PARENTS is an application that was designed to help make collecting and
organizing your genealogy easier. With the help of PARENTS, you will be able
to more easily gather, store, and view information about all of your
ancestors as well as your children and your children's children.
PARENTS allows you to enter and store vital information such as names,
birth, marriage, death dates and places and more. All of this information
can then be easily organized and related together to form your family tree.
You will also be able to print the detailed information about any one of
your ancestors as well as print your immediate tree.
REGISTRATION
PARENTS is not public domain, nor is it free software. You are granted
a limited license to use this product on a trial basis. You are also
granted a license to copy PARENTS, along with the documentation, for the
trial use by other users. PARENTS has not been intentionally crippled or
limited in its functionality in any way. If you wish to continue using the
product, you must send $25 to:
NickleWare
P.O. Box 393
Orem, UT. 84059 USA
If you would like an original copy or an update to the latest release of the
software, please add $5 for shipping and handling.
We encourage you to copy PARENTS and share it with anyone who might be
interested in tracking down their roots and learning where they came from.
GETTING STARTED
REQUIREMENTS -
Microsoft Windows 3.0 or higher
IBM compatible PC 286/386
Before proceeding, make sure that you have Microsoft Windows correctly
installed. Next create a directory called PARENTS and copy the PARENTS
software (PARENTS.EXE) into this directory. PARENTS is now ready to be
started. Simply start PARENTS from the RUN... menu selection of the Windows
Program Manager or add it to a Program Manager group by following the
directions in the Windows 3.0 manual for creating a group item. PARENTS
will then create all of the data files it needs to run, and place them on
the same drive and path where the software was installed.
When PARENTS is started for the first time, the following entry will be
placed in the WIN.INI file which is probably in the same directory where
windows is installed.
[PARENTS]
DBPath=<drive>:<path>\
This tells PARENTS where to find the data files. The key word DBPath
is set equal to the <drive> and full <path> including the trailing backslash,
where the PARENTS data files will reside. For example:
[PARENTS]
DBPath=C:\Parents\
You can change where PARENTS looks for the data files by simple
altering the DBPath. Then move the datafiles from the directory where they
were created to the new directory you specified in the DBPath.
INDIVIDUAL WORKSHEET
The main window for data collection is the INDIVIDUAL WORKSHEET. All
of the genealogical information about any individual can be entered into
this worksheet. It contains fields for the individual's name, birth date
and place, christening date and place, the date and place where the
individual was married, where and when the individual died and when and
where the individual was buried. In addition to these fields is a misc.
notes field that can be used to store any additional information, and a
place to indicate the sex of the individual. The information that is
entered into the date and place fields does not have to be in any specific
format.
MENU SELECTIONS FOR THE INDIVIDUAL WORKSHEET.
NEW - This selection, from the FILE pull down menu, will display a
blank INDIVIDUAL WORKSHEET. After all of the information has been entered
into the worksheet, click on the SAVE pushbutton. This will add a new
record to the data base storing all of the information that was entered.
OPEN - This selection, from the FILE pull down menu, will display a
list of all of the individuals that have been entered into the database. An
individual can be selected from this list by highlighting it and clicking on
the SELECT pushbutton or by double clicking on the selection. All of the
information that was previously stored in the database about this individual
will be displayed in the worksheet. This information can be updated or added
to, and then saved.
PRINT - This selection will print the worksheet information for the
currently selected individual.
PUSHBUTTON ACTIONS FOR THE INDIVIDUAL WORKSHEET.
SAVE - This action will save the information that has been entered into
the INDIVIDUAL WORKSHEET. If SAVE is clicked after entering a NEW
individual, the information will be added to the database. If SAVE is
clicked after updating the information for an existing individual, the
updates will be saved in the database.
DELETE - An existing individual's information can be deleted from the
database if that individual is not currently being used in the FAMILY TREE.
After clicking the DELETE pushbutton, a message prompt will appear
requesting a confirmation of the action. If the individual exists in the
FAMILY TREE, a message prompt will appear indicating that the individual
cannot be deleted.
