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TOP GENBOX (tm)
Shareware Version 1.0
Copyright 1993 Thoughtful Creations
The presentation-quality genealogy box chart program
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ***** SHAREWARE VERSION - FREELY REDISTRIBUTABLE ***** │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
For <ONLINE HELP>, press the F1 KEY at any time. For further help,
select one of the marked keywords. Help sections:
<CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION> Chapter 1 help sections.
<CHAPTER 2: GETTING STARTED> Chapter 2 help sections.
<CHAPTER 3: MAIN MENU> Chapter 3 help sections.
<CHAPTER 4: OPTIONS> Chapter 4 help sections.
<CHAPTER 5: VIEWING/EDITING CHART> Chapter 5 help sections.
<CHAPTER 6: TIPS AND TECHNIQUES> Chapter 6 help sections.
<APPENDIX A: READING THE CHARTS> Appendix A help sections.
<APPENDIX B: GLOSSARY> Appendix B help sections.
_______________________________________________________________________________
###############################################################################
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Help Sections available in CHAPTER 1:
<FEATURES> An overview of key features.
<SHAREWARE> What shareware is all about.
<REGISTERED VERSION> How to order the registered version of GENBOX.
<SHAREWARE VERSION> Shareware/registered version differences.
<LIMITED WARRANTY> Warranty for registered version.
<COPYRIGHT AND TRADEMARKS> Copyright information.
_______________________________________________________________________________
FEATURES
GENBOX produces presentation-quality genealogy box charts, up to 255
generations:
* Descendant, Ancestor, Related, Everyone, and Custom Box Charts
* Advanced GEDCOM data support: tags, priorities, order, labels
* Built-in screen previewer/editor with full scrolling
* Menu interface, print/size/format options, online help.
It has a number of space-saving features, designed to minimize the wasted
space commonly found on genealogy charts produced by other programs:
* DYNAMIC BOX WIDTHS. The width of each box on the chart can vary,
depending on the amount of data available for the persons named in the
box. Each box is made just wide enough, so wasted space inside each box
is at a minimum. With other chart programs that support only a fixed box
width, the boxes either are all small, meaning some information can not
be displayed, or they are all large, making the chart very wide.
* UNIQUE "TUCK-UNDER" ALGORITHM. Descendant box charts typically have few
boxes at the top, and widen in each successive generation. Thus, the
lower generations have the most boxes, and determine the width of the
chart. Children boxes are centered below the box of their parents. But
not all persons have children; thus, there is often empty space on either
the left or right side of a family of children boxes. By allowing
families with multiple children to "tuck under" the boxes of individuals
in the parent's generation who do NOT have children represented on the
chart, it is possible to reduce the overall width of the chart. This
technique is extended to the placement of all boxes. In general: children
boxes, as a group, are centered beneath their parent's box; then, this
structure is moved left until another box in either the children's
generation or the parent's generation is reached. This is then repeated
for successively higher generations, moving larger structures.
* PRIORITIZED SUBFIELD INCLUSION. Most chart programs have a fixed set of
data items that are included in each box. GENBOX allows you to prioritize
the inclusion of data items, so that when there is more data than will
fit in the selected box minimum-maximum sizes, the lower-priority data
will be left out. An example where this is useful is with NOTE data.
NOTES can be short, or very lengthy. A good compromise on NOTES is to
include the shorter notes in the boxes, and leave out the longer notes;
and in either case, give higher priority to birth, death, and marriage
data.
SHAREWARE
This product is distributed as SHAREWARE. Shareware distribution gives you
a chance to TRY software before BUYING it. You may copy and distribute the
<SHAREWARE VERSION> of GENBOX to whomever you wish, provided that it is not
altered in any way or included as part of another system. Whoever continues
using the shareware version after a reasonable trial period is expected to
REGISTER. When you register, you will receive the <REGISTERED VERSION> of
GENBOX.
REGISTERED VERSION
If you decide that GENBOX is useful to you, and have not registered, send a
check or money order for $35.00* to:
Thoughtful Creations
ATTN: William T. Flight
GENBOX Registration
P.O. Box 19406
Cincinnati, OH 45219
*OHIO RESIDENTS: please add 5.5% sales tax (for a total of $36.93).
