the computer know who you want. So when prompted for the Husband, either type his code number (which we will say is 25 - so you would type 25) or type his name John Smith then F8 and either way the computer would show you his information that you entered previously. The computer would then notify you that it has information about his marriage that is already on file. You would then be asked if you wanted to display his first wife or add a new wife. In this case you would respond that you want to add a new wife. Then the computer would ask you for the Wife information. After you add his second wife and second marriage date information, add the children of the second marriage (if any). Then you push the F10 key to clear the screen. Let's say you want to add the husband of Carol Smith, the daughter. (Carol Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 8 has already been added.) When the add screen prompts you for a husband, type in the name of Carol's husband and the other data for him. When it prompts you for a wife, since Carol is already on file, type either her code number, (31 or whatever it is), or type Carol Smith and F8. Then type the marriage date information and their children (if any). Then push F10 to clear the screen. Now let's suppose you just found out that John Smith and Jane Jones had a third child, a son named Remington. You would add him this way. When prompted for a husband, type 25 or type John Smith and F8 and John Smith's information will show. The computer will inform you that he has two marriages on file. You will be asked if you want to display one of his wives or add a new one. In this case you are adding a child to a marriage that is already on file, so you will choose to display his first wife. When Jane is showing as the wife you will be asked if you want to keep this wife or display another. You would choose to keep this wife. When you do so, the program will jump to the child area, and will prompt you for child #3. You would then type in the information about Remington. (If the children are in the wrong order, use Modify to rearrange the order.) If you enter "N" in the marriage ceremony field, the program treats the couple as having never been married and will avoid printing the words "husband" and "wife" and "married" on the reports. If the field is blank, it is assumed they were married. If the couple was divorced, put a D in the divorced field. If the marriage was annulled put an A in that field and if they were separated, use an S. The "end year" field is the year the marriage ended in divorce, annullment, or separation. If the marriage ended because of the death of one of the spouses, leave those fields blank. If the divorce field is not blank, then the anniversary routine will not include that couple on the anniversary list. If you wish to designate a child as being adopted, a step child, or a foster child, then move to the last field for the child (the occupation field) and press CTRL-A (control A). Each time you press it, it will change the designation for the father and mother. This designation probably will be included on some of the reports in the future, but currently it will show up on the modify screen. You may also change this designation on the modify screen by moving to the occupation field and pressing CTRL-A. To enter a child under a second set of parents, when prompted for the child's name, type the code number for the child or type the child's name and press F8. So, in summary, when the program is asking for a person - either husband, wife or child - you may type in the person's name (if the person is new - i.e., not already in the file) or you may type the person's code number (the number that is assigned to a person when added) or you may type the name of a person who is in the file and F8 and the computer will search and find that person. When you type a name and F8, the program searches for a person with that name. It is actually only searching for a person who has the same first five letters in the first name and the same first five letters in the last name. Because of this, you do not need to type in middle names when you Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 9 are having the program search. Also, if the last name is over five letters, you may leave off all letters after the fifth. It is probable that more than one person could match when searching. If there is more than one match, the first person to match will display and you will be asked if this is the desired person or if you wish to continue searching. Push F10 if the person is correct, or push TAB to continue searching. When you type a name and push Enter (instead of F8), the program also will search for a name that is similar - just like pressing F8. However, you may change an option on option screen 3 so that when you type a name and press Enter, it will only show you exact matches in the event there is at least one exact match. If there is not an exact match, it will still show you the matches with the first five letters the same in the first and last names. The exact match option may be useful if you have thousands of names and do not want to review similar names that are not exact. If you are sure that the person you are adding is not already in the file, you may press F10 after typing the name (without pressing enter or F8) and it will add the person as new without searching the file and without showing any matching names. When you are searching for a person and you are not sure of the spelling of a name that is in the computer, you may use ? for the first and/or last name. For example use ? Smith to find all people with the last name of Smith. Or use Joseph ? to find all people with the first name of Joseph. This will work in the Add, Modify, and Print routines. If you are entering a family, where the father is unknown, you may use the name *UNKNOWN for the father's name, and there will not be any reference to a father on any reports. The name *UNKNOWN will not print. The computer will not save any information about a person with *UNKNOWN for a name. It is just a way to bypass a person and allow you to enter children with only one parent. If you want to save information about a person, but do not know the name, you may use ____ ____ for the name. When you are prompted for the name of a child, you may press F9 to display all the children entered in that family so far. Also, you may press F6 when the child name field is blank to go immediately to the Modify routine and display the same family. When adding a child, type the first name and middle name then hold ALT and press - and it will add the last name from the father. This feature only works if you do NOT have the ALT - key assigned to anything. If you have assigned something to ALT - or if ALT - does not work as described, you can do the following: Put the cursor in a blank field. Press HOME Press ALT F10 (hold ALT press F10) Press ALT - (hold ALT press -) Then type the child's first and middle name and hold ALT and press - and the father's last name should appear. In addition to the name field, you may enter an alternate name for each person. After you have entered a person's name, you may press F6 while at the name field to enter the alternate name. This alternate name is Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 10 currently used as the person's current name when printing birthday lists. So if a woman kept her maiden name after marriage, put her maiden name in the alternate name field and it will not use her husband's last name on the birthday report. (If most women keep their maiden name then set that option on option screen 3.) The alternate name also prints on compressed group sheets, and is used in the alphabetical names list (N from the main menu, then 3) if you request all names for a person. Remember when you are adding to the file that you should make copies of the data files regularly. You do not want to have to add all these names again in case of a disk going bad (it happens) or a bug in the program (it happens). You may use the Backup menu item to copy all the data files to another disk. If you are using a hard disk and the files are too large to copy to a floppy, then use the DOS BACKUP command or use another backup program. If your BK5 data files are in the C:\BK5 directory, then you would type this at the C: prompt: BACKUP C:\BK5\*.DT5 A: If your data files are in a different directory, the directory name will show on the main BK5 menu screen above the line that shows the number of people in your file. The backup command will show you the names of the files being copied, such as BKPERSON.DT5 and BKMARR.DT5. If is does not show these names during the backup then something is wrong - perhaps your data files are in a different directory. Note: If you use the DOS BACKUP command to back up your data files, then you would use the DOS RESTORE command to restore them if they are ever needed. If you use the backup command on the BK5 menu, then you would use the DOS COPY command to copy them back to your hard drive. Also note that the BK5 backup command and the DOS BACKUP command described above do NOT copy any text files that you have attached using the $$filename.txt method. You also could use a compression program such as ARC or PKZIP to make a compressed copy of the data files. A program such as ARC will compress the data files down to about one quarter the regular size. (The actual data files are not reduced but the compressed copy may be saved on a floppy disk.) If you have your data on a floppy then use DISKCOPY to make a copy of the diskette. Have at least two different backup copies of the data disk, and in case of a major problem, make more different copies before you attempt to fix the problem in case you make matters even worse. These suggestions come from years of experience with computers and years of experience in making matters worse. MESSAGE LINES If you want to put in other information for a person, you may do so using message lines (up to 7 lines) and text files (unlimited length). Since there is not room to show these message lines on the screen all the time, you may see or add message lines by moving the cursor to any date or place field and then pressing the F5 (Function 5) key. The bottom of the screen will then clear and display any existing messages for the person and let you add or modify the messages. After you are finished with the messages, Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 11 they will be replaced on the screen by the child information. Remember that there are separate message lines for the husband and the wife. Since message lines will not always be showing, the computer will notify you if a person on the screen has some message lines already. It does this by putting the letter M on the screen on the line above the person's name. If you need more than 7 lines, see text files below. The descendant report, register report, and group sheet routine will let you print message lines. Each time you run those routines you will have the option to print no message lines or all message lines or certain message lines about a person. You might have certain messages that are only for your information about a person and other messages that you wish to print out. There is a way to designate certain message lines that you wish never to have printed out. If you want to enter a message line, but never have it print out, then start the message line with the # character as the first character in the line. For example, you could enter a message line as follows: #Committed suicide. Any message line that starts with the # character will not print, even if you ask for all message lines to print. If you want some message lines to print some of the time and all the message lines to print at other times, start each message line that you want to print some of the time with an asterisk * as the first character in the line. When printing, you may choose the option to print only message lines that start with an asterisk and other message lines will not print on that report. (The * will not print; it is simply a code to tell the computer which lines you want to print.) If you want either all message lines or no message lines to print on some reports, you do not need to start each line with an asterisk, just choose the correct option regarding message lines when printing. In addition to the 7 message lines, you also may designate one or more text files to be associated with a person. To do this, go to the message lines section for a person (by pressing F5) and type at the beginning of any message line two dollar signs and then the name of a text file. For example, if you have a text file in the \WP50 directory called SMITH.TXT you would type a message line of $$C:\WP50\SMITH.TXT (Nothing else should be after the name of the text file on that message line.) Then, whenever you are running a print routine that is printing all message lines, it also would print the file SMITH.TXT. The text file can be created by any word processor, provided it is saved in ASCII format or DOS text format. (That is the format that you may read directly on the screen by using the DOS command TYPE.) Each line in the file should have no more than 78 characters in it. If you do not want to use your word processor to create the text file, you may use a limited 120 line editor that is included in this program. You start the text editor by entering a message line starting with $$ and the name of the file and then pressing F5 again. The file name may be up to 8 characters long followed by a period and then up to 3 more characters. There should be no spaces between the first $ and the last letter of the name. (The same method of linking to a text file is used to link to a picture file. See Appendix M.) The text editor has a few features to help you when making changes. If you wish to insert a new line between two existing lines, then press F9. If you wish to delete a line, then first make the line blank (by pressing CTRL F3) and then press F7 to remove the blank line. If you wish to move a Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 12 line, press Alt F10, then when it is blinking, press Alt = (Alt and equal) then move to the new location and press Alt = again. The editor has a word wrap feature and includes mouse support. MODIFYING * If you want to modify or look at a person's information, use the modify routine. When finished, push F10 (Function 10) to return to the menu. The modify screen will ask you for a person's code number or name. When it finds the person, it will show the person, the person's mother and father, the person's spouse, and the names of the children. You may then modify any information about the person and the marriage. (You may not change the sex of the person if the person is married.) To change information about a person showing, use the up and down arrow keys to move to the field to change and type in the correct information. If a person has more than one spouse, you may display the other spouses in this manner: when the cursor is at the bottom right corner, push the F9 key (Function 9) and the next spouse will display along with the children from that marriage. If you want to change date or location information about the parents, spouse, or children, then you would need to switch to them (see below) as the person to modify. If you want to add the parent's names, use the Add routine, not the Modify routine. If you want to delete the parents (because of an error) then switch to one of the parents as the person to modify, and then pick D to delete the child. This same modify screen may be used to delete a child who was put in a family in error, to change the order of children, to delete a spouse who should not be married to this person, and to change the order of spouses. If you want to do one of these four things, type one of the following when the cursor is at the bottom right corner. R = rearrange the order of the children who are showing D = delete a child who is showing W = change the order of a spouse X = delete a spouse When you delete a child or delete a spouse, the child or spouse will still exist in the file, however they will no longer be connected to this person in any way. You are then able to add that person as a child of someone else, for example. If a person has the wrong parents, modify one of the parents and delete the child. If you want to add the parents for a person, use the add routine from the main menu. A person may have two sets of parents. Press F8 to see the second set of parents. If you want the second set of parents to be the primary parents, press the : key while the cursor is in the bottom right corner. When you want to rearrange the order of children, you will be shown the children in their current order with the word OLD above their code numbers. You will then be allowed to type in the code numbers in the correct order under the heading of NEW. Type in the code numbers in the correct order and then press F10 and the computer will move the names of the children into the new order. To completely DELETE someone from the file, press / while the cursor is in the bottom right corner of the modify screen. You will be asked if you really want to delete the person, and if so it will remove the person and Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 13 delete all links from that person to parents, spouses, and children. If the person was married, the children will still be attached to the other spouse. If you want to attach a person to the other spouse as the parent of those attached children, modify the other spouse and press F6 to jump to add and then type the new spouse in the husband or wife area. After a person is deleted, that code number is not used again, but the disk space will be reused by other people you add. Perhaps in a future version there will be a way to reuse the number. There is no reason for you to have to reuse a number since it is not a genealogical number, but since a few people may want to do so, here is a method to use instead of the above method. To delete a person and allow the number to be reused: First, be sure that person is not linked to anyone else. Use Modify to call up the person and check that the parents say "not entered" and the spouse and child areas are blank. Then change the name to NOT USED and also blank out all the date and location fields and message lines. Then, the next time you are adding children to someone, type the code number that you wish to reuse or else type NOT USED and F8. It will display the NOT USED person. Then use the UP arrow key to move up through the fields to the name field. Type the new correct name and then all the correct date and location information. The new information will be stored with that code number and the person will now be linked into a family. Often, when you are looking at someone on the modify screen, you want to display someone else who is closely related to the person showing. Therefore, there is a quick routine for doing this. When the cursor is at the bottom right corner of the modify screen, you may type one of the following characters to move quickly to another person. F = display the person's Father M = display the person's Mother S = display the person's Spouse 1 = 1 to 9 to display child 1 to 9. 