CLOSE - This action will close the INDIVIDUAL WORKSHEET. If the
worksheet was initiated by selecting OPEN... from the FILE menu, the
Individual List will be redisplayed.
NEXT - This action will display the data for the next individual record
in the database.
PREVIOUS - This action will display the data for the previous
individual record in the database.
IMMEDIATE FAMILY TREE
The IMMEDIATE FAMILY TREE displays and allows you to update a selected
individual's family tree. The FAMILY TREE's center box has a thicker border
than the other boxes in the tree. Any individual that is placed in this box
will cause the tree to be centered around him or her. In other words, all
of that individual's immediate family will be displayed in the other boxes
of the tree.
An individual can be placed in the FAMILY TREE's center box in one of
two ways. The first way is by dragging and dropping from the INDIVIDUAL
LIST. This is done by highlighting an individual with the mouse, and while
holding the mouse button down, moving the mouse pointer over the center box.
When the mouse button is released, the selected individual will appear in
the center box and the rest of the tree will automatically be filled in.
The second way is by highlighting an individual in the INDIVIDUAL LIST, then
pulling down the RELATIONS pull down menu and selecting INDIVIDUAL. Again,
the selected individual will appear in the center box and the rest of the
tree will be filled in.
The IMMEDIATE FAMILY TREE can also be used to create a family tree. To
do this, first make a selection from the INDIVIDUAL LIST and place that
selection in the center box. Then in the same manner as described above,
place each member of the immediate family in the appropriate box. As each
selection is placed in the tree, that selection is related to the individual
in the center box according to the position in which it is placed. To the
left of the center box is the Children List. Each child of an individual in
the center box, should be placed in the Children List. Directly below the
center box is the Spouse List. The individual's current spouse and each
previous spouse (if any) should be placed in this list. At the top right of
the center box is the Father box. The Father of the selected individual
should be placed in this box. Directly below the Father box, is the Mother
box. There are also two other boxes the are tied to the spouse list. These
two boxes are for displaying the parents of the currently highlighted spouse
in the Spouse List. These two boxes cannot be used to relate a Father or a
Mother to a Spouse.
There are several special features of the IMMEDIATE FAMILY TREE. The
first feature is that the tree can be shifted in any direction to show the
extended family tree. This can be done by dragging and dropping an
individual from any of the other family tree boxes to the center box. For
example, if the individual that is currently placed in the center box is
John Smith and his father is Jack Smith, by dragging and dropping Jack Smith
from the Father box to the Center box, the family tree will immediately be
reorganized to show Jack Smith's immediate family. In the process of doing
this, John Smith will be moved from the Center box to the Children box which
indicates that John Smith is a child of Jack Smith and the individual that
appears in the Father box is John Smith's Grandfather.
The second special feature of the family tree is being able to edit the
information about an individual. This can be done by highlighting an
individual in the INDIVIDUAL LIST and clicking on the EDIT pushbutton below
the list or by double clicking on an individual in the list or in the FAMILY
TREE. The INDIVIDUAL WORKSHEET will appear with all of the information that
had been previously stored in the database. The information on this
worksheet can be updated and saved except for the individual's name. After
editing the information, click the CLOSE pushbutton to return to the
IMMEDIATE FAMILY TREE.
MENU SELECTIONS FOR THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY TREE.
SHOW - This menu selection will show an empty IMMEDIATE FAMILY TREE.
This tree can be used to display or update an individual's family tree.
HIDE - This menu selection will hide the IMMEDIATE FAMILY TREE,
INDIVIDUAL LIST (and INDIVIDUAL WORKSHEET if shown).
SHOW LIST - This menu selection will show the INDIVIDUAL LIST. This
list can be used to build an IMMEDIATE FAMILY TREE.
HIDE LIST - This menu selection will hide the INDIVIDUAL LIST.
PRINT - This menu selection will print the currently displayed
IMMEDIATE FAMILY TREE or INDIVIDUAL ANCESTRAL TREE.
CLEAR - This selection can be found in the EDIT pull down menu. It is
used to clear the family tree or remove a relation between two individuals.