YOU WILL RECEIVE: the latest registered version of GENBOX, with the
advanced features, on a 5-1/4" diskette (or specify 3-1/2"). The
registration fee licenses ONE COPY for use on any one computer at any
one time.
SHAREWARE VERSION RESTRICTIONS
The shareware version does NOT restrict the sizes of the charts produced or
GEDCOM files processed. Instead, some of the advanced box content
formatting options have been fixed at their default values. The ability to
change the settings for these advanced features is provided ONLY in the
registered version of GENBOX.
In particular: options organized under the following menus can not be
changed from their default values in the shareware version:
BOX OPTIONS
TAG OPTIONS
The default box contents settings provide for the following basic data
types in each box:
* Person Name * Spouse Name
* Birth-baptism date/place * Spouse birth-baptism date/place
* Death-burial date/place * Spouse death-burial date/place
* Marriage date/place
LIMITED WARRANTY (REGISTERED VERSION ONLY)
THOUGHTFUL CREATIONS (TC) warrants that the magnetic diskette(s) which the
GENBOX computer SOFTWARE is recorded on and any DOCUMENTATION provided with
it are free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use. TC
warrants that the SOFTWARE itself will perform substantially in accordance
with the specifications set forth in the DOCUMENTATION provided with the
SOFTWARE. These warranties are made for sixty (60) days from the date of
original retail delivery to you or your company as the user.
TC will replace any magnetic diskette or DOCUMENTATION which proves
defective in materials or workmanship without charge. TC will either
replace or repair any SOFTWARE that does not perform substantially in
accordance with the specifications set forth in the DOCUMENTATION with a
corrected copy of the SOFTWARE or corrective code. In the case of an error
in the DOCUMENTATION, TC will correct errors in the DOCUMENTATION without
charge by providing addenda or substitute pages. If TC is unable to
replace defective DOCUMENTATION or a defective diskette or if TC is unable
to provide corrected SOFTWARE or corrected DOCUMENTATION within a
reasonable time, TC will either replace the SOFTWARE with a functionally
similar program or refund the fees paid for SOFTWARE.
TC does NOT warrant that the functions contained in the SOFTWARE will meet
your requirements or that the operation of the SOFTWARE will be
uninterrupted or error free. ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES COVERING THE DISKETTE,
THE DOCUMENTATION OR THE SOFTWARE PROGRAM INCLUDING ANY WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE LIMITED IN DURATION
TO SIXTY (60) DAYS FROM THE DATE OF ORIGINAL RETAIL DELIVERY. An implied
warranty of merchantability means that the product will work normally and
an implied warranty of fitness means that a product is suitable for the
use for which it is advertised. Some states do not allow limitations on
how long an implied warranty lasts, so the above limitation may not apply
to you.
TC SHALL NOT IN ANY CASE BE LIABLE FOR SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL,
INDIRECT OR OTHER SIMILAR DAMAGES ARISING FROM BREACH OF WARRANTY, BREACH
OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY EVEN IF TC OR OUR AGENT
HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. This means we are not
responsible for any costs incurred as a result of lost profits or revenue,
loss of use of the SOFTWARE, loss of data, costs of re-creating lost data,
the cost of any substitute program, claims by any party other than you, or
for other similar costs. Some states do not allow the exclusion or
limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation
or exclusion may not apply to you. This warranty is in lieu of all other
express warranties, whether oral or written. This warranty gives you
specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from
state to state.
COPYRIGHT AND TRADEMARKS
GENBOX Copyright (c) 1993 by Thoughtful Creations. All rights reserved.
GENBOX is a trademark of Thoughtful Creations.
GENBOX User's Manual Copyright (c) 1993 Thoughtful Creations.
This product began with the need for a presentable chart for the Flight
Family Reunion, held at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina, in August, 1992.
The original program was then greatly expanded during the months
afterward.
The author can be reached on CompuServe at [73740,1754], or by writing to
William T. Flight at the address given earlier.
_______________________________________________________________________________
###############################################################################
CHAPTER 2: GETTING STARTED
Help Sections available in CHAPTER 2:
<INSTALLATION> Installation instructions for GENBOX.
<STARTING THE PROGRAM> How to start the program.
<EXITING THE PROGRAM> How to exit the program.