0 is 10. Shift-1 is 11 O = display the next Older brother or sister of this person Y = display the next Younger brother or sister of this person - = display the person with the previous code number + = display the person with the next code number If the person you are displaying is married, then you may also press F6 and you will go immediately to the Add routine so that you may add more children to the family. If the person you are displaying has two sets of parents, you may press the F8 key to see the other set of parents. The parents that are shown when you first display a person with modify are the primary parents, and the other parents are the secondary parents. When you print an ancestor chart, the primary parents will show. If you wish to switch the primary and secondary parents for someone, then on the bottom line of the modify screen type the : character. You may use the modify routine to add location names to a person's data. However, if you are correcting a spelling mistake in a location, you should use the Utility program which allows you to fix that mistake for everyone who uses that location. The Utility program also lets you delete locations that are no longer being used. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 14 INDIVIDUAL ADD (SINGLE) Some people want to be able to add a person to the files without having to link the person to a spouse or parents. To do this, use the individual add routine. You may enter a new person using this routine, and then link the person to others at a later date using the normal add routine. One case where this routine might be useful would be if you have information on a person that you know fits into your family somewhere. You could enter the person, and then when you find the connection later, you may link the person to others without having again to look up all the details about the person. EDIT TEXT FILE The E routine will allow you to create or edit a text file with up to 120 lines of text. (You also may access this editor by pressing F5 when in the message line area.) This is useful if you need to have more than 7 message lines for a person and are using the $$FILENAME option on one or more of the message lines (as described above in the add section). You may use this routine to create the file instead of having to stop the program and start your word processor. Although this is a quick way to edit files, it is limited in features. Besides the normal editing keys, the text editor has a few features to help you when making changes. If you wish to insert a new line between two existing lines, then press F9. If you wish to delete a line, then first make the line blank (by pressing CTRL F3) and then press F7 to remove the blank line. If you wish to move a line, press Alt F10, then when it is blinking, press Alt = (Alt and equal) then move to the new location and press Alt = again. If you do not have a word processor, I would suggest the shareware program PC-WRITE that is available from several sources. You cannot use the E routine of Brother's Keeper to edit an existing file that is longer than 120 lines or one that has lines longer than 78 characters. If you use your word processor to create a file, there is no limit to the number of lines you may enter. The print routines that print all message lines will print the entire text file that you have named in a message line. If you have MS-DOS version 5.0 you can use the EDIT program to create large ASCII files. If you use a word processor to create your text files, be sure that the file is saved in ASCII format and not in some special format that is unique to that word processor. The ASCII format is the format that can be read from DOS with the TYPE command. If you are at the DOS prompt (A: or C:) and enter TYPE and then the name of the text file, you should be able to read the text file on the screen. If you see strange characters, the file is not saved in ASCII format. Some word processors always save files in ASCII format, but most word processors have their own file format but also have an option of saving files as ASCII. With WordPerfect version 5 you use CTRL F5 to save a file in text. OPTIONS The O options routine will let you change certain parameters. The first screen appears as follows: Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 15 Default value color mono Form color (3) or (7) Data color (7) or (15) Background color (1) or (0) Date format (0-11) (1) Months Capital or Lower (0) Name for date below Born Baptized: Name for date below Died Buried: Name for date 2 below Died Other: Name for bottom line at left Ref: Name for bottom in center Occupation: Name for date below married Other: Menu default 1=Add 2=Modify (1) Special effects? curtain (yes) Beginning output (printer or display) Push Enter if 1 character (no) Character for # ASCII(35) (35) Path for data files (drive or path) On this screen you may change the colors, change the conversion format for the dates (see the ADD section above for description of date types), and have the dates converted to upper or lower case. Also you may change the names that will appear for the other date fields and for two other fields. Whatever description you put here in the options section will show on the Add and Modify screens and on the printouts. You may have the main menu default to highlight either the add line or the modify line when the program starts, and you may cause the program to use special effects (like the opening and closing curtain.) The program may be set to start up with the output going to the printer or the screen (you may also change the output at the main menu by pressing F9.) You may either require the pressing of the enter key after filling a one character field, or you may have the program not require pressing enter. If your printer cannot print the # character, then change the value from 35 to a value that prints a symbol that you want printed before a person's code number. For example the ASCII number 43 is the + character and the number 110 is a lowercase n. The line for the path for the data files tells the program where your data files are located. That line should contain the drive and subdirectory name that will contain your data. For example, it might be C:\BK5 or it might be C:\SMITH or whatever directory name you have set up. The data files are the files that contain all the names, dates, locations, sources, message lines, and mailing addresses. Those files have names that end with the letters DT5. After you push F10 you will see screen 2, which has the printer options. Ascii vertical (179) Ascii horizontal (196) Ascii corner (192) Ascii vert/right (195) Ascii horz/down (194) Print generation bar (yes) 1 2 3 4 Printer LPT1 or LPT2 (LPT1) Date format top of form (1) 1 = 01-JUN-1991 4 = 06-01-1991 Pause after each page (no) continuous Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 16 Compress print on (15) Regular print on (18) Bold print on (27) (69) Bold print off (27) (70) Can it bold/w compress (no) Can printer backspace (yes) Can it CR w/out LF (yes) Graphic spacing sideways (18) CR/LF for end of line (0) Print string 1 Print string 2 Print string 3 The utility program (pick U from the main menu) can help you in setting up the codes for your printer. The defaults shown above work fine for dot matrix printers such as Epson and IBM. For the HP Laserjet printer, the utility program will set up the codes: Compress 27 38 107 50 83 0 0 Regular 27 38 107 48 83 0 0 Bold on 27 40 115 51 66 Bold off 27 40 115 48 66 If that does not work on your model of Laserjet, you may wish to try: Compress 27 40 115 49 56 72 0 Regular 27 40 115 49 48 72 0 The first five numbers on option screen 2 are the characters that are used when printing the tree chart (T from the main menu). If your printer does not print graphic lines for the tree chart, first try changing the dip switches in your printer to set up the IBM character set #2 (look in the index of your printer manual under "dip switches" or under "character sets"). If you have an HP laser printer, you can change to the correct character set by sending print string number 13. (Pick P from the main menu then 13.) If you have a Panasonic or other 24 pin printer, try P from the main menu then 20. If you still can not get the correct character set, then change the top five numbers as described in the description of the Tree routine on page 26. The "print generation line" refers to the numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 at the top and bottom of the descendant report (D on the main menu). If you do not know the answer to the 3 "can" questions about your printer, you may run the printer test routine by typing a T at the bottom right corner of option screen 2. The test routine will show you if your printer can backspace, if it can do a carriage return without a line feed, and it will show you whether your codes for compress, regular, and bold are correct. The three print strings allow you to save any information you wish to send to your printer using the P routine from the main menu. Note, you do not have to put anything on these three lines - all reports will work correctly if these lines are blank. These three lines are for optional print strings. You may wish to change to a different type style, or set a left margin. Each of these strings can be up to 42 characters long. Set up the ASCII decimal values you wish to send to the printer with a comma or a / Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 17 between values. For example, if your printer has a NLQ (near letter quality) mode, you could set print string 1 to be: /27/52 and then when you send print string 1 to the printer using P from the main menu, the printer will be set to NLQ mode which will make the family group sheets look better. Consult your printer manual to see what features your printer has and what ASCII decimal codes must be sent to activate them. If you need more codes than what will fit on one line, you may use two lines and then send both lines. Note that most of the reports start by sending to the printer either the codes for regular size or compress size letters. Sometimes this will change your printer setup. For example, if you use the print strings to send codes to your printer to print in near letter quality mode, and then you start the D routine for descendants, your printer probably will not print in near letter quality because the D routine sends the codes for compressed print. Option screen 3 appears as follows: Character before last name [ Character after last name ] Label size (lines top to top) 6 Which address lines to print 1 2 3 4 5 Put changes in BKAUDIT no Show date of change no Character to never print mess. # ASCII for vertical bar 124 Enter will search exact names no Printer codes for superscript Printer codes cancel superscript Esc same as F7 F10 means done. Right justify Ref field Wife keeps her maiden name Turn off mouse Codes meaning printer is ready 0 0 Codes meaning printer not ready 999 999 Print string before each report Print string before ancestor On option screen 3 you may specify which characters to use to surround unusual last names. (See last names section.) Also you may set the size of your labels that you use for printing addresses. The size you set here is the total number of lines from the top of one label to the top of the next label. You may also tell which mailing address lines to print on the label, and in which order. For example, if you have the phone number on line 6 you may leave it off the printed labels, or you could print it as the first line if you want. If you answer yes for the BKAUDIT file, then when you make changes to a person using the modify routine, the changes will be written into the BKAUDIT file. The file will show the date you made the change, the person's code number, the field you changed, and the old and new value. The program can currently show changes made to the name, any of the five Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 18 dates, the Ref and occupation fields. It does not currently show changes made to the location fields, the marriage information, or the sources. This BKAUDIT file, if used, will continue to grow in size until you delete it. To see what is in it, you may print the file or display it on the screen using either your word processor or the DOS command TYPE. Do NOT use your word processor to view any of the BK data files (that end with the letters DT5) or they will be damaged. If you elect to show the date of last change, it will display the date on the top line of the modify screen. The date shown will be the date the person was added, or the date a change was made with modify. Currently, if you move the cursor into any of the fields for a person being modified, it will change the date even if the field was not changed. Message lines that start with the # character (or whatever character you set up on option screen 3) will never print out even if you ask for all message lines to print. The vertical bar character is the character that is used on the ancestor charts, and the compressed group sheets. It is normally the | character which is ASCII 124, but you may change it to the graphics character ASCII 179 or another character. If you answer no on the line about "enter will search exact names," then when you type a name and press enter, the program will show you all names with the same first five letters in the first name and the same first five letters in the last name. If you answer yes for this option, then if you type a name and there is at least one exact match, then only exact matches will be shown. If you want to see non-exact matches you could still do so by typing the name and pressing the F8 key instead of the enter key. For example, if you have 15 people named Robert Jones, you might want to set this option to yes so that when you type the complete name, including the middle name, you will not have to skip through all 15 people. The codes for superscript should be set up using the utility program (U from the menu) to pick your printer. If your printer is not Epson compatible or HP compatible, you may have to set up the superscript codes manually. These codes are used when printing footnotes in the group sheet routine or the register report. On group sheets, the footnote numbers will be in superscript at the bottom, but not up by the locations. This was done intentionally because with several date and location lines all together, the footnote numbers, if superscripted, look confusing; they would appear to be subscript numbers for the line above. You may change the meaning of the ESC key. In older versions of BK5 (and in this version if this line is set to zero) the ESC key would erase a field and also restore it if pressed twice. However, many programs use the ESC key to get out of a routine, so this version of BK5 will make the ESC key be the same as the F7 key which allows you to abort when adding and abort when starting a print routine. If you were using a previous version of Brother's Keeper, the ESC key will continue to work as before unless you change it on option screen 3. Use CTRL F3 to erase a field. You may also change the meaning of the F1 key. In previous versions of BK5 the F1 key meant that you were finished with a person. You can also use the F10 key to mean you are finished. However you may turn off the F1 key in this version since many other programs do not use F1 to mean finished. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 19 You may set the REF: field to right justify. If you do so, whenever you type something in the REF: field and press enter, the letters you typed will shift over to the right as far as possible. This is useful because that field is usable as an index field. If you are assigning your own numbers to people using that field, then they will print in the correct order if you right justify the numbers. You may print people in REF: order by picking "N" from the main menu of BK5 and then "9". If you want to right justify all REF: entries that you have made previously, you can run the Utility program and Quality check and it will right justify the field for all people. You do not need to right justify the field if your numbering system is the Henry system. If you are not using the REF: field for a numbering system, then don't change anything. Example: do justify for normal numbers do not justify for Henry system 7 1 person 1 8 11 child 1 of person 1 9 12 child 2 of person 1 10 121 child 1 of child 2 of 1 11 122 child 2 of child 2 of 1 12 13 child 3 of person 1 If most wives in your database keep their maiden names, you can set that option and the birthday report will not give the wives the last names of their husbands. You can set an option to turn off the mouse since it does not work the way is does in Windows programs and may confuse some people. You can set codes on option screen 3 for printer ready and printer not ready. These codes are currently used in the register report and some other reports. If your printer does not print the register report, then look at the code displayed in the register report and put that code here for printer is ready. Most printers should work without changing these codes, but you can change them if necessary to make the register report work. Each printer gives a code back to the program when it is off-line, out of paper, has a full buffer, or is turned off. The program will attempt to wait for the printer when one of those codes is received. If the register report prints correctly, and the screen sometimes says "waiting for printer" after a few pages, then is is working normally. You can set the program to send a print string before each printed report is started. For example, if you have a Hewlett Packard laser printer, you can set it to send string number 13 which will change the character set to the IBM graphics character set. If you have a 24 pin Panasonic printer, have it send string number 20 each time. You may want to send string 8 before the ancestor charts if you have an HP laser printer since that report requires more than the normal 60 lines per page. Any print string that can be sent with the print string routine (P from the menu) can be sent automatically in this way. HELP Choosing H from the main menu will give you a summary of some of the information in this documentation. Even though it is brief, it may remind you of what you need to know. Also pay attention to the bottom line whenever you are in the add or modify mode, because it will show you your choices as you are entering data and moving from field to field. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 20 PRINT ROUTINES In any of the print routines (e.g. ancestor, tree, group sheets, descendants) you may type a person's code number or the person's name when specifying who to print. You may type a question mark (?) in place of a first or last name that you are not sure of. When given a print option, the default answer will show and you may push enter to keep that response or you may type in a different response. All print routines may have the output sent to the PRINTER, to the SCREEN, or to a DISK file. (You may use the Options routine to set up a default so that each time that you start the program it will be set for either the printer or the screen.) Whenever you are at the main menu, push F9 if you wish to change the output. There are two ways to write to a disk file. One way is to include the control codes (such as compressed and bold). This is useful if you want to print the information later. The other way is to send the output to a file without control codes. This method is useful if you wish to use a word processor to edit the file. (If you wish to save the output of an ancestor chart without control codes, you probably should first temporarily set the printer options on option screen 2 to "cannot backspace" and "cannot CR without LF" since that report tries to underline the names if possible.) If you send the output to a disk file, you may type the name for the disk file or use the default name (which is the date.) If you send several printouts to the same file, it will append to the file (add to the end of the file). The output file may later be edited with a word processor or desktop publishing program, or may be sent to a printer with the copy command. You may edit a file you create in this way, but never edit one of the BK data files (all BK data files end with the letters DT5). If you are printing a multi-page printout and the second and following pages do not start at the top of the paper, it means you need to set your "top of form" on your printer. To set the "top of form," move the paper to the top of a page, then turn the printer off, then back on again. Once you set the top of form, it will remain set correctly as long as you do not turn the knob on the printer. Also, be sure the length of your paper matches the length that is set in your printer. This program sends a "form feed" command after every page to advance to the top of the next page. Most printers can be set up for different sizes of paper such as 8 1/2 by 11 inches or A4 size paper. DESCENDANTS REPORT Choosing D from the main menu will print the descendants of any person. You will have the option to print code numbers and message lines. You also have the option to double space and to print relationships. (The utility program also has the ability to compute relationships.) The descendant routine will show up to 30 generations. A sample printout appears in Appendix D. If you wish to show more information about each person, try printing the register report or the indented report (by choosing R from the main menu.) The D routine assumes your printer can print 132 characters in compressed (or condensed) mode. It sends the codes to put the printer in compressed mode. If the report does not print compressed on your printer, then use the utility program (U on the menu) and set up your printer with the "pick Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 21 a printer" choice. You also could go to option screen 2 and enter the codes. If your printer can print more or less than 132 characters, you may type in a different number when asked for the number of characters per line (the range is from 70 to 250). The descendant report prints a series of numbers at the top and bottom of the page. These are generation numbers and they line up with the indentations for each new generation. If you prefer to eliminate those numbers, you may go to option screen 2 and enter a zero for the line that says "print generation bar." AHNENTAFEL The L routine will print an Ahnentafel list (Ahnentafel is from a German word meaning ancestor table). This is a list of ancestors of a person, without drawing a chart like the Ancestor routine. You have the option to show relationships (such as Parent, Grand Parent, etc.). This routine will show standard code numbers starting with 1. The father of any person has a standard code number of double the child. The mother of any person has a standard code number of double the child plus 1. The Custom report routine is used when printing so that you may choose which information to print about each person. See Appendix L for more information about custom reports. For example, when you pick L, it will ask who you want to print the report for. You type the person's name or code number. Then it reads all the ancestors into memory. Then you set up a custom report (or use a previously saved custom report). If this is your first time using custom reports, you could pick field 2 for the person's name, and then 40 for the name length, and then 4 for the person's birth date. Then when you press F10, the report will print. Note that the ahnentafel report will add the standard ahnentafel code number at the beginning of each line, so the line length will be about 12 characters longer than the total of the fields you pick. You also should try the other ahnentafel report that is available by choosing "3" from the main menu. That ahnentafel will print a paragraph of information for each person, and it also can print more generations and an index. NAME, CUSTOM, BIRTHDAY Option number 1 of the N routine will print all names, birth dates, and code numbers in numerical order. If a name field is blank or is equal to "Not used" or is equal to "*UNKNOWN" or if a person has been deleted then it will not print. Option number 2 also will print everyone, but it allows you to custom design a report with any information about each person. See Appendix L for information on custom reports. If you pick option number 3, you will create a file called ALPHA1.DTA which may then be sorted alphabetically. (You may create a file of ALL names or just the descendants of a certain person.) Each person's name will automatically be changed to last name first (see LAST NAMES below). This file may then be sorted into a file called ALPHA2.DTA and when that file is printed (option 4 or 5), you will have an alphabetical list. Remember, before you can pick routine 4 or 5, you must first run routine number 3 to create the file ALPHA1.DTA and then sort it. After the file ALPHA1.DTA is Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 22 created, you may sort the file while still in the Brother's Keeper program if you have enough memory and if the SORTF.COM program is with your BK programs. (Your version may use VSORT instead of SORTF.) If you are not able to sort from within the BK program, then you must stop the program in order to sort the file. To sort the file use the SORTF program. Copy the SORTF.COM file to your disk and then type SORTIT which is a batch file to sort the file. (To run the batch file, the files SORTIT.BAT and SORTF.COM should be on your data disk or in the same sub- directory as the data.) If you do not have the SORTIT batch file, just type: SORTF ALPHA1.DTA ALPHA2.DTA The sort may take a minute or so, depending on how many names you have. (The ALPHA1 file and the sorted file will each use up 59 bytes of disk space for each name.) When the sort is finished, restart the BK program and run the N routine option 4 or 5 to print the alphabetical list. You may run options 4 and 5 several times without having to sort the file again. However, you will need to sort again if you add people to the file. Option number 6 will create a file (called BIRTH1.DTA) that can be sorted to print a birthday and/or anniversary list. This routine will only include people who are still alive (the date of death field is blank) unless you specify otherwise. This routine also will attempt to give married women the correct last name, even though you entered their maiden names. If you choose to create a file of the descendants of someone, you also will have the option to include other people in the list (just in case you want to include a relative who is not part of the descendant list). After running this routine, you may type Enter to sort the file or you may stop the BK program and sort the file by typing BIRTHDAY. That will run the batch file that sorts the data. The same requirements that are discussed above about needing the SORTF.COM or VSORT program also apply to this sort routine. After the sorted file (called BIRTH2.DTA) is created, start the BK program and pick N then 7 to print a birthday/anniversary list. This will show everyone's birthday and/or anniversary in order, starting with January. If the results of the birthday/anniversary list are not correct, check to make sure that the format of your birth dates matches what is specified on option screen 1 for date type. (See date types in Add section above.) If your dates are not all in the same format, you will get strange results. You may use the utility program to change the format if you wish, but be sure to have a backup copy of all your data files before changing the date format since sometimes the results are not what you expected. Item 8 from the menu will print a calendar. The calendar program reads the BIRTH2.DTA file that you have sorted, and prints the names in the appropriate box. The program is designed for printing current calendars showing living people. The files ALPHA1.DTA, ALPHA2.DTA, BIRTH1.DTA, and BIRTH2.DTA are temporary files that may be deleted (if you wish) after printing. They must be recreated anyway if you later want to print an updated report. You may edit these files if you wish to make changes before printing. DO NOT EDIT Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 23 ANY FILE THAT HAS A NAME ENDING WITH .DT5. The .DTA files are created on the same drive or in the same subdirectory as the .DT5 data files. If your programs are on a different drive, or in a different subdirectory, you will need to change to that data area before sorting with the SORTIT or BIRTHDAY batch files. It is possible to change the batch files so that the drive or path is included in the batch file. Just put the drive or path name in front of the existing file names. For example, if your data is in the C:\SMITH directory, you could change the BIRTHDAY batch file to read: SORTF C:\SMITH\BIRTH1.DTA C:\SMITH\BIRTH2.DTA /+47,4 If you have modified the batch file to include drive or path names, you may then exit the BK program, type the name of the sort batch file, and then restart the BK program without having to change directories. If you pick item 9 from the menu, it will print a custom report of people in the REF: order. So if you have entered your own numbers in the REF: field, you can print a sorted listing. It will not print people with a blank REF: field. See the suggestion about right-justifying the REF: field described on page 19. LAST NAMES Certain suffixes such as Jr and Sr will be ignored by the program while it is looking for each person's last name. If you put a suffix after a name, and the program thinks that the suffix is the last name, you may add a period after the suffix and the program will skip it and find the correct last name. For example, if you put MD after a person's name, you could put a period after it so that it will not be alphabetized under the M's. You could end the name with MD. or M.D. and then it should print correctly. The program also will attempt to place two part last names in the proper order. If you come across a last name that does not alphabetize correctly, then surround the last name with the [ and ] characters. For example, if you enter a name as John Steed of Kent, the program will alphabetize using the name Kent, but if you enter it as John [Steed] of Kent, then it will be alphabetized under Steed. The [ and ] characters will not print on the reports. The program automatically looks for many two part names such as those starting with Van, so the name Jack Van Ek should alphabetize correctly without using [ ]. But if a person's middle name is Van, then the program may assume it is a two part last name, so put in the name as John Van [Brown] and it will alphabetize under the name Brown instead of Van. WORD SEARCH The word search routine, like the other reports, can be either printed, displayed, or sent to a disk file. Press F9 at the main menu to change the output between print, display, and file. There are three types of Word searches. The first type will let you enter one word or name and will search all fields of each person for a match. If you type "Chicago" it will find all people who were born or died in Chicago, or have the word "Chicago" in a message line, or even have "Chicago" in their name. The second type of Word search is field specific, which means that it searches for a word only in a particular field. It Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 24 also can search for people with several fields that match, and it uses the Custom report format for printing. This second type of Word search will let you find all the females who were born in Chicago in 1950. The third word search is like the second, except it searches the marriage file which contains the marriage dates and locations. First a discussion of the first type of Word search. It will allow you to search all fields and message lines. Type the word or words you are searching for (capitals or lower case makes no difference). The program will then search the names, dates, locations, and message lines (not text files) to find a match and will display or print the names of people who have data that matches. When the end of the file is reached, you will be asked if you also want to search the marriage records. If you wish to search the 2 date fields and 2 place fields associated with each marriage, then push enter, otherwise you may skip the searching of the marriage file. Note that the first word search routine is looking for an exact match to what you type in. So if you type "Joe Doe", it will not match "Joe Q Doe". However, the search is useful to find all relatives who were born in, or died in, or were married in, a certain city. You also may match people who share a common date. For example, if you matched "1954" you would find all people who were born or died in that year. The second and third types of Word search will let you enter what you are searching for in the appropriate field. If you enter information in more than one field, a person will have to match ALL fields in order to be a match. Some of the fields (name and locations and message lines) will allow you to enter two words and you may specify whether it has to match both words or either word in order to qualify as a match. Some examples are given on the input screen. You may then use the Custom report format to print the matching names. This lets you choose which fields to print for each person that matches. (See Custom reports in Appendix L.) PRINTER STRINGS The P routine will send any of the 3 print strings (described in detail above in the options section) to the printer. It also has other print strings for laser printers. If your printer is turned off or reset, the strings you have sent will have to be sent again. You do not need to use this routine unless you want to send special information to your printer. The normal information such as regular size or compressed size letters is sent to the printer automatically when each report starts. Also, you may set an option on option screen 3 to have a print string sent automatically before each printed report. If you have an HP Laserjet printer, set option screen 3 to send string 13 before each report and string 8 before the ancestor charts. BACKUP DATA FILES You may use the K routine to make a backup copy of your data files. I suggest that you do this on a regular basis. At some point in time you will have a problem, either caused by hardware problems, or software problems, or maybe even by you. I am sure that you do not want to start all over again. So take a minute and make a copy of your files. I have made the process as easy as possible. Just pick the BACKUP routine from the menu and then put a formatted diskette in the A: drive or the B: drive. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 25 When the Backup is complete, remove the copy and label it with the date. Have two or three different backups and store them in a safe place. If your files are too large to fit on a diskette, then it is very important that you use the DOS BACKUP command or that you buy a fast and easy to use backup program such as FASTBACK or PC-TOOLS to make backup copies of your data. If you want to use the DOS BACKUP command and if your BK5 data files are in the C:\BK5 directory, then you would type this at the C: prompt: BACKUP C:\BK5\*.DT5 A: If your data files are in a different directory, the directory name will show on the main BK5 menu screen above the line that shows the number of people in your file. The backup command will show you the names of the files being copied, such as BKPERSON.DT5 and BKMARR.DT5. If is does not show these names during the backup then something is wrong - perhaps your data files are in a different directory. Note: If you use the DOS BACKUP command to back up your data files, then you would use the DOS RESTORE command to restore them if they are ever needed. If you use the backup command on the BK5 menu, then you would use the DOS COPY command to copy them back to your hard drive. Also note that the BK5 backup command and the DOS BACKUP command described above do NOT copy any text files that you have attached using the $$filename.txt method. You may find it faster to use an archive program such as ARC or PKZIP to archive the data files and then copy the condensed file to a floppy. If you have a single drive computer without a hard disk, use DISKCOPY. No diskette and no hard disk will last forever. It will fail someday, so be ready. If you are experiencing any problems, do not backup onto an existing backup copy of your data files, but instead backup onto a new blank formatted floppy. Always save the older backup copies when you notice a problem, because the problem may also turn up on one of your backup copies, and you may have to use an older backup copy in order to restore your data files. Try to always have at least two different sets of backup data diskettes that were copied on different dates. For example, today when I am done, I can backup to a diskette. Tomorrow when I am done, I backup to a different diskette. The next day I could backup onto the first diskette again. That way I have two different backups and the chances of the same problem being on both backups is reduced. It is a good idea to once in a while move one set of your backup diskettes away from your computer (in case someone steals your computer and grabs the box of diskettes next to it) or even take the backup to a different location (in case of a fire). Some people have been very happy that they shared their data with another genealogist because they were able to get a copy back after having a disaster on their computer. TREE PRINT Use the T tree print routine to print a tree chart showing the descendants of any person with the parents and children connected with lines. (If you do not get lines printed on your printer, see below for instructions on changing the line codes.) The tree report will print up to 30 generations Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 26 at a time. If you do not have the option set to pause after each page, it will print continuously without page breaks until it finishes the left section of the chart. It will then do a form feed and print the right section of the chart. You also have an option of printing sideways on an Epson or IBM graphics compatible dot matrix printer. When printing the tree chart, you have the option of leaving names at 40 characters, or shortening them to fewer characters. (Names are shortened if necessary by removing the middle name.) The shortened name version will be able to print more generations on each page, thus condensing the size of the chart. You may include spouse names, and you may include dates or code numbers. If you have your output set to the SCREEN instead of the PRINTER, the first 22 lines of the tree will display and you are given the option to shift the screen image to the left to see other generations on the right. Each time you press the right arrow key, it