This depends on which family tree box is currently selected. A family tree
box can be selected by clicking on it with the mouse. After doing so, a
dotted rectangle will appear around the individual's name that is contained
in the box. If the center box is cleared, the entire family tree will be
cleared. If the Father or Mother box is selected, the box is cleared and
the relation is removed. If one of the children or spouses is highlighted,
that child or spouse is cleared from the list and the relation is removed.
The two boxes that are tied to the spouse box cannot be cleared.
RELATIONS - This pull down menu is only available when the IMMEDIATE
FAMILY TREE is shown. It can be used as an alternative way of placing an
individual in a family tree box. By highlighting an individual in the
INDIVIDUAL LIST and then choosing one of the selections in the RELATIONS
pull down menu, that individual will be placed in the corresponding family
tree box.
SPECIAL FEATURES
DRAG AND DROP - Whenever an item is being transferred from one list to
another, it may dragged and dropped. This means that an item can be
selecting with the mouse pointer, and while still holding the mouse button
down, position the mouse pointer on top of the destination entry field.
When the mouse button is released the selected item will appear in the entry
field. For example, if an individual is being placed in the family tree, it
may be dragged and dropped from the individual list to the appropriate box
in the tree.
CLIPBOARD - The clipboard is a convenient way of transferring data
between PARENTS and other Windows application or between different PARENTS
windows. To use the clipboard functions simply highlight any text that is
displayed in an entry field, pull down the EDIT menu and choose COPY or CUT. The COPY function will place a copy of the highlighted text in the Windows clipboard. The CUT function also places the highlighted text in the clipboard but also removes it from the entry field. To retrieve text from the clipboard, place the cursor at the position inside an entry field where the clipboard text should be inserted or appended. Then pull down the EDIT menu and choose PASTE. The clipboard text will be placed in the entry field at the cursor position.
PRINTING - When the PRINT... selection is chosen from the FILE pulldown
menu, the user has the option of printing either the IMMEDIATE FAMILY TREE
or an INDIVIDUAL ANCESTRAL TREE. Once the selection has been made, a dialog
box will appear that prompts the user for a report title, type of report and
whether to include the date and time the report was printed. If the user
selects the INDIVIDUAL ANCESTRAL TREE, they also have the choice of printing
the entire tree or just part of it.
ENHANCEMENTS
The following is a list of the new features and enhancements that have
been included in version 2.0 of PARENTS:
o Addition of Windows 3.0 Help Manager
o Proportional system font.
o Printing has been improved.
o Addition of Printer Setup.
o Addition of pushbuttons to allow for easier data access.
o UNRECOVERABLE ERROR bug fixed when dragging and dropping an individual
outside of a Family Tree box.
o PARENTS is fully Windows 3.0 compatible.
o Color icons.
The following is a list of the new features and enhancements that have
been included in version 2.1 of PARENTS:
o Viewing an individual is now available by double clicking on an
individual box in the Family Tree.
o WIN.INI file is updated automatically on startup.
o Individual Boxes on the Family Tree have been expanded.
The following is a list of the new features and enhancements that have
been included in version 2.3 of PARENTS:
o Enhanced printing.
o Ability to print all or part of an individual ancestral tree.
o Use of the status bar to display status messages.
o User definable report titles.
o User is allowed to edit an individual record by double clicking on an
individual box in the Family Tree.
o Titles have been added to the Family Tree boxes.
o Closing a worksheet that was initiated by the Open... selection will
return to the Individual List box.
o The Immediate Family tree retains the last displayed data after hiding
and reshowing the tree.
o Addition of the NEXT and PREVIOUS pushbuttons on the Individual
Worksheet to allow the user to browse through the database
alphabetically.
EXITING
When you have finished using PARENTS, you should exit via the EXIT
selection from the FILE pull down menu. If you forget and turn your
computer off before exiting, PARENTS can not guarantee that your ancestors
have been saved correctly. It is very important that you always exit
PARENTS via this selection.
NickleWare
CompuServe: 72730,1002
Copyright (C) 1990-92 Bradley Nicholes
This documentation must accompany the PARENTS software.
NickleWare or Bradley Nicholes shall not be liable for any damages,
whether direct, indirect, special or consequential arising from the use
or failure of this program to operate in the manner desired by the user.