<SAVING OPTIONS> Saving changes to options on exit.
<ONLINE HELP> How to use the online help services.
<MENUS> How to use the menus.
<PERSON SELECTION> How to select people to include on the charts.
<ABORTING CHART> How to abort from making a chart.
_______________________________________________________________________________
INSTALLATION
The GENBOX distribution consists of the following files:
<GENBOX.EXE> The program.
<GENBOX.OPT> The options file.
<GENBOX.HLP> The help file.
<GENBOX.REG> The registration form.
<README.TXT> Introduction to GENBOX.
<CLINTON.GED> A sample GEDCOM file.
<HPLASII.CFG> A printer configuration file. (HP Laserjet II)
Install the files in the same directory on your hard disk. The README file
may be deleted after it is read. The sample GEDCOM file may also be
deleted, if you already have your own GEDCOM file ready to use. HPLASII.CFG
will be useful to you only if you have an HP Laserjet printer or
compatible.
STARTING THE PROGRAM
At the DOS command prompt, type:
GENBOX
The program will start, displaying the main menu.
Select a GEDCOM File
Once the program starts, select `Load GEDCOM File' to load in your
selected data file. Or, you may specify the name of your GEDCOM file when
you start the program, with the following switch:
GENBOX -f {GEDCOM filename}
Replace {GEDCOM filename} in the above command with the name of your own
GEDCOM file. If it is not in the current directory, specify the complete
path.
Options File
GENBOX starts by loading in the saved options from the file <GENBOX.OPT>.
OR, you may specify the name of a different <OPTIONS FILE> to use when you
start the program, with the following switch:
GENBOX -o {options filename}
Replace {options filename} in the above command with the name of your
options file.
Advanced Text Modes
If you are operating in a text mode larger than 80x25, you can inform
GENBOX of this when you start the program, and it will make use of the
larger screen area. This makes it possible to see a larger portion of your
charts at one time when in the viewer/editor. For example:
GENBOX 80x50 - for 80 columns, 50 lines
GENBOX 132x43 - for 132 columns, 43 lines
GENBOX 160x64 - the largest screen size supported
NOTE: specifying the screen resolution in columns and rows to GENBOX does
NOT change your screen resolution; it only informs GENBOX of the current
resolution in use. Consult the documentation that came with your display
adapter for how to select one of the advanced text modes.
The DOS mode command may allow you to select the 50-line mode, as follows:
MODE CON LINES=50
In general, a VGA or SuperVGA monitor and adapter are required for advanced
display modes.
EXITING THE PROGRAM
To exit the program, choose STOP from the main menu.
SAVING OPTIONS
If you have made changes to options, you are asked when you exit GENBOX if
you would like to save your changes. If your type `Y' in response, you
will be prompted for the name of the file to save the options to, with the
default being GENBOX.OPT. If your type `N' in response to the question,
any changes made to the options will be discarded.
ONLINE HELP
GENBOX is provided with a complete, context-sensitive, online help system.
From any prompt in the program, you may press the F1 KEY to get help
on the current prompt. All help information is stored in <GENBOX.HLP>,
which can also be read in any text editor or printed out for a hard copy.
Once the help window appears, you can access help on related topics, or
on any help topic. Related topics will be keywords within the body of the
text that are marked with angle brackets, as in <MENUS>.
Use the ARROW KEYS or TAB to highlight the desired keyword; press ENTER.
Press BACKSPACE to return to the previous help topic, or ESC to exit help.
Press the F1 KEY within help for the <TOP> help window, for other topics.
Press PGDN or PGUP to view help sections longer than one page. Notice that
the right-bottom window corner will be marked `PGDN' when there are more
pages.
MENUS
The menus contain a number of options that can be selected by using the
ARROW KEYS to highlight the desired option, then pressing ENTER.
Menu options usually have a marked "hotkey" that can be typed to
immediately select the corresponding menu option.
Menus can be exited by pressing the ESC KEY.
PERSON SELECTION
People may be selected by entering either their <RIN> or their name.
If you do not know the RIN of the desired person, type in the person's
first name, followed by a space, and the person's last name. GENBOX
can recognize a number of partial name entries, as well. Examples:
276 - RIN
John Thomas Smith - full name
John Thomas /Smith/ - full name, with surname marked. If surname
contains spaces, the /marks/ are required.