will shift by one generation. You also may push the down arrow key to see names below. You may move up, down, left and right having a total of 66 lines and 10 or more columns. Press enter for the next 66 lines. This tree routine is the one that uses the five ASCII codes that show on screen 2 of the options. These codes are used to draw the lines from parent to child. If your printer does not print IBM graphic characters, (see your printer manual for a dip switch to change for IBM character set) try the sideways option (if you have a graphics printer) or change the codes to the ones your printer uses that look like those that display on the options screen. If you have an HP Laserjet printer, pick P from the main menu, then 13. If you have a Panasonic 24 pin printer, pick P then 20. If you CANNOT get the lines to look right, set the options as follows and print regular (not sideways): vertical (124) | horizontal (45) - corner (124) | vert/right (124) | horz/down (45) - Note: If you have a Laserjet or Deskjet printer that can print landscape, you may set your laser printer for landscape mode using the Print string routine ("P" from the menu) and then you should print regular (not sideways). The sideways routine in this program is different from the landscape mode of laser and Deskjet printers. Also, Deskjet printer users may have better results if they specify a page length of 59 lines instead of 9999. In the Tree routine and the Box routine, you have the option to have the descendant's names changed to uppercase and the spouse's names changed to lowercase. If you answer "N" to that question, all names will print exactly the way you entered them. If you answer "Y", the descendant names are forced to uppercase and the spouse names will be changed to lowercase (unless the first part of the spouse names are already in lowercase, in which case the spouse names are not changed.) There are three other options for this question. These options may be useful to you if you have entered people's names with the last name uppercase. For example, if you entered names like this: Gerald R. FORD. The new options are to enter "3" or "4" or "5" when asked if you want uppercase/lowercase. If you answer Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 27 "3" then the descendant name will be forced to uppercase and the spouse name will be left as is. If you answer "4" then the descendant name will be left as is, but the spouse name will be forced to lowercase (even if the first part is already lowercase.) If you answer "5" then the descendant name will be forced to uppercase and the spouse name will be forced to lowercase (even if the first part is already lowercase). So the "5" option is just like "Y" except "Y" will not force a spouse name to lowercase if the first part (somewhere in the first 15 characters) contains a lower case letter. ANCESTOR CHARTS The C routine will print an ancestor chart for anyone in the file. The ancestor chart will show the person you choose and that person's parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. Birth, death, and marriage information also will print. You may choose 8 different sizes of charts when printing. If you need to print over seven generations, you will need to print multiple charts. For example, you may print a 5 generation chart starting with yourself. Then if you have further ancestors on file, you may print other 5 generation charts starting with each of your great-great- grandparents. This would give you a total of 9 generations printed. Using this method, there is no limit to how many generations you may print. The BKAA5 program ("3" from the main menu) does multiple charts automatically and can also print a large 9 generation box chart. The first 6 types of ancestor charts (A - F) and type (H) will shorten long names to 30 characters. This is accomplished by changing a middle name to an initial or removing a middle name if necessary. The (G) type of ancestor chart will leave names at 40 characters, but will print only 4 generations per page. If you have a wide carriage printer, the (H) type ancestor chart will print 6 generations. This report also works with laser printers that can print up to 162 characters on a line in landscape mode. (For laser or Deskjet printers, use P from the main menu to select landscape and 88 lines per page before printing ancestor chart H.) Ancestor chart I is for printers that can print 160 characters on one line. You would need to change the printer codes on option screen 2 for compressed printing to the correct codes for your printer for 20 characters per inch. Not all printers can do 20 CPI. When printing an ancestor chart, you have the option to print the BK code numbers, no code numbers, or standardized numbers. Standardized numbers are what you see on hand generated charts and ahnentafel reports. When you are displaying an ancestor chart, you may press one key to jump to another person. Press F for father, M for mother, S for the spouse, and the number 1 for child number 1, 2 for 2, etc. These are the same keys that are used when browsing on the modify screen. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 28 GROUP SHEETS The G group print routine will print the information for any person along with the person's parents, spouse and children. Any message lines you entered may also be printed with this routine if desired. The group sheets are useful if you are organizing your data, creating a book, or you wish to send the sheets to relatives for further information. All fields will print for each person. However, if you are not using an optional field (such as baptized), and if you have set the name of the field equal to blanks (in the options routine), then that line will not print. Also, you have the options not to print a field if it happens to be blank for some people. Just answer no to the question "do you want to print blank fields" and those lines will not be printed. The program will print the birth and death labels and fields even if blank. There are many options when printing group sheets. If you choose All for children data, it prints all children data and also will include spouses of children. If you choose Compressed for children, it will print on one sheet of paper all information for up to 10 children and include spouses of children. If you set a left margin greater than two, you probably should print with Elite size or compressed size characters so that information is not lost on the right side of the page. On the line that says "Print today's date" if you answer A for age, then it will also print each person's current age, or their age at death. If the death date field is totally blank, the program will assume the person is still alive, unless he or she would be over 125 years old. If a person has died, put something in the death date field such as _____ or ? or any other character. If the ages that print are not correct, then be sure the format you picked for dates on option screen 1 matches the way your dates look. Also, if a date contains less than two digits for the day, use a 0 or a space before the single digit. See date types on page 4. On the line that says "Omit blank date/location lines" if you answer "Y" it will not print fields that are blank for a person, except for birth and death. If you answer "N" then it will print all fields including the "Marriage ceremony" and "Divorce" and "End" fields for the marriage information. If you want to print blank fields, but you do not want to print the ceremony and divorce lines when they are blank for a couple, then answer "3" for that question. If you want to print blank fields, but do not want to print the ceremony and divorce line whether it is blank or not blank then answer "4" and it will never print. Answer "5" if you do not want to print blank fields and do not want to print the ceremony and divorce fields even if they are not blank. The last option lets you add 4 personal message lines to each page so that you could put instructions and your address on each page. If you wish to save the options you have chosen, press F5 while the cursor is in the group sheet options area. Then the next time you run group sheets, it will have the options set the way you last saved them. You may print people one at a time, or you may choose to print a range of numbers, or everyone who is a descendant of or ancestor of a certain person. When the program asks for the name of the person to print, you may type the name, or number, or type an R to print a range of numbers (or all) or an A to print all the ancestors of someone, or a D to print the descendants of someone. If you type a D, you will then be asked for the name or number of the person for whom you want all descendants printed. If Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 29 you type an R, you may either get a group sheet for everyone in the range you specify (2 sheets for each family - one showing the husband first and one showing the wife first) or you may choose to get 1 group sheet per marriage. If you wish to print a blank group sheet, just type the word BLANK when it asks for the name to print. REGISTER STYLE REPORTS If you choose R from the main menu, a program will start that will let you print register reports, indented reports, or 3 by 5 cards. The register and indented reports will print all the information about all the descendants of a person and will optionally print an alphabetical index. If you intend to publish a book and use the register style report, you may set the output to go to a disk file and then use your word processor or a desktop publishing program to enhance the book. The second choice for output to a disk file will use tabs instead of spaces at the beginning of the lines, and that will help if you intend to use a proportionally spaced font and if your desktop publishing program can handle the tabs. The register and indented reports will give you several options about what information to include and how the report will look. If you choose to have page numbers, it also will prepare for an alphabetical index at the end. When the report is finished printing, you will have the option to prepare an index file, and then sort the file. If your database is large, you may have to exit the program and sort the index and then restart the program and print the index. In case of a printer problem part way through printing a long report, remember then you may set the output to go to a disk file (press F9 at the menu) and then you may edit or print part of the file. The register report uses a numbering system where the first person is number one, and the children are numbers two, three, four and so on. Each person is given a number if they have children. To see more information about a person who is listed as a child, look for the same number in the next generation. To see who a person's parents are, look for the same number in the previous generation. The names are printed one generation at a time. If you select the Modified register system, then everyone gets assigned a number, and people that have children are given a + in front of their number so that you know to look below for more information. Here are the specific questions when printing a register report (the questions for the indented report are similar). Print how many generations? If you wish, you may enter a number less than the maximum (currently 20) that the program will handle. Children's names. Pick how you want the children's names to print the first time, when they will be printed more fully later. If a child will not be printed later, then the full name will print. Abbreviate to b. and d. You may choose to have either the abbreviations or the full words for born, married, died, and buried. Include which message lines. If you have entered message lines for people, you may have them included in this report. If you choose A for all, then Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 30 all message lines and text files will be printed. If you choose * then only those of the seven message lines that start with * will print. If you choose unformatted, then all the message lines and text files will print, however they will print exactly as you entered them and they will not be reformatted to the line length of this report. The unformatted option is useful if you have text files that contain columns of information. Print spouse messages also. If you indicated that you wanted to print message lines, you will be asked if you also want to print the spouse's messages. You may answer Yes, No, or type 3 if you want the spouse message lines to start on a new line. Label the generations. You may choose to have the header between the generations either say just "Next Generation" or say "Second Generation" and "Third Generation" and so on. Regular size or compressed printing. You may choose the size for the characters and the program will send the proper codes that are in the options area. If you choose "U" for unchanged, then no codes will be sent to the printer and it will remain in whatever mode it is currently set in. You may then indicate the size of the left margin, the number of characters to print on one line, and the number of lines to print on each page. (The number of characters per line will determine how much of a right margin remains.) If you answer "yes" for page numbers, it also will save information so that you will be able to print an alphabetical index at the end of the report. You may also designate a starting page number. Show code numbers. I recommend that you do not also print the person's BK code numbers, since it may be confusing when also printing the register number. However, if the report is for your own use, you may wish to see the code numbers that were assigned when the people were added to the database. Show baptized date and location. You will be asked if you want the date below the birth date also to print. If you say "yes" then it will print if it is not blank. If you answer "I" then it will only print if the birth date is blank. Sometimes a person's birth date is not known, but the baptized or christened date is known. If you want this date printed, you will be asked what word or abbreviation to use when printing. Show reference field. If you answer "yes" it will print after the date fields. You also will be asked what word to use when printing. If you answer "]" then the reference field (if not blank) will be printed after the name with the reference field enclosed with brackets. Show occupation. If yes, then also type the word to use when printing. If multiple spouses, do you want to show which spouse produced which kids? If you have cases of multiple marriages, this will allow you to show which children came from which marriages. Use register system or modified register system. The register system only assigns a number to people if they had children, and the modified register system gives everyone a number and puts a + sign in front of the number if Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 31 they had children. Print source footnotes. You can print footnotes to show the information that you entered in the source lines for each date or location. (The source lines are the lines that were entered by pressing F6 while entering a date or location for a person.) The footnote numbers will print in superscript based on the printer codes from option screen 3 or as set up in the utility program when you picked a printer. You may then enter a page heading if you desire. This heading will be printed at the top of each page. You may enter a number for the number of blank lines for a top margin for each page. This is useful for laser printers. After answering the above questions, the report will start printing. Press ESC to interrupt the printout or press P to pause the printing. If the screen says "waiting for printer" and nothing prints, then be sure the printer is ready. If it still does not print, look at the number displayed after the message, and then press ESC to quit and return to the main menu of BK5 and go the options area. On option screen 3 put the number that was displayed on the line for "printer is ready." This step is only rarely required. If the register report displays the message "waiting for printer" but the printer continues to print, then do not change the codes on option screen 3. When the report has finished, you may print an index if you had page numbering turned on. Answer yes to the question about creating the index. It will create BKINDEX1.DTA and will then sort the file into BKINDEX2.DTA. You may then print the sorted index file. When printing an index for the register report or the indented report, if you have too many names to be sorted while in the program, you can stop the program and use the line: SORTF BKINDEX1.DTA BKINDEX2.DTA /C /+1,30 and then restart the program, pick "R" for register reports, then pick "P" to print the sorted index. BK5 will soon be shipped with a new sort program called VSORT and that sort program will be able to sort any size file. DESCENDANT BOX CHART The box chart program will print a descendant chart that has each person in a box and has lines connecting the boxes. The oldest person is at the top, and person's children are below, and the grandchildren are below them, and so on. Like most reports, the box charts may be printed, displayed, or sent to a disk file. When you display the chart, you may use the arrow keys to move around the chart. There is an option for small boxes with just dates, or larger boxes with locations also. You may also adjust the width of the boxes. The width of the boxes will affect the total number of people that can be printed in one generation and also will affect the length of the chart. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 32 If your printer has been set up to print the IBM extended character set, then you will be able to print solid graphic lines around the boxes or print shadows. Your printer will not print the IBM extended character set unless you set it up that way (normally by flipping a DIP switch or pressing some buttons on printer). Look in your printer manual in the index under "character set" or under "DIP switches" to find the section of your printer manual that tells you how to set up the IBM extended character set #2. Making this change will normally not affect the other programs that you use. For HP Laserjet printers, pick P from the main menu, then pick 13. For Panasonic 24 pin printers, pick P then 20. If you have a graphics dot matrix printer, then you may print the box charts sideways. The sideways printing will be slower than regular printing. When printing sideways, you will have an option for compressed print and an option to print faster if you have a 24 pin printer. If you have an HP laser or Deskjet printer, do not choose sideways, but instead choose regular print. You will later be asked if you want to print landscape. If you have an HP Laserjet printer, you can use the FONTS20.EXE file on the BK5 diskettes to download a 20 CPI font to your printer. Type the file name to extract the fonts and then type LOADF20 to load the fonts. These fonts are not needed for the Deskjet. FOUR FAMILY BOX CHART The four family box chart is similar to the regular box chart described above, except it shows four families on the top line, and then all the descendants of those four families with dotted lines connecting the four families where marriages occurred. When looking at a person in the third generation, it is a combination ancestor and descendant chart. The children that are common to more than one of the families are only printed once under the first parent and a dotted line will show the connection to the other parent's family. MORE ANCESTOR REPORTS The BKAA5 program (3 from the main menu) will print additional ancestor reports and charts. It can print multiple page ancestor reports, where the pages are cross referenced. You pick the starting person, and all of the person's ancestors will be printed with four generations showing on each page. You may also print a large ancestor wall chart with boxes for each person. This chart will contain nine generations (511 people) and will be about five feet high and two sheets of paper wide. It will include each person's name, the standard code number, and dates and locations for birth, marriage, death, and burial. People in the eighth and ninth generations will have abbreviated information. If you have an HP Laserjet printer, you can use FONTS6.EXE from the BK5 diskettes to download a 6 point font to your laser printer. This 6 point font will cause the last 3 generations to look better. Type FONTS6 to extract the fonts and type LOADFONT to send them to your printer. These fonts are not needed for the Deskjet. Also available is a version of an ahnentafel report with complete information for each person. The differences between this and the ahnentafel report on the main menu are that this one prints a paragraph for each ancestor which can include message lines, and also this report can Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 33 print more generations and an index. MERGE TWO DATABASES This program will allow you to merge two databases into one. If you have two Brother's Keeper databases that contain different names, you may merge them by adding one set of files to the other. I recommend that you make backup copies of both databases before you do a merge. As the files are merged, the code numbers for one of the files will be changed so that they do not conflict with the existing numbers in the other file. Currently, the program will not check for duplicate names, so do not merge two files that have several identical people in both files or else you will have to do a lot of deleting to clean the file up. SPLIT ONE DATABASE The program to split off part of a database is useful if you want to send information to another Brother's Keeper user. Often, the other person is only interested in some of the information that you have, and this program will let you pick certain people and create a new database of just those people. For example, you may select all the ancestors of a person, or all the descendants of a person, or any combination of ancestors and descendants of several people. The normal mode is to select people. However, you can select a group and then press F9 and then de-select some of the people you have selected. For example, you could select everyone (using the range of numbers routine) and then press F9 and then de-select all the descendants of one person. After selecting the people, pick "C" to copy the people to the new set of files. The program will run much faster if you create the new data files in a temporary subdirectory on your hard disk than if you create the new data files on a floppy. After creating the new files, you may then copy them to a floppy to send to someone else. If the other person uses a different genealogy program that can read GEDCOM files, then use the BK GEDCOM program ("X" from the main BK menu) to create a GEDCOM file from the new data files and send the other person the GEDCOM file. This split routine creates a new set of Brother's Keeper data files. It does not delete people from your existing database or change your existing database. However, you could use the routine to in effect delete people. You could select the people you want to keep and copy them to a temporary directory. Then, after you are sure you have the correct people, you could use the DOS COPY command to copy the new data files over your old data files and then you would only be left with the people you selected to keep. This routine does not create new directories on your hard disk, so if you want to put the new database in the C:\BKTEMP directory, you will need to create that directory at the C: prompt by typing MD \BKTEMP and enter before running the split routine. IMPORT OR EXPORT A GEDCOM FILE A GEDCOM file is a file with names, dates, locations, and notes that is in a special format that can be read by other genealogy programs. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 34 HOW TO IMPORT DATA INTO BK If someone else has given you a GEDCOM file, do not add it to your BK database until you know what is in it, otherwise you may not want the data and you will have to revert to your most recent backup copy of your database or else do a lot of deleting. You could import the GEDCOM file into a new BK database in a temporary subdirectory. Then use BK to look at it by changing the bottom line on option screen 1 to read the new temporary subdirectory. If all looks well, then you can import the GEDCOM file into your main database. Always do a new backup of your BK files before importing a GEDCOM file. The BK gedcom import routine will add everyone in a gedcom file to the BK data files and it does not currently look for duplications. If you already have a GEDCOM file from another program, skip to the next paragraph. To transfer data INTO Brother's Keeper, you first must create a GEDCOM file that contains the data in the other genealogy program. For example, if you have data in the PAF program (version 2.1), here is a summary of the steps to create a GEDCOM file. Type PAF to see the first menu. Pick Genealogical Information System or GEDCOM. Then pick Genealogical Data Communication or GEDCOM. Then pick Create GEDCOM file. It will show the location of the PAF files, and let you type in the drive and name for the GEDCOM file. If you want the GEDCOM file to be in a certain subdirectory of your hard drive, you can type both the drive and subdirectory name on the drive line. If you pick the name SMITH for the name of the GEDCOM file, the program will actually create a file called SMITH.GED (you do not type the .GED, the program will add it to whatever name you type.) It will ask if you want all the data transferred or just certain people. It will then ask for your name and address. This is not required if you are only transferring the data to another program. It will ask if you want Notes transferred. Finally it will ask if you want the data in the PAF 2.0 format or the PAF 2.1 format. Pick the 2.1 format. Then the GEDCOM file is created. Exit the PAF program. The next step in importing is to run the BK GEDCOM program so that the data can be changed into BK format. Pick X from the BK menu to start the GEDCOM program and then pick A to add the data to Brother's Keeper. Read the screen and type C to continue. It will ask for the drive for the Brother's Keeper data. If you want to add the data to an existing Brother's Keeper data file, give the drive and path location. If you want to create a new Brother's Keeper data file, give a drive and path location to create the files on. (It will not create the subdirectory - you must have already created the subdirectory using the DOS command MD.) Do not give any file name at this point - just give the drive letter and optionally the name of the subdirectory. Examples are shown on the screen. It will then ask for the name of the GEDCOM file to read. You also should give the drive location, and subdirectory name if any, in front of the name of the GEDCOM file. You should end the name with .GED. For example, if your GEDCOM file was named SMITH and it is on the C: drive in the \PAF\ subdirectory, then you would answer the question with C:\PAF\SMITH.GED It will then open the files. If there is already data in a Brother's Keeper file there, then it will show you how many names are in the existing file. The new data will be added to any existing data. The program will not check for duplicates - all the data will be added as new additional data. The program will then ask which drive to create any message text Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 35 files on. This drive information also will be used by the BK program when locating the text files. It will then ask if you are reading a PAF 2.0 or PAF 2.1 file. Pick either 0 or 1. If the GEDCOM file is from PAF 2.2, still pick 1 since version 2.2 files are the same as version 2.1 files. It will then ask where to move the TITLE field. If you used the TITLE field in PAF, then answer the question based on what you put in the title field. If you did not use the TITLE field in PAF, then just push enter. Finally it will ask if you are ready to do the copy. Type Y if you are ready and it will copy the data in. When finished, you can use the utility program, (menu item U in the main BK menu) and check the quality of your data file to be sure all the links between people are correct. You can then use BK to look at the file, and print all the reports. If you are importing a gedcom file that was created by ROOTS III, you can run the BK utility routine and pick Q for quality check and it will put the children in the correct birth order. When reading gedcom files into Brother's Keeper, the routine is currently designed to read files containing person numbers from 1 to 34,000 and marriage numbers from 1 to 17,000. If the file contains numbers larger than that, then you can use the CD-ROM option to read people with large numbers, provided there are less than 12,000 total people in the gedcom file. You may need to create more than one gedcom file to transfer more names. Each time you run the BK gedcom routine, it can read one gedcom file with that number of names in it. If these numbers are increased in the future, the README.DOC file will tell you of the new limits. The Brother's Keeper gedcom routine will only read gedcom files that are not split into separate files. If you have a gedcom file that was created by another program, and if the file was split into two parts by the other program (one continuous gedcom file in two parts) then make the two parts into one file before reading it with BK. Normally, if the other program splits a file it will call one .GED and the other .001. So if you have SMITH.GED and SMITH.001 on two diskettes, then put them on the hard disk and use the COPY command to make them into one file again. For example, COPY SMITH.GED+SMITH.001 SMITH.GED That will attach the .001 file onto the end of the .GED file so that BK can read it as one file. TRANSFERRING DATA OUT OF BK USING GEDCOM Note: when you create a GEDCOM file, all the names in your file will be transferred. If you want to only transfer part of your file, then you will need to first use the program described above to create a new smaller set of your data files. (See split one database above.) To transfer data from BK to another program, pick X to start the GEDCOM program and pick C to create a GEDCOM file. Read the screen that is displayed. One important thing to remember, is that some programs must have the dates in a specific format or else the dates will not transfer. If you have your dates in type 1 or type 2 format (see BK documentation about date types), then all programs should be able to understand them. Some programs such as PAF will understand other formats as well. If you need to change your date format, then you will need to use the utility Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 36 program to convert your dates before you create the GEDCOM file. The data conversion routine is not fast and you may not want to change your original database, so you might want to try creating the GEDCOM file with the dates the way they are and see if the other program can handle them. Next the BK GEDCOM program will ask you where the BK data files are located. Type in the path for the files. If the files are on your B: disk drive, then type B: and if the files are in the \BK5 subdirectory of your hard disk, then type C:\BK5 (do not type a file name, just a directory name). Then the program will ask for the name of the GEDCOM file you want to create. If you want the file to be created on a certain drive, then include the drive or path location also. Some examples would be B:SMITH.GED or C:\BK5\JONES.GED (note that you need to type the file name and it should end with .GED). The file name may be up to 8 characters long followed by .GED. The program will then open the files and show you how many names are in the BK data files. It will inform you that the GEDCOM file it creates will be in the PAF 2.1 format. That is the format that most other programs will be able to read. It will then ask if you are ready to create the file. If you say yes, then it creates it and if you say no, then the program will stop. After the file is created, you may use another program's GEDCOM reading routine to move the data into that program (see the other program's directions on how to read the GEDCOM file). UTILITY PROGRAM This program has a routine to check the quality of your data and can fix many errors that may turn up. If you get a situation in which a person does not show parents on the modify screen, but the parents do show the child, run the quality check routine. The quality check routine can also find and correct the situation where children are not in the correct birth order. Some errors, such as getting the message STAT= on the screen, are not correctable with this routine. See Appendix N for STAT errors. The utility program can set up the proper printer codes for certain printers. If your printer is not listed, you may have to consult your printer manual to obtain the printer codes and then use the options routine to enter them. The utility program also will let you save your options file by copying it. You may then restore the saved file at a later time. This may be useful for people who have 2 different types of printers. You may set up the options for one printer, and then save the file with a special name. Then set up the options for the second printer and save that file with a different name. You may then run the utility program and restore either options file depending on which printer you wish to use. All options on screen 1 and 2 of the options screens are saved or restored, so you may even save 2 different sets of screen colors, one set the way you like them, and the other the way your spouse likes them. You also may use the utility program to print all the values you have stored for the ALT key combinations. If you decide to change the date format after you have entered many dates, you may use the utility program to change from any of the 11 formats to any other of the 11 formats. Be sure to copy all the .DT5 files to backup Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 37 floppy disks before running this routine, just in case there is any problem. This date change routine must read and write each record and tends to run slowly, so allow yourself plenty of time. After you change date formats, remember also to change date format on Option screen 1. There is also a routine to create a Tiny Tafel file. This is a relatively new type of report. The Tiny Tafel file is a summary of all your ancestors. The file can be used to find other people who are researching the same family lines that you are. There are computer systems set up to help people match their research with other genealogists by matching the Tiny Tafel files of each. This is a new idea and has only been in operation for a few years. If you have a modem, you may call one of these "computer bulletin boards" that has the Tafel Matching System, and obtain further information. This routine in the utility program only creates the Tiny Tafel file. It is recommended that you also obtain a program such as TTGEN201 that will allow you to edit the file and insert and delete lines. Currently, the matching system requires all lines in the tafel file to have locations. If you have a modem, you may download a list of BBS that handle genealogy messages. Those that also handle Tiny Tafel files are listed. You can get this list of BBS numbers from the National Genealogy Society BBS at (703) 528-2612. The file is normally called GBBSxxxx.ZIP where xxxx is the year and month, such as 9305. The utility program has the ability to calculate the relationship between any two people. After the relationship is displayed you have the option to print a list of the connecting relatives. The descendant report (D in the BK5 program) also can calculate relationships. However, by using this routine, you will not have to print or display an entire report when you are only interested in one or two relationships. There are routines that will allow you to print all locations or sources, or delete all unused locations or sources, or to do a global change of a location or source. If several people have the same location or source, only one entry is made to the file, and several people will "point" to the same entry. When you make a change using the normal modify screen, you are only changing the location or source for the one person you are modifying. If you want to change a location or source for everyone that currently uses that location or source, then use the routine in the utility program. For example, if you have entered the wrong location for a person, you may fix it using the modify routine (M from the main BK5 menu). However, if you discover that you have misspelled the name of a town, then you should use the utility program to correct it for everyone that "points" to that misspelled town. Also, if you do a printout of all locations, you may find that you have the same cities entered two or three different ways. You may use the utility program to change all people that "point" to any of those different versions so that they will all "point" to one version. Then the no longer used locations may be deleted and the disk space will be made available for new locations. BAR CHARTS If you pick * from the main menu, it will start the bar chart routine. You will be able to display and print statistics charts showing month of birth, month of marriage, month of death, number of children per marriage, and lifespan. You can, for example, print the lifespan of your ancestors. Your computer must have a graphics display in order to run this report. It Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 38 will work with a CGA, EGA, or VGA display. If you have a Hercules compatible monochrome display, then first run the program QBHERC.COM or the program MSHERC.COM (it comes with MS-DOS 5.0.) If the charts show incorrectly, your date formats may not match up with what is set on option screen 1. For example, if the birth month chart shows all months as 0, you probably did not enter the dates as described in the Add section above. You can change the date format on option screen 1 to match your date format. See the list of date formats on page 4. When a bar chart is showing on the screen, you may press P to print the chart. It will print on dot matrix printers, or on HP compatible printers. TIMELINE CHART When you press + while at the main menu, you will start the timeline report. It will print or display the ancestors of a person showing the year of birth and death for each person. You can also include other events or other famous people on the chart by putting the information in the file BKEVENTS.TXT. The events in that file will print at the top of your chart, provided some of the ancestors printed lived during that time period. The format of the BKEVENTS.TXT file is: beginning year, ending year, and a name or event. For example: 1770 1827 Beethoven. Put the most recent events at the top of the file and the oldest events at the bottom of the file. STOP * If you have your data on a floppy diskette, NEVER remove the DATA diskette unless instructed to change disks or until after typing S to stop. Some of the files are not fully updated until you type S and stop. It is recommended that you put the data files on a hard disk so that the program will run faster. * NEVER turn your computer off while in the BK program. Always use S at the menu to stop the program first. If a power failure causes the program to be interrupted, run the utility program (U from the main menu) and then pick item Q to fix any link errors before adding more information to the data files. If you get STAT errors when starting the program, read Appendix N. * If you have 2 data diskettes, you must STOP the program, then change data diskettes, and then restart. The program will not link people between 2 diskettes. If you have data in 2 or more sub-directories of your hard disk, you may change sub-directories by using Options to change the path. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 39 APPENDIX A. HOW TO MAKE CORRECTIONS If you are correcting spelling or dates, use the MODIFY routine and TAB (or DOWN arrow) and Shift TAB (or UP arrow) to move to the field to change. Then use the left or right arrow keys to move within a field, and use Ins and Del to insert or delete characters. Use CTRL F3 to erase a field. To change the spelling of a location that was entered previously, use the Utility program which allows changing the location for all people who have that location. NOTE: If, when you are on the add or modify screens, you do not see directions on the bottom line, change your colors on option screen 1. IF YOU ENTERED SOMEONE'S CHILDREN IN THE WRONG ORDER, do the following. First, go to the modify routine and type the parent's code number or name and the parent's information will appear on the screen (use either the husband or the wife). The children's code numbers will show along with their names. The first child you entered will be the first code number showing, the second child you entered will be listed second, etc. You may correct the order on the screen by typing the letter R and then retyping the code numbers in the correct order. Make sure the code number shown for first child is the actual first child, etc. The names shown on the screen will remain the same until you press F10. Then the names will change to match the new order you have entered. For example, to make child 123 the first child: OLD NEW 120 123 121 120 122 121 123 122 IF YOU ENTERED SOMEONE WITH THE WRONG PARENTS, you may correct it by doing the following. First, modify the record of the person you said was the parent, but was not (use either the husband or the wife). When the wrong parent's record is showing at the top of the screen, type D and delete the child who should not be there. (This will delete the link between the parents and the child, however the child still exists in the database.) Then you may go to the add screen and bring up the correct parents and then add the child by typing the child's code number or the name and F8. The child added to the family will then be the last child. If the children of the family are now out of order, you may correct that as described above in the children order section. If a person has two sets of parents entered, you can type : in the bottom right corner of the modify screen and it will make the second set of parents the primary parents. The primary parents show on the modify screen first, and are the parents that show on an ancestor chart. If a person is not showing parents, but the parents show the child, use the Utility program and pick the quality check routine. IF A MARRIAGE IS IN ERROR, use the modify routine to show the person with the wrong marriage. Type X to delete a marriage. You will then be shown all the marriages for this person and be allowed to delete one. (It will show the marriage number, not the person's code number.) When a marriage is deleted, the husband and wife stay in the file as people, but the Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 40 connection that shows their marriage is deleted. If the marriage also had children records related to it, the children will have their parent connection deleted, but the children will stay in the file as people. These children may then be added as children of some other marriage by using the Add routine. IF A MARRIAGE IS OUT OF ORDER, use the modify routine to show either the husband or the wife. Type W to correct the spouse order. You will be shown all the marriages for this person and be allowed to change the order. (It will show the marriage number, not the person's code number.) IF YOU HAVE A PERSON DUPLICATED (the person has been assigned two code numbers by the program) then you will need to delete one person in order for the printouts to print correctly. Each person must be entered only once and then linked to the father, mother, spouse, and children. Let's assume that you have entered yourself twice into the computer and that you have two code numbers, 5 and 21. Use modify and call up number 5. Suppose it shows you with a father and mother, but no spouse and no children. Then call up number 21. Suppose it shows you with no father and no mother, but it does show your spouse and children. In this case, you should delete person number 5 who has no spouse and no children. Here is the procedure: Using modify, call up number 5. Type / to totally delete the person. Then go to the add routine and call up your father and mother. In the children section, type 21 for a child (this is the non-deleted you). Then, if you are not in the correct birth order, go to modify and call up your father and use R to rearrange the child order. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 41 APPENDIX B. PRINTER PROBLEMS. (There are also suggestions in Appendix P) Many of the questions or problems I have received have related to printer problems. The printer options can be set in the Options routine. Also, some common printers can be set up in the Utility program. Some printers cannot backspace. If your printer cannot backspace you should set that option to 0 (zero) or names will double print on some printouts and the ancestor chart may not print correctly. Some printers cannot do a carriage return (CR) without also doing a line feed (LF). If your printer is one of those, set that option to 0 (zero) or names will double print on some printouts and the ancestor chart may not print correctly. You may test your printer's features by typing a T at the lower right corner of option screen 2. Most printers want a carriage return and line feed at the end of each line. If your printer wants only a carriage return, set that option or everything will double space. The program will try to print some reports in compressed format. That lets you print 132 characters per line on most printers. You may enter the decimal values of the codes that must be sent to your printer to do compressed and regular print. You may set up the codes that start bold print and turn off bold print for your printer. Check your printer manual and see what the decimal values are for the codes that do that. If your printer cannot bold print, set the values to zero. Bold could actually be enhanced or emphasized or italic or whatever you want the names to appear as. The program also needs to know if your printer can bold print when printing compressed. Many printers cannot do that, so if yours cannot, the program will try to backspace (if possible) to make names bold print when printing compressed (on the descendant printout). The program will only try to bold print names on the descendant printout and the family group sheet printout. There are up to 7 codes to turn on and off compressed print and bold print. Many printers only require 1, 2 or 3 codes to control those features. If the first code of the 7 is zero, none of the 7 codes are sent. If the first code is not zero, all 7 codes are sent. Normally, codes of 0 (zero) at the end will not affect the printer output. If you do not want the extra 0's to be sent to the printer, change the extra codes to 999 and those codes are not sent. The descendant printout will print generation numbers at the top and bottom of each page. You may turn this feature off in Options. I have tested the programs on several computers and with several printers. However, I do not have access to all combinations of equipment so it is quite possible that some program changes may still have to be made. Let me know if your printer is not cooperating and I will try to help. Tell me what version you are using. (5.1F) Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 42 APPENDIX C. EXPLANATION ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS: Your uncle is the brother of your father or mother. Your aunt is the sister of your father or mother. Your great uncle (or grand uncle) is the brother of your grandfather or grandmother. Your great aunt (or grand aunt) is the sister of your grandfather or grandmother. Your great-great uncle is the brother of your great-grandfather or great- grandmother. Your great-great aunt is the sister of your great-grandfather or great- grandmother. Your first cousin is the child of your aunt or uncle. Your second cousin is the grandchild of your great aunt or great uncle. (If two people are first cousins, the children of each of the people will be second cousins.) Your third cousin is the great-grandchild of your great-great uncle or great-great aunt. (Children of second cousins, are third cousins to each other.) Your first cousin, once removed, is the child of your first cousin or is the child of your great uncle or great aunt. (See also REMOVED COUSINS) If someone is your first cousin, then his or her child is your first cousin once removed. (Once removed means one generation level different from you.) All your regular cousins (first, second, etc.) are at the same generation level as yourself. Those at different levels are "removed." If someone is YOUR first cousin once removed, then you are HIS or HER first cousin once removed also. Your second cousin once removed is the child of your second cousin. Your first cousin twice removed is the child of your first cousin once removed (i.e. the grandchild of your first cousin). Your second cousin twice removed is the child of your second cousin once removed (i.e. the grandchild of your second cousin). REMOVED COUSINS: If two people are some type of cousins, but they are at different generation levels, then here is the way to compute their relationship. (The program does this automatically when printing, but you may want to know what it is doing.) 1. Count how many generation levels they are apart. This is the number they are "removed." 2. Start with the one at the highest generation level (the older level) and count how many generations up you must go to find the brothers or sisters that are the ancestors of these cousins. This is the "FIRST" or "SECOND" or "THIRD" part of the cousin relationship. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 43 GREAT-GRANDFATHER / \ GRANDFATHER GREAT-UNCLE / \ \ FATHER UNCLE 1st COUSIN ONCE REMOVED / \ \ \ >YOU< BROTHER 1st COUSIN 2nd COUSIN / \ \ \ SON NEPHEW 1st COUSIN ONCE REMOVED 2nd COUSIN ONCE REMOVED / / \ \ GRANDSON GRAND-NEPHEW 1st COUSIN TWICE REMOVED 2nd COUSIN TWICE REMOVED Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 44 APPENDIX D. SAMPLE PRINTOUTS. Below is an example of a descendant printout. Note that each new generation is indented. All relationships such as UNCLE, COUSIN, etc. are computed by the program. * JOSEPH P. JONES (12/20/1895) - (03/05/1949) m. SUSAN SMITH (01/05/1902- (GRANDFATHER) . * JOHN JONES (05/19/1920 - m. (12/07/1940) MARY GREEN (08/05/1921 - (UNCLE) . . * BILL JONES (03/23/1942 - (FIRST COUSIN) . . * MARY JONES (02/04/1944 - m. (03/04/1964) PETER WHITE (FIRST COUSIN) . . . * FRANK WHITE (05/04/1971 - (FIRST COUSIN ONCE REMOVED) . * MARTHA JONES (09/19/1923 - 11/17/1981) (AUNT) . * GEORGE JONES (12/13/1926 - m. (01/05/1949) LOIS WILSON (03/18/1927- (FATHER) . . * CAROL JONES (05/18/1953 - (SISTER) . . * JACK JONES (05/03/1955 - m. (08/23/1977) MICHELE MOE (07/22/1955- (MYSELF) . . . * MARTHA JONES (04/03/1981 - (DAUGHTER) Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 45 Here is a sample of a tree chart (T on the menu). There are other options such as printing spouses and dates. If your printer does not print the IBM extended character set, and you change the printer options, it would print as: Joseph P. Jones ----- John Jones ------ Bill Jones | |-- Mary Jones ---- Frank White | |-- Martha Jones |-- George Jones ---- Carol Jones | |-- Jack Jones ---- Martha Jones | |-- Peter K. Jones Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 46 APPENDIX E. CHANGES FROM PRIOR VERSIONS. Version 5.1 contains these changes from 5.0: 1. You can attach .PCX picture files to people. 2. New timeline and statistics graphs. 3. Option to send print strings automatically. 4. Larger box charts and more generations on tree chart. 5. Calendar report with birthdays and anniversaries. 6. Alphabetical listing can include all names a person used. 7. You can enter child's last name with ALT - 8. Utility program quality check can fix birth order. 9. Group sheets can include mailing addresses. 10. Box chart and Tree chart can print wide carriage sideways. 11. Two new date types. 12. You can change meaning of F1 and ESC keys. 13. You can print in REF: number order. See README.DOC for other recent changes. Version 5.0 contains these changes from version 4.5: 1. Can handle up to 1 million names. 2. A person may have two sets of parents 3. Mailing address and phone number field (press F4) 4. Sources may be entered for footnotes (press F6) 5. All programs accessed from one menu. 6. Parent type may be designated (adopted, step, etc.) 7. Edit text files up to 120 lines within BK. 8. Designate unmarried couples and divorced couples. 9. Compressed group sheet with all info for 10 children. 10. Add a single person to the database. 11. Easy delete routine. 12. Find people using your own numbering system. 13. Browse when displaying ancestor chart. 14. Unusual last names can still sort correctly. 15. Search for existing location name. 16. Custom report can display all spouses/marriages. 17. The program may be run in several foreign languages. (French, Danish, German, Norwegian, others.) I have dozens of ideas from users for new features. However, many features tend to make the programs larger. I tend to work on the ideas that will benefit the most people and that do not require major changes to the existing program structure. I plan to continue to upgrade the program since many ideas are good, but just require more time to implement. Please continue to send me your ideas for improving the program. All registered users are notified about major new versions. I also will send registered users at least one new version at no additional charge. I may need to charge a small fee for updates after the one free update. If you have used this program and find it to be of value to you, you are encouraged to send in the $45 registration fee to the author (see Appendix J for why to register). I have no way of informing you about improvements to the program unless you write to me. When you write, enclose the registration form found at the end of the documentation file or in the REGISTER.DOC file. If the program does not have a feature you would like, mention it on the form. I try to add new features that registered users suggest whenever possible. This program has come a long way since version Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 47 1.0 - thanks to the suggestions from registered users. There is usually a new version of the program available (with minor changes) every couple months or so. Lately, there have been significant improvements to the program about every 12 months. My budget and time do not allow me to mail information about minor changes to thousands of users every few weeks, so one way for you to know about minor changes is to buy a high speed modem and call my BBS at (616) 364-1127 to read about the changes or to download the programs. There are also hundreds of BBS's around the world that have Brother's Keeper available for downloading. If one is near you (and if they keep up to date) then you can keep current at no cost. When there are major changes to the program, I will do a mailing to all users. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 48 APPENDIX F. CONVERTING FILES If you have been using BROTHER'S KEEPER version 4.0 through 4.5, you will need to run the CONVERT5 program one time. If you have an older version of the FAMILY3 program, you will need the CONVERT4 program first. If you have used PAF (Personal Ancestral File) you may use the gedcom program to transfer the data (see the GEDCOM section above.) If you have ROOTS III or FAMILY ROOTS, you can purchase a gedcom program from the publisher of that program and then use gedcom to transfer the data. If you have data in Genealogy on Display, Family History System, or Linkages, see information on the registration form (last page of documentation file or in file REGISTER.DOC). APPENDIX G. DO YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS and MAY I HELP YOU? I have received many fine suggestions from users of the program. The program would not be what it is without this help. Please send any suggestions you have. I may not make all the changes you suggest, but I have been able to make many changes over the years. If you have a problem, read Appendix P. If you still need help, send me a description of the problem and information about your computer (see registration form at end of documentation file). For reference, Version 5.1F was released April 1993. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 49 APPENDIX H. TECHNICAL STUFF You do not need to know any of this to run the program, but some people may want to know what is going on. Most information is stored in 10 disk files: BKPERSON.DT5 - information about people. BKMARR.DT5 - information about marriages. BKLOCATE.DT5 - all locations. BKSOURCE.DT5 - source information BKMAIL.DT5 - mailing address BKOPTION.DT5 - option parameters (colors, printer, etc.) ALTKEYS.DT5 - Alt key names/places (see Appendix I) REPORTS.DT5 - specifications for custom reports. BOTTMESS.DTA - 4 line personal message for Group sheets. PARAMETR.DTA - default parameters for Group sheets. There are also some temporary files: ALPHA1.DTA, and ALPHA2.DTA, which are used for printing alphabetical lists, BIRTH1.DTA, and BIRTH2.DTA, which are used for printing birthday lists, and BKINDEX1.DTA, and BKINDEX2.DTA which are used for alphabetical indexes. When first starting out these files will be created. Do NOT use a word processor or editor to modify any of the .DT5 files since if any record is changed, it will mess up everything. If you want to read the data into your own database program, you may create a Custom report and send the output to a disk file (press F9 twice at the main menu) and then read that file as a fixed record length ASCII file into a database program. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 50 APPENDIX I. ALT KEYS (user defined) If you find yourself repeatedly typing the same name or city, you may use a simple procedure to save time and reduce errors. You may define any of the alphabet keys (A-Z) or numbers (0 to 9) to be any name, city and state, or word. After you define what the key will be, you just push and hold the Alt key and then press the alpha key and the name or word will appear on the screen. Use the following procedure to define an Alt key. Type the name or city or word in any field on the add or modify screen. Then hold the Alt key and press F10 (function 10). The words you have typed will start to blink. When they are blinking, hold the Alt key and press any alpha key (A-Z) or a number (0-9). The words will stop blinking and that key sequence (Alt-key) is now programmed. The next time you want to type that name or city or word in any field, just hold Alt and press the same key. You may program all of the alpha keys to be a different name or word. These programmed keys will be remembered each time you restart the program. You may change what a key is defined to be by simply re-defining using the above procedure. Example: Suppose you are going to add several people who were all born in Rockford, Kent County, Michigan. When you type the first person, type Rockford, Kent County, Michigan in the "born where" field. Then before you push enter, hold the Alt key and press F10 (function 10). The entire field will start blinking. Then hold the Alt key and press R. The field will stop blinking and you may continue with adding the person. The next time you want to type Rockford, Kent County Michigan in any field, just hold the Alt key and press R and it will appear. Example: Suppose you are going to add several people who all have the last name of Winchester. When you type in one of them, type just Winchester in the name field (do not type the first name). Hold the Alt key and press F10 and the word Winchester will blink. Then hold the Alt key and press W and the word will stop blinking. Then press Esc to erase the name, and type the first name and middle name. Then hold Alt and push W and Winchester will appear. For each person that you add, just type the first and middle names and then push Alt-W. If you press Alt-F10 and then decide you do not want to have what is blinking saved as an Alt-key, then just press any key without holding Alt and it will not be saved. Also see the Add section at the beginning of the manual describing shortcuts for duplicating locations that were recently entered and for using F8 to search for existing locations. You may print the Alt strings by using the Utility program. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 51 APPENDIX J. SHAREWARE BROTHER'S KEEPER is a Shareware product protected by Copyright. It is NOT public domain or free software. Shareware is a method of distributing software, whereby copies may be passed around and each user may determine whether or not the program is suitable for him or her. After you have tested this program for yourself, and if you find it to be useful for you, you are requested to send the registration fee to the author of the program, John Steed. The author of the program is not paid any fee when you buy a disk from a user group or company selling Shareware. The only way the author gets paid is when you register. If you want to encourage programs of this type, please register by sending $45 and the REGISTER.DOC form. Registered users will be sent a printed manual and the next new version of the program and are entitled to use the program, and all future upgrades. Minor upgrades are made frequently to the programs, so you may wish to check to see if a new feature you desire has been added. If you have a modem, you may call the BK BBS (bulletin board service) at (616) 364-1127. This board will have the current version of all programs available for downloading. If you share this program with others, please give them all the programs that came with it and any other files you may wish to share. Please do not include the BKOPTION.DT5 file on the disks you share, since that file contains options for your disk drives, printer, and monitor and others may have difficulty using your setup. That file will be created the first time someone uses the programs. _______ ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI USA 49442-9427, FAX 616-788-2765, or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536 To contact John Steed directly, see the address and phone numbers on page 64. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 52 APPENDIX K. CONFIG.SYS file. The BK program needs to open several files at the same time. Because of this, the INSTALL program that installs BK5 on your hard disk will add the line FILES=28 to your CONFIG.SYS file if necessary. If you do not use the INSTALL program, or if something has changed your CONFIG.SYS file you may need to add a line to that file. If you get an error message when starting BK such as "path/file access error" then check the disk that you use when turning on the computer each time. (If your computer boots from ROM as the TOSHIBA 1000 and the TANDY 1000 systems do, you will need to run your SETUP program to change the FILES=28 command as described in your DOS manual. If you have an IBM PS/1 you may need to run the CUSTOMIZ program to tell the computer to read the CONFIG.SYS file from disk and from the C: drive.) Type CD \ <enter> then type DIR CONFIG.SYS <enter> and see if there is a file called CONFIG.SYS on your disk. If the CONFIG.SYS file DOES already exist, look at what is in it as follows: TYPE CONFIG.SYS That will display on the screen the lines that are in the file. If it already has a line in it that says FILES=28 or FILES= (any number 28 or more) then leave it alone. If not, you will need to add the FILES=28 line to the file. (Any number over 28 is fine, but most programs do not require over 40.) You do not want to change any other lines in the CONFIG.SYS file. You may use a word processor to modify the file if the word processor reads and writes in ASCII (i.e. not in some special format). If you have MS-DOS 5.0 or later, use the EDIT program. After you add the FILES=28 line to the file, you must restart or reboot the computer for it to take effect. If the CONFIG.SYS file DOES NOT exist, then create it and put a line in the file as follows: FILES=28 If you do not know how to create the file and put that line in it, here is a way. Do NOT do this step if your computer already has a CONFIG.SYS file because it will be erased. When you are at the system prompt ( which is A> or C> ) you would type the following, and push enter at the end of each line: COPY CON CONFIG.SYS FILES=28 then push F6 (function 6), and then push enter. It should say "1 file copied". You should then have the CONFIG.SYS file with the FILES=28 line in it. After that line is in the CONFIG.SYS file, you must restart or reboot the computer. When the computer boots, it reads that file and will allow 28 files to be open at the same time. The BK program should then work properly. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 53 TANDY 1000 users may have to change their systems to boot from a disk instead of from ROM. You have a program called SETUP-- that you may need to run. Look in your manual for the name of your setup program - or look in the index of your manual under CONFIG.SYS. The setup program is usually on your DOS diskette and is usually named SETUP and then the letters of your computer, for example: SETUPHX or SETUPTL. If the setup program shows a line such as "maximum open files" then you should change that line to be 28 files. Otherwise, pick the option to boot from a disk, and then put the disk with CONFIG.SYS in the A: drive (or else create the CONFIG.SYS file on your C: drive in the main directory) and reboot the computer to read that file. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 54 APPENDIX L. CUSTOM REPORTS BROTHER'S KEEPER gives you the ability to design your own report format. You may print custom reports either in number order or alphabetical order when using the N routine and also when printing Ahnentafel charts and when using Word search. When you pick the custom report option, you will be shown the different fields that you may print for each person. For example, you may wish to print for each person their number, name, father's name and mother's name. So you would choose field numbers 1, 2, 17, and 18. As you choose each field number, you will be shown the normal length for that field. For example, the name field is 40 characters long. You may shorten the normal length for your report if you wish. If you type 25 for the name length, that will be the length when it prints. For all names, a special routine will automatically remove middle names of people with names longer than the length you specify. That way, the last name will not be cut off. If you shorten the length of a field that is not a person's name, the field will be cut off at the end if it is too long. For example, date fields are 15 characters long, but most dates fit in 11 characters, so you may shorten a date field to 11 characters. There is also a special routine for birth date and death date so that if you shorten the length to 4, it will print only the year (the last 4 characters). If you lengthen a field, it will print extra blanks after the field is printed. (That may improve readability.) As you type the fields and lengths, the total length will display at the top. The total length is the sum of the field lengths plus 1 space between each field. Use this as a guide and try to keep the number under the maximum number of characters your printer can print on a line. Most printers can print 80 characters in normal print and 132 in compressed print. If you attempt to print more than the number of characters your printer can handle, your printer might jump to the next line, which will cause problems with the number of lines per page. If you want multiple lines for each person, then pick the field for extra CR/LF at the end of the first line. You may press the up arrow to back up if you wish to make a correction. Press PageDown to see other fields you can print. After you define your report, press F10 and print it. When the printout is finished, you will be asked if you wish to save that format. If it is a report you wish to print again in the future, answer Y (for yes) and give a brief description of the report. Then the next time you print a custom report, you may recall that format to print again. (Press F5 to recall a previously saved report.) You may create and save many different custom reports. If you are printing in alphabetical order, you do NOT need to sort the file each time you try a different custom report. You only need to run routine 3 when you have added new people to the file, or when you wish to sort a different group of people. You may print the fields in any order. (For example, birth date in first column and name in second.) The names will print in number order if you choose N - 2 or are doing a word search or else they will print in alphabetical order if you choose N - 5. If you print the spouse name or marriage information, it will normally Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 55 print the first spouse or marriage. If you choose field 98 as one of the fields, it will instead print the last spouse or marriage. If you choose field 99, it will print all spouses or marriages for each person. (You also must pick the spouse or marriage fields that you want to print, such as spouse name or marriage date.) To print mailing address labels for everyone that has them, first get the alignment of the labels correct in your printer by going to the Modify screen and displaying a mailing address and pressing CTRL-L to print some test labels. Then go to the main menu and pick N for names and then 2 for everyone or 3 and then 5 for everyone in alphabetical order or just the descendants of one person. Then print a custom report that has only a field of 95. In other words, the custom report would have 95 at the top and the rest would be zeros. Then press F10 to print the report. It will print mailing labels for all the selected people (if they have an address entered). The lines that print on the label, and the size of the label are set on option screen #3. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 56 APPENDIX M. PICTURE FILES. Version 5.1 of Brother's Keeper has a new feature that lets you display graphics. It will display PCX files on a computer with a VGA monitor. You may use your scanner to scan pictures, documents, maps, etc. Save the graphics file as a PCX file. If your scanner does not save in the PCX format, read your graphics file with a program such as PC Paintbrush and then convert it to a PCX file. In fact, even if your scanner does save files as PCX files, you will probably have to read the file with a program such as PC Paintbrush and then save the file. This will place the correct information in the file as to your screen size. After you have created the PCX files, start Brother's Keeper and use the modify routine to call up the person you want to attach the files to. You attach PCX files the same way you attach text files. While on the modify screen with the person showing, press F5 to go to the message line area. On any message line, type $$ and then the name of the PCX file. For example you could type $$MYFILE.PCX if the file is in the same directory as the BK5 programs. If the PCX file is in different directory, then type the directory name also, such as $$C:\DESKSCAN\MYFILE.PCX. After the file name has been typed on a message line, then press F5 again to display the file. You can have up to seven PCX files for each person. (One file name on each line.) If you have more than one PCX file for the same person, use the arrow keys to highlight the file desired and press F5 while on that line. You must have the extension of PCX on the file name. (If you don't have .PCX at the end of the file name, the program will assume that it is a word processing text file and will try to read it as a text file.) In my testing so far, I have used an HP ScanJet IIc to scan in the photographs and maps. I have found that a black and white photograph looks almost the same in 16 shades of gray as it does in 256 shades of gray. The file is about 1/2 or 1/3 the size when saved as 16 shades of gray. If the BK program is not able to read the file you scanned, then use a paint program to read the file and then save it again. Note, however, that if your video card is capable of 256 colors, the paint program may convert the file to 256 colors or shades of gray (and therefore make the file much larger.) To avoid this, you can temporarily set up Windows to VGA 16 color and then read and save the file. I normally have Windows set up for 640 by 480 with 256 colors. There are some programs, such as the shareware program Paint Shop, which will read your scanned file and save it with the same 16 shades of gray even if Windows is set up for more than 16 colors. If you have a color scanner, you will want to scan a color photograph as 256 colors. If you have lots of disk space and a super VGA card capable of 1024 by 768 by 256 colors, that will give the best results (but the file will be huge.) In order to save the file in that format, I had to change my Windows setup to that type of graphics and then read and save the file with either PC Paintbrush or Publisher's Paintbrush. My scanner uses a scanning program called Deskscan. When I select to scan a black and white photograph, it uses the 256 shades of gray format. But when I select Custom from the menu, and then select image type, I can change it to 16 shades of gray in order to save disk space. When using Deskscan it shows the size of the picture in inches. I changed the default (select custom, then image size, then units) to show it in pixels (dots) so that I could adjust the picture to the size I wanted (such as 640 by 480). Normally it won't come out exactly to 640 by 480, so I make sure neither dimension exceeds the screen limits. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 57 Brother's Keeper should be able to display PCX files if you have one of the following types of VGA cards. If you have a super VGA card, you will need at least 512K RAM or up to 1 meg RAM for the highest resolutions. Normal VGA 640x480x16 width x height x colors Normal VGA 320x200x256 Paradise 800x600x16 Paradise 640x400x256 Paradise 640x480x256 Video 7 800x600x16 Video 7 640x400x16 Video 7 640x480x16 Video 7 640x480x256 ATI 800x600x16 ATI 640x400x256 ATI 640x480x256 Tseng 800x600x16 Tseng 640x350x256 Tseng 640x480x256 Tseng 800x600x256 Tseng4 1024x768x256 (SpeedStar with 1 meg) Some of the newer VGA cards which are designed for speed with Windows may not be able to display in the highest resolutions with Brother's Keeper. If new display routines become available, they will be added to future versions of BK5. If you have a problem displaying a picture file: 1. If you hear a beep when you press F5, the file can not be found. Check the file name to be sure it is spelled correctly, and include the directory name also. Here is an example: $$C:\GRAPHICS\MYFILE.PCX 2. If the screen goes blank when you press F5, the file may be in an improper format. Use a paint program such as PC Paintbrush, Publisher's Paintbrush, or Paint Shop and read the file and then save the file. 3. If all else fails, contact John Steed and describe the problem. Tell him what brand of VGA card you have (if you know.) I have put a file called STEED16.EXE on my BBS which is a scanned photograph of my grand-parents and family. It is 640 x 480 in 16 shades of gray, and you should be able to display it on any VGA monitor. After you download STEED16.EXE, type STEED16 and enter and it will create the file STEED16.PCX. My BBS number is (616) 364-1127 (any baud rate). Currently, the program does not print pictures. You can use PC Paintbrush or another program to print the pictures. The graphics routines are from Genus Microprogramming, Inc. Portions Copyright Genus Microprogramming, Inc. 1988-1991. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 58 APPENDIX N. BTRIEVE STAT ERRORS. If you get any error messages when first starting BK5 such as: open STAT=2 person getlast STAT=2 or if you get any STAT= error messages when in any part of the program, it usually means that there is damage to one of your data files. The BK5 Utility routine will NOT fix these type of errors. A STAT error is an indication that the data file needs to be repaired and have the indexes rebuilt. The best way to do that is to use BTRHELP which is a shareware program. You may obtain a copy of this program from CompuServe, from the BK bulletin board (BBS) (616) 364-1127, or from John Steed. The file name on the BK BBS is BTRHLP18.ZIP. The file FIXBK.DOC describes how to use it when fixing Brother's Keeper data files. There are a couple of STAT errors that you do not need BTRHELP to fix. If you get a STAT=4 error only for one person when modifying, you may be able to fix that error with the BK5 Utility program. The STAT=4 error means a record or link is not found. If you get a lot of STAT=4 error messages, then do not use the BK5 Utility program. Also, if you get a STAT=12 error when starting BK5, it means one of your data files is missing. You may have accidently deleted it. The name of the file will appear on the screen while the STAT=12 error message is showing. Hopefully you have backup copies of all your data files. If you get a STAT error message, there will usually be a word or two before it to indicate which file is damaged. For example "person getequal STAT=" means it was reading the BKPERSON.DT5 file. Marr indicates BKMARR.DT5. Source indicates BKSOURCE.DT5. Loc means BKLOCATE. And mail means BKMAIL.DT5. Here are descriptions of some of the STAT error messages you may see. STAT NUMBER 2 Input/Output error. File is damaged or could not be created. 