John // - given name only
Smith - surname only
John - given name only; would try /John/ first
John Thomas - given names only; would try John /Thomas/ first
Jo Smi - truncated given name and truncated surname
J S - truncated given name and truncated surname (This
search may be slow, because everyone whose
first name starts with `J' and last name starts
with `S' will be matched)
*J T S - FAILS: GENBOX stores all given names as the
"first name"; The first name in this example is
`John Thomas', so shortened forms include `John
Tho' and `John T' and `Jo', but NOT `J T'.
Each person with a matching name will be shown one at a time, until the
user confirms that the person displayed is the desired person.
ABORTING CHART
If you need to abort from making a large chart, you may press the ESC key.
_______________________________________________________________________________
###############################################################################
CHAPTER 3: MAIN MENU
Help sections available in CHAPTER 3:
<Load GEDCOM File> Load in your <GEDCOM> file.
<Options> Access to the Options Menu to change settings.
<Ancestors Box Chart> Produce an ancestors <BOX CHART>.
<Descendants Box Chart> Produce a descendants box chart.
<Relatives Box Chart> Produce a relatives box chart.
<Everyone Box Chart> Produce a box chart of everyone in the file.
<Custom Box Chart> Produce a custom box chart.
<View/Edit Saved Chart> View/Edit saved chart files.
<Help> How to use the online help.
<Exit> Exit GENBOX.
______________________________________________________________________________
Load GEDCOM File
Select this option to load in your <GEDCOM> file. Note that the five chart
production menu options are DISABLED until after a GEDCOM file is loaded.
Options
Select this option to access the many configurable options of the program.
See <CHAPTER 4: OPTIONS> for complete information.
Ancestors Box Chart
The ANCESTORS box chart begins at the bottom with the person you select,
and extends upward to all of the ancestors of that person.
Descendants Box Chart
The DESCENDANTS box chart begins at the top with the person you select,
and extends downward to all of the descendants of that person.
Relatives Box Chart
The RELATIVES box chart begins with the person you select, and finds
everyone in the GEDCOM file that has a "blood" relationship. First, all of
the ANCESTORS of the selected person are found; next, all of the
DESCENDANTS of these people are found. The Relatives Box Chart is like a
combination of the <Ancestors Box Chart> and the <Descendants Box Chart>.
Note that the starting person may end up near the top OR the bottom of the
chart, depending on what other data is present. All of the spouses of the
blood relatives are shown as well.
Note: by a "blood" relationship, we mean those who generally would be blood
relatives; the program assumes children are the offspring of their parents.
Adoptions and other non-blood parent-child relationships are treated like
normal relationships.
Everyone Box Chart
The EVERYONE box chart option produces a chart that has every person in
the GEDCOM file on it. This means that all portions of the chart will not
necessarily be connected; each connected portion will simply be placed
next to the previous connected portion. No starting name is needed to
produce this chart.
Custom Box Chart
The CUSTOM box chart gives you great flexibility in producing a chart.
Instead of the descendants of one person, you can directly specify the
names of up to 255 people. The descendants of all of the <STARTING NAMES>
will be combined on one chart.
In addition, you can limit the <MAXIMUM GENERATIONS> to include on the
chart. Descendants below this level will be omitted.
What makes this chart most useful is that marriages between descendants of
different starting people are automatically detected. Connecting lines are
drawn; children of these marriages are shown only once.
The starting people need not be in the same generation; if a marriage
between descendants of different starting people is detected, the entire
descendant trees will be shifted up/down in generations as appropriate.
View/Edit Saved Chart
This option allows you to view a chart that was previously saved, with
EITHER the `Save Chart' or `Save as Text File' option under the
<VIEWER MENU>. menu. If the chart was saved as a text file, a temporary
file in <CHART FORMAT> will first be created.
The chart may be viewed, edited, saved again, or printed.
Help
This option accesses the <TOP> level of the online help system, from where
help on any portion of the system may be accessed.
Exit
Choose this option to exit from GENBOX.
_______________________________________________________________________________
###############################################################################
CHAPTER 4: OPTIONS
Help sections available in CHAPTER 4:
<OPTIONS OVERVIEW>
<OPTIONS FILE>
<OPTIONS MENU>
_______________________________________________________________________________
OPTIONS OVERVIEW
There are many user-settable options provided in GENBOX. Together, they
provide great flexibility in the format and content of the charts
produced, and in the operation of GENBOX itself.
The current values of all user-settable options are remembered after
GENBOX exits. They are written out to the <OPTIONS FILE>. The default name
for this file is <GENBOX.OPT>. Each time GENBOX is started, this file is
read in to set up the system.
_______________________________________________________________________________
OPTIONS FILE
All user-settable GENBOX options are stored in the file <GENBOX.OPT> so
that you do not have to reset them to your preferred choices each time
GENBOX is started.
You may specify the name of a different options file to use when you start
the program (see <STARTING THE PROGRAM>).
This feature is useful when you have determined a set of options preferred
for the generation of a specific chart that you produce frequently: you can
save the options to a separate file, such as SMITHDES.OPT, then specify
this file when starting GENBOX. You could maintain a small collection of
options files, one for each different chart type you frequently use. On
the other hand, you may find that there is only one set of options that
you prefer for all of your charts, and a single options file (the default)
is sufficient.
_______________________________________________________________________________
OPTIONS MENU
User-settable options in GENBOX are organized into 6 groups, with each
group handled in its own window. The OPTIONS MENU contains 6 choices, one
for each group of options. All editing of options in the six windows
is handled in a like manner. The ARROW KEYS and TAB can be used to move
among the options on the windows. Press ENTER to save all changes made and
exit, or press ESC to abort all of the changes made and exit. NOTE:
when ESC is pressed in the tag options window, only changes to the current
tag line are aborted; changes to other tags are saved.
General
This menu choice opens the <GENERAL OPTIONS WINDOW>. It contains general
options for controlling GENBOX, including printer configuration.
Sizes
This menu choice opens the <SIZE OPTIONS WINDOW>. It contains options
for chart, page, and box sizes and spacing.
Highlights
This menu choice opens the <HIGHLIGHT OPTIONS WINDOW>. It contains options
for box highlighting: border choices and box selection. GENBOX supports
selective box highlighting, based on surnames.
Boxes
This menu choice opens the <BOX OPTIONS WINDOW>. It contains options
for box formatting and content.
Tags
This menu choice opens the <TAG OPTIONS WINDOW>. It contains a list of
all LEVEL 1 data tags currently recognized by the system, and their current
configurations.
Viewer
This menu choice opens the <VIEWER OPTIONS WINDOW>. It contains choices
for movement when in the view/edit window.
_______________________________________________________________________________
GENERAL OPTIONS WINDOW
Primary Person Names: Force to UPPERCASE? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: FP)
This option causes all <PRIMARY PERSON> names to be shown in UPPERCASE,
regardless of the actual case of the names in the <GEDCOM> file. To
select, type `Y' or `y'. To have primary names shown in the same case they
appear in the GEDCOM file, type `N' or `n'.
Spouse Names: Force to UPPERCASE? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: FS)
This option causes all <SPOUSE> names to be shown in UPPERCASE, regardless
of the actual case of the names in the <GEDCOM> file.
Date Format: (1)25 Dec 1993 (2)Dec 25 1993 (3)Dec 25, 1993:
(Opt: DF)
This option determines the appearance of dates that are stored in the
standard <GEDCOM> format. For choice (1), the day comes before the month;
for choices (2) and (3), the month comes before the day; for choice (3), a
comma is also placed after the day and before the year. Dates that are in
nonstandard formats, such as `ABT 1020', are not affected. Note: the
appearance of dates is also affected by the <Day/Month/Year Divider>
option, and the <Month Format> option.
Day/Month/Year Divider: ( ); (/); (-): -
(Opt: DM)
This option specifies the dividing character to be shown in dates between
the Day and the Month, and also before the Year. Thus, if the <Date Format>
was (1), this option could provide the following variations: 25 Dec 1993;
25/Dec/1993; 25-Dec-1993.
Choices are not limited to those shown; any character may be used.
NOTE: if the SPACE character is chosen, the date may be divided between
parts and wrapped to the next line, as determined by the line wrap
algorithm. If this is not desired, choose a non-space divider character.