3 File not open. If you get a STAT=2 error when opening, then you will get STAT=3 every time you try to read from the file. 4 Key value not found. The record was not found but should be there. 5 Duplicate Key. 12 File not found. 14 Pre-image open error. Disk is full or file is damaged. This relates to temporary files such as BKPERSON.PRE which are used when updating a record. 15 Pre-image I/O error. Disk is full or .PRE file damaged. 18 Disk is full. 25 Create Input/Output error. Disk full or root directory full. 30 Not a Btrieve file. Something may have been copied over the file. 42 Incomplete accelerated access. If you create a new set of BK5 data files with the split routine or gedcom import, and if something goes wrong, the new files are damaged and should be erased. 47 If you get error 47 look at your BK5.BAT file and increase the /M:18 to /M:20 Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 59 54 Variable page error. Damage to a sector in the file. If you were running BK5 from Windows, and did not pick S to stop BK5 it could cause STAT errors when trying to restart BK5 unless you stop Windows and restart, or re-boot your computer. It is possible that a file is damaged so badly that it can not be fixed. That is why you should always have two backup copies of your data, done on two different days. Then the chances are good that at least one of them will not be damaged. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 60 APPENDIX O. FUNCTION KEY SUMMARY. F4 show mailing address and phone F5 go to message lines. F5 again for 120 line editor F6 go to source lines for a date or location F6 when on a name press F6 to enter alternate name F6 when child area is blank in ADD to go to MODIFY F6 on bottom of MODIFY screen to go to ADD if married F7 on blank wife or blank marriage to abort the ADD F7 when entering report options, abort print routine F8 search for matching name or location F8 on bottom of MODIFY screen to see other parents F9 on bottom of MODIFY screen to see other spouse F9 when child area is blank in ADD to list children F10 done with this person, go to next person ALT F10 assign the field to an ALT key (see Appendix I.) ESC act like F7 or like CTRL F3 see options #3 ESC when printing, to cancel printing CTRL F3 erase a field or restore a field CTRL A in child occupation field to set ADOPTED, STEP Enter go to next field TAB go to next field (or use down arrow) Shift TAB go to previous field (or use up arrow) CTRL L print label while address is showing (see F4) ALT F2 show foreign character table PageDown go to bottom of MODIFY screen Home go to beginning of a field End go to last letter in a field ALT - copy father's last name to child (on Add screen) option screen 3 lets you change some keys: F1 can be like F10 ESC can be like F7 or like CTRL F3 to erase field Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 61 APPENDIX P. COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS. Q. I can't get the program to start. What is wrong? A. Well, it could be one of several things. First of all, do you have enough RAM memory in your computer? The program wants about 510K of available memory. If you have 512K of RAM, read the BK5.BAT file for directions on changing the first line in the batch file so that BK will use only 450K of RAM. Even though your computer may have 640K of RAM memory, other things may be using up some of the memory. To see how much memory is available for the program, you should run a program called CHKDSK that is located on your DOS disk. Just type CHKDSK at the C> prompt and it will give you several lines of information. The last two lines are important to the discussion here. The next to the last line will show total RAM memory, and the last line will show what is available for programs such as Brother's Keeper. If the last line shows less than 460,000 you have a problem. It is possible to have 640K of RAM memory in your computer, and yet still not have 460K available for programs. If, for example, you have a RAM disk in use, it will take up memory. Also, pop-up programs such as Sidekick will use up some of your memory. Look in your CONFIG.SYS file and in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to see what all you have running. DOS itself requires about 50K or more of memory, depending on what version you have. The line BUFFERS=num in your CONFIG.SYS file also will use up some RAM memory (do not use over BUFFERS=25). Secondly, assuming you have enough memory, you also need a line in your CONFIG.SYS file that says FILES=28 (or some number larger than 28). This is explained in Appendix K. If you don't have that line in the CONFIG.SYS file, you will see the opening screen of Brother's Keeper and then you will get a message telling you that you need that line in the file or you may get "path/file access error". Thirdly, you might have a problem of the computer "locking up" when you type BK5. This is caused by a dip switch inside older computers set in the wrong position as though you had an 8087 co-processor, when in fact you do not have an 8087 math co-processor. So, if the computer freezes up and you have to turn it off to regain control, check that co-processor switch. Also try typing SET no87="true" before starting BK5. There is also a known bug with MS-DOS 3.20 if you do have a math co- processor. This bug is overcome by typing the following line at your DOS prompt before starting BK: SET no87="true" If you still have problems starting the program after checking all the above items, try removing all memory resident programs and all device drivers. The easiest way is to format a blank diskette with the FORMAT /S command. Then create a CONFIG.SYS file on that diskette with only the line FILES=28 in it. Then reboot the computer with that diskette in the A: drive. Then try to start the program. If it still does not work, contact John Steed and describe the problem. Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 62 Q. I have played around with the program a little and now I want to just start over. How do I get rid of the names and information I have entered so that I may start from scratch? A. All the data that you enter is stored in files that have names ending with .DT5. If you stop the program and change to the drive or subdirectory that contains the data files, you may type DIR *.DT5 and you should see about 6 files listed. If you erase those files, you may start over. So if you are SURE that you want to start over, you may type ERASE *.DT5 and all the data files will be gone. Q. When I look at someone's information in the Modify section, it shows "not entered" for the names of the parents. How do I type in the parents' names? A. In order to add the parents of someone, you need to go to the Add routine. Type in the Father's name for husband, and the Mother's name for wife. Then type the child's name. Then the parents' names will show at Modify. If you have entered the wrong parents for someone, see Appendix A. Q. How do I enter information for a family if I only have the Mother's name but I don't know the Father's name? A. You may either enter the Father's name as _____ _____ (if you think you will collect the information later) or you may type the name as *UNKNOWN and it will never print on any report. Q. How do I add a spouse to a single parent? A. Look at the single parent in the Modify routine, then press F6 while at the bottom line. Then use the UP arrow to go up to the husband or wife area and enter the person. Q. How do I enter the second husband for a woman? A. Using the Add routine, type the name of the second husband. Then for the wife, type the code number for the wife or search by name. When the wife is displayed, the program will know that it is an additional marriage for her. Q. When I print the Tree report, why do I get strange characters instead of the nice lines I see when I display the report? A. The program will try to print lines using the extended IBM character set that contains graphic characters. Most printers can print IBM graphic characters, and most will only do so if you set a certain switch in the printer or send a certain code to the printer. If you have an HP Laserjet printer, then use the "P" routine then "13" to send the codes to change to IBM graphic characters. If your printer cannot print graphic characters, then change the numbers at the top of Options screen 2 as described in Tree section above. Q. Why doesn't the sideways Tree report print work for me? A. The sideways report is designed to work on a printer that is compatible with IBM or Epson graphic printers. If your printer prints Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 63 something that does not look like sideways characters, then your printer is not compatible. Do not worry about it, it is the same report as the regular Tree report so you are not missing much. The sideways tree uses the SIDEWAYS.DTA file to define the graphic characters. That file should be located on the same disk as the program since the program looks for it on the default disk or in the default directory (whatever directory you were in when you started BK). Note: if you have a laser printer, this Sideways report is not the same as Landscape. If you wish to print in Landscape mode, set your laser printer for Landscape and then run the Tree report as a regular (not sideways) printout. Q. I got an error message saying "Device fault" or "Device timeout" or "Disk not ready". What does that mean? A. Usually it means that your printer was not turned on or not connected. If you do not have a printer attached, be sure to have output set to DISPLAY. Even the Word search routine will try to print unless you change output. If part of the report prints, and then you get one of the above error messages, it may mean your printer is not responding as fast as DOS would like. That problem can be cured by adding this line to your Autoexec.bat file: MODE LPT1:,,P Or if you have MS-DOS 5.0 or above, use: MODE LPT1:,,B The MODE line should be on a line somewhere below the PATH= line in the Autoexec.bat file and it should be above the last line in the file if the last line starts a program. That will use the DOS MODE command to cause the program to wait longer for the printer to respond. Device fault also could mean a problem with your disk drive (if it happens when you are adding, modifying, or reading data). Q. If I want to keep 2 or more sets of data files totally separated from each other, how do I do it? A. To create another set of data files that will not interact with your existing files, you need to create a new subdirectory. Go to the C:> prompt and type MD followed by the name of the directory you want to create. Such as MD \SMITH or MD \BK5\SMITH. Then start BK5 and go to the Options screen 1 and type the path name and then the program will change to the data files located in that subdirectory. (The program will not create the subdirectory, you need to create it yourself with the DOS command MD.) You do not need to copy the programs to that subdirectory. To switch between directories, go to the option screen 1. I recommend you do NOT keep separate directories if the people are in some way connected. Do not put your father's family in a different directory from your mother's family, because if you do, you will not be able to print an ancestor chart for yourself. Put them in the same directory - the program will still print all reports correctly. Q. How may I DISPLAY a report or send it to a disk file so that I may make changes to it? Brother's Keeper 5.1F Page 64 A. When at the main menu, press F9 to change output. Q. Why does the AGE display incorrectly on the modify screen or on the Birthday printout? A. The age is calculated based on the birth date and either the death date (if the person is deceased) or the current date (if the person has a blank death date). The current date is the date that shows when you first turn on your computer or when you type DATE at the A> or C> prompt. Assuming your computer knows the correct current date, the problem is probably that you have not used a birth date in the style that is currently set in the options screen. Look at the date types on page 4. Then look at the date format line on options screen 1. Then look at the way you have entered dates and be sure it matches whatever you choose in the options screen. The program cannot compute age if you are using a non-standard date format. If the day of the month is less than 10, it must have a 0 or space in front of the number. This is done automatically if you enter MMDDYYYY. Q. I get "waiting for printer" and nothing prints. A. If the printer is on and on-line and has paper, and if you get a message "waiting for printer code=xxx" then write down the number shown for xxx and then press ESC and go to the main menu of BK5. Then pick O for Options and go to option screen 3. Where it says "codes meaning printer is ready" put the xxx number. Do NOT do this if the printer is printing while it said "waiting for printer." Only do this if it was not printing when it should have been. Q. I still need help, what do I do next? A. Well, if you decided to read the documentation you must be desperate! And if you have not found a solution to your problem after reading this far, you are probably frustrated also. So, here is what you may do. You may write to John Steed, 6907 Childsdale Rd., Rockford, MI 49341 and describe the problem. Indicate what size disks you use in case the solution includes receiving a program in return. Also indicate what version you have (5.1F) and any other pertinent information. If you give me your phone number, I may be able to give you an answer by phone. If you wish to contact me through CompuServe, the ID number is 75745,1371. I try to check for Electronic Mail every day. If you have a modem, my current BBS (bulletin board service) number is (616) 364-1127 at up to 9600 baud. My BBS contains the current versions of all programs and contains a listing of all recent changes to the programs. If you leave me a message on the BBS, I will try to answer it within 24 hours. If you want to talk to me, call (616) 866-9422 in the evenings between 8pm and 10pm Eastern time (same as New York time). My FAX number is (616) 866-3345 if you have a FAX machine. When I get busy with programming and updating users with a new version of the program, I may be slow in answering the mail, but I tend to be fast with answers on CompuServe, my BBS, and of course on the phone. I N D E X Add a child . . . . . 8 European dates . . . . 4 Add parents . . . . . 62 Exact search . . . . . 18 Adding names . . . . . 3 Example - adding names 7 Address fields . . 2, 55 Family group sheets . 28 Adopted child . . . . 8 Father unknown . . . . 62 Age incorrect . . . . 64 Field names . . . . . 7 Ages . . . . . . . . . 4 Find relative of person 13 Ahnentafel report . . 21 Find word or date . . 23 Alphabetical index . . 29 First person to add . 3 Alphabetical printout 21 Footnotes - sources . 18 Alt keys (user defined) 50 Foreign characters . . 2 Alternate name . . . . 9 Form length - printer 20 Ancestor chart . . . 27, 32 Four family box chart 32 Backup data files . 10, 24 Gedcom files . . . . . 33 Baptized - change name 15 Global changes . . . . 37 Bar charts . . . . . 37 Group sheets . . . . . 28 Birthday printout . . 21 HP Laserjet printer . 16 Birthday/Anniversary . 22 Individual add . . . . 14 BKAUDIT file . . . . . 17 Insert a character . . 2 Bold print . . . . . . 16 Install . . . . . . . 1 Box chart . . . . . . 31 Landscape printing . . 26 Browse . . . . . . . . 13 Laserjet printer . . . 16 Calendar . . . . . . . 22 Last name for child . 9 Change name of fields 7 Last names . . . . . 17, 23 Change order of child 12 Linking people . . . . 3 Change order of spouse 12 Location fields . . . 5 Change parents . . . . 39 Location print/change 37 Changes file . . . . . 17 Location search . . . 5 Changes to program . . 46 Look for person . . . 13 Colors . . . . . . . . 15 Lower case months . . 5 Compress print . . . . 16 Mailing address 2, 17, 55 CONFIG.SYS file . . . 52 Maximum number of names 1 Converting data files 48 Memory requirements. . 1 Correcting problems 2, 39 Menu . . . . . . . . . 3 Custom reports . . . . 54 Menu programs. . . . . 1 Data files location . 15 Merge two databases . 33 Database programs . . 49 Message file . . . . . 11 Date format - change . 36 Message lines . . . . 10 Date of last change . 18 Modify information . . 12 Date types . . . . . . 4 Months - lower case . 5 Delete a character . . 2 Move forward/backward 2 Delete a person . . . 12 Multiple data sets . . 63 Delete as a child . . 12 Multiple printers . . 36 Delete as a spouse . 12, 39 Names of fields . . . 7 Descendant report . 20, 29 New features in program 46 Descendant tree . . . 25 Numbering systems . . 6 Description of program 2 Numerical printout . . 21 Device fault . . . . . 63 Occupation - change name 15 Device timeout . . . . 63 Occupation field . . . 7 Disk not ready . . . . 63 Options . . . . . . . 14 Display reports . . . 63 Order of children . 12, 39 Ditto " key . . . . . 5 Order of spouses . . . 12 Down arrow . . . . . . 2 Order to add people . 3 Drive for data files . 15 Output routines . . . 20 Duplications . . . . . 40 Output to disk file . 20 Edit text file . . . 11, 14 Output to screen . . . 20 Equal = key . . . . . 5 PAF program . . . . . 34 Erase a field . . . . 2 Parents . . . . . . . 13 Escape key . . . . . . 18 Parents - second set . 8 Path for data files . 15 Prepare disks . . . . 1 Print routines . . . . 20 Printer options . . . 15 Printer problems . . . 41 Printer setup . . . . 36 Printer strings . . 16, 24 Problems - questions . 61 Program will not start 61 Questions & answers . 61 Quit . . . . . . . . . 38 Ref: right justify . . 19 Reference field . . . 6 Register style reports 29 Relationship calculation 37 Relationships . . . . 42 Reuse a code number . 13 Sample reports . . . . 44 Search for word or date 23 Searching by name (add) 7 Second marriage . . 7, 62 Setup disks. . . . . . 1 Sex field . . . . . . 3 Shareware concept . . 51 Sharing the program . 51 Short-cuts . . . . . 5, 50 Sideways printing . 26, 62 Single parent-add spouse 62 Size of files - maximum 1 Sort alphabetically . 22 Source footnotes . . 18 Source information . . 6 Source print/change . 37 Special effects on/off 15 Split one database . . 33 Start over, erase files 62 Start the program . . 1 Statistics chart . . 37 Step children . . . . 8 Stop . . . . . . . . . 38 Suggestions . . . . . 48 Superscript codes . . 18 Technical information 49 Text editor . . . . 11, 14 Text file . . . . . 11, 14 Timeline chart . . . 38 Tiny Tafel file . . . 37 Top of form - printer 20 Transfer data from BK 35 Tree printout . . . . 25 Up arrow . . . . . . . 2 Updates to program . . 46 Use of ? to find name 9 Utility program . . . 36 Windows . . . . . . . 1 Word processor . . . . 14 Word search . . . . . 23