Month Format: (1)12 (2)Dec (3)DEC (4)December (5)DECEMBER:
(Opt: MF)
This option determines how the MONTH part of standard dates are displayed.
The months of dates not in standard <GEDCOM> format are not affected.
Line-Drawing Character Set: (P)C Codes; (A)SCII Codes Only:
(Opt: GC)
This option selects one of two possible character sets for the display of
the box borders and connecting link lines in the chart. The (P)C set is
preferred, because the lines are smoothly connected. If your printer does
not support the PC character set, select the (A)SCII character set. Lines
will then be restricted to the use of ASCII codes less than 128, such as
the dash (-) and vertical bar (|) characters.
Include Page Numbers? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: PN)
If this option is selected, <PAGE NUMBERS> will be printed on the top-left
corner of every page on the charts.
If NOT selected, there will still be a `B' in the top-left corner of the
first page in the second row, to tell the GENBOX Viewer/Editor where the
second row of pages starts.
Include Key Page? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: KP)
The Key Page functions both as a chart title page and as a key for reading
the chart. The title section contains the type of chart produced and the
people selected to produce the chart. If a SUBM record was present in the
GEDCOM file, the name of the submitter is included. In the <REGISTERED
VERSION>, the submitter address is also included.
The key section contains a list of all of the tag labels that appear on
the chart, accompanied with the tag description data.
The key page is logically placed on the bottom-right page of the chart.
Thus, when printing out the chart, it will appear at the END of the LAST
row of pages.
Minimize Box Straddle? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: SB)
Box widths in GENBOX can vary, depending on data available for each person.
With varying box widths, some boxes will end up extending across a page
break, with the left part of the box on one page, and the right part of the
box on the next page.
While box straddle can not be avoided, this option can be chosen to
minimize it: when set to `Y', boxes that are "free to move" will be shifted
left or right, in order to appear completely on one page. A box is "free to
move" if there is not a box immediately adjacent to it. If there is
insufficient space to completely move the box off of the page break, its
position is not changed.
Of course, this movement will throw off the centering of boxes over
their children boxes, so it is a compromise. If you plan to trim pages and
mount your chart, you may prefer to leave this option set to (N)o.
Printer Port: (1) LPT1; (2) LPT2; (3) LPT3; (4) LPT4:
(Opt: LP)
Use this option to tell GENBOX which parallel printer port is connected to
your printer. If your printer is connected to a SERIAL port, you will need
to use the DOS MODE command to redirect output from a parallel port to the
serial port, with a command such as:
mode lpt1 = com1
Printing Blank Pages: (S)kip; (P)rint:
(Opt: PB)
Large charts may have completely blank pages. If you wish these pages to
be skipped when printing, set this option to (S)kip. Note that it will be
up to you, then, to figure out how to assemble the chart; the number of
pages printed may vary from row to row.
NOTE: if <Include Page Numbers> is selected, no page will be considered
blank.
Form Feeds at end of Pages: (O)mit; (I)nclude:
(Opt: FF)
Some printers automatically form-feed after the last line is printed on a
page. If your size options have you printing on the last page line, and
you are getting extra blank pages after every good page, set this option
to (O)mit. Otherwise, set this option to (I)nclude.
Printer Initialize File:
(Opt: PI)
This option can hold the name of a printer initialization file that will
be sent to the printer before each chart print operation. It can contain
page size, font size, orientation, and other initialization information.
You will need to consult the manual that came with your printer to
determine what initialization codes you should use, then use a text editor
of your choice to create the file. NOTE: an initialization file is not
required.
The file <HPLASII.CFG> is an example of a printer initialization file.
Printer Terminate File:
(Opt: PT)
This option can hold the name of a printer termination file that will
be sent to the printer after the completion of each chart print operation.
Generally, it would be used to reset the printer to its previous state.
You will need to consult the manual that came with your printer to
determine what codes you should use, then use a text editor of your choice
to create the file.
NOTE: no printer terminate file is required.
_______________________________________________________________________________
SIZE OPTIONS WINDOW
Chart Top Margin (rows):
(Opt: CT)
This option is used to set the chart top margin, in rows. Usually, this
value will be 0. A value greater than zero may mean fewer generations will
fit on the first row of pages than on subsequent page rows.
Chart Left Margin (cols):
(Opt: CL)
This option is used to set the chart left margin, in rows. Usually, this
value will be 0. A chart left margin simply shifts the entire chart to the
right, creating blank space on the left side of the first page in each row.
Page Width (cols):
(Opt: PW)
This option determines the printable width of the page. Margins will
reduce the printed portion of the page from this value.
Page Height (rows):
(Opt: PH)
This option determines the printable height of the page. Margins will
reduce the printed portion of the page from this value.
Page Top Margin (rows):
(Opt: TM)
This option determines the top margin on every page, in rows. Usually, it
is set to 0.
Page Bottom Margin (rows):
(Opt: BM)
This option determines the MINIMUM bottom margin on every page, in rows.
The actual bottom margin may be larger, depending on box height, page
height, and number of generations being printed. Usually, the page bottom
margin is set to 0.
Page Left Margin (cols):
(Opt: LM)
This option determines the page left margin, in columns. Usually, it is
set to 0.
Page Right Margin (cols):
(Opt: RM)
This option determines the page right margin, in columns. Usually, it is
set to 0.
Page Horizontal Overlap (cols):
(Opt: OL)
This option is useful when the pages are to be trimmed before mounting.
When greater than zero, it creates an "overlap" area, where the first
few columns on each page are a repeat of the last few columns on the
previous page.
Box Height (inside rows):
(Opt: BH)
This option determines the height of all boxes on the chart. The default
value is 8 rows. The box top and bottom, plus 3 link rows, make the
total height for each generation on the chart to be 5 + BOX HEIGHT.
For best results, consider the page height and page top/bottom margins
when choosing a box height. Since only whole generations will be put on a
page, some box heights will result in wasted rows at the bottom of every
page. Formula for generations per page:
(Page Height - Top Margin - Bottom Margin) / (Box Height + 5)
The wasted lines will be the remainder from this division. FOR EXAMPLE: if
you have a page height of 66 rows, no top/bottom margins, and a Box Height
of 8 rows: 66/(8+5) = 5 generations per page, with one blank line. If you
are using the HPLASII.CFG printer initialization file, you should set the
Page Height to 84: then, you can specify a Box Height = 9: 84/(9+5) = 6
generations per page, exactly.
Box Minimum Width (inside cols):
(Opt: MN)
This option determines the minimum box width, in columns. Usually, it is
set to 1.
Box Maximum Width (inside cols):
(Opt: MX)
This option determines the maximum box width, in columns. Usually, it is
set to 60; values up to 200 are supported.
Minimum Box Separation (cols):
(Opt: BS)
This option determines how closely boxes are placed next to each other.
The default is 1 column.
_______________________________________________________________________________
HIGHLIGHT OPTIONS WINDOW
GENBOX supports the selective highlighting of boxes, based on surname.
This feature can be useful when producing charts for family reunions: all
boxes on the chart with the family name can be highlighted. Boxes with
either a <PRIMARY PERSON> or <SPOUSE> having the selected surname will be
highlighted. The type of highlighting is selected by setting the border
attributes for normal boxes and highlighted boxes differently.
Highlight boxes with last name:
(Opt: HN)
Enter the surname desired in this field. All boxes that have a surname
that BEGINS with this text will be highlighted; thus, it is not necessary
to type the full surname.
Use Double-line Borders on Normal Boxes? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: DN)
If set to (Y)es, normal boxes will be shown with a double-line box border.
If set to (N)o, a single-line box border will be used.
Include Shadows on Normal Boxes? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: SN)
If set to (Y)es, normal boxes will include a simulated shadow, placed
along the top and left edges of the box. If set to (N)o, normal boxes will
not have a shadow.
Double-line Borders on Highlight Boxes? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: DH)
If set to (Y)es, highlight boxes will be shown with a double-line box
border. If set to (N)o, a single-line box border will be used.
Shadows on Highlight Boxes? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: SH)
If set to (Y)es, highlight boxes will include a simulated shadow, placed
along the top and left edges of the box. If set to (N)o, highlight boxes
will not have a shadow.
_______________________________________________________________________________
BOX OPTIONS WINDOW
Allow line wrap? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: LW)
This option determines how long data items are handled. If set to (Y)es,
they are wrapped onto multiple lines. If set to (N)o, they can extend up
to the maximum box width, then are truncated or omitted.
Right-justify wrapped lines? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: RJ)
When set to (Y)es, wrapped lines are right-justified. This formatting
option may make it easier to distinguish line continuations than when all
lines are left-justified.
Center all lines? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: CJ)
When set to (Y)es, all lines in the box are centered. This option
overrides the setting of the <Right-justify wrapped lines?> option.
Show primary person's RIN in top-right corner? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: CI)
This option determines whether the <RIN> of the <PRIMARY PERSON> is shown.
If selected, it appears on the box border, in the top-right corner.
Show spouse's RIN in bottom-right corner? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: CS)
This option determines whether the <RIN> of the <SPOUSE> is shown. If
selected, it appears on the box border, in the bottom-right corner.
Show family's MRIN in bottom-left corner? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: CF)
This option determines whether the <MRIN> for the family is shown. If
selected, it appears on the box border, in the bottom-left corner.
Priority Person Bias: (1) None; (2) Priority; (3) Exclusive:
(Opt: BP)
This option determines how <PRIORITY PERSON> biasing is performed.
Priority person biasing is a priority system that is in addition to the
normal data priority system, which is determined by the settings on the
<TAG OPTIONS WINDOW>. (Be careful not to confuse PRIORITY PERSON with
<PRIMARY NAME>; the priority person in a box may or may not be the primary
name person.)
If `Priority' is selected, preference will be given to priority person
information; if room remains in the box, information from the non-priority
person will be included. GENBOX achieves this by adding 100 to the rank
values for all non-priority person's data types that NORMALLY have a value
of 2 or GREATER: data types with a rank of 1 or -1 are NOT adjusted. This
permits the non-priority person's NAME (with a rank value of 1) to still be
included in the box, as well as any "forced" (rank = -1) fields.
If `Exclusive' is chosen, all data types from the non-priority person with
a rank value of 2 or GREATER are EXCLUDED from the box, even if space would
otherwise permit additional information to be shown. Since the NAME data
type is normally ranked 1, this results in only the NAME of the non-
priority person being included, with other data types omitted. This can
result in reduced box widths, making for a narrower chart.
IF `None' is chosen, data from both persons will be ranked normally in all
boxes.
Tags LEVEL: treat col as subfield (I)nclusion or (P)riority:
(Opt: TL)
This option controls the interpretation of the LEVEL settings column on the
<TAG OPTIONS WINDOW>. When set to (I)nclusion, the LEVEL value for each tag
is taken to be fixed: only subfield data up to the indicated level will be
included, even if other data is available. This subset of data will then be
treated as one "data item"; if there is not sufficient space in the box to
show the whole item (after omitting any lower-ranked data items), it will
be omitted entirely.
If set to (P)riority, the level value serves as the MINIMUM: if space
permits and more subfield data is available, it will be included. When
space is tight, the "optional" subfield data will be dropped first; if
there is still not enough space, the entire data item will be dropped.
Place Names: Remove extra commas? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: KC)
GEDCOM data sometimes has extra commas in place names. Place names are
divided into a level hierarchy, as in `city, county, state, country'. If
the county data is not present, the place name may appear as `city,, state,
country'. When this option selected, GENBOX will detect the double comma
`,,' and replace it with a single comma.
Place Names: Add space after commas if missing? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: AS)
This option will add a space after commas in place names, if there is not
already a space. This allows long place names to be divided and wrapped
onto additional lines, which may result in a narrower box width.
Ignore Quality Assessment values? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: QA)
If selected, all Quality Assessment values (GEDCOM subfield tag QUAY) will
be omitted from the chart, even for data items with a LEVEL value of 9 (all
data). In GEDCOM files, Quality Assessment Values are used to indicate the
reliability of the associated data: they are a number ranging from 0
(unreliable) to 3 (direct or primary evidence). When they appear after many
data items, they can clutter up the appearance of the chart. Select this
option to prevent them from being included.
If this option is not selected, the Quality Assessment values will be
included after the data items they affect (provided the tag has a LEVEL
value of 9), with a prefix of `Q' added.
_______________________________________________________________________________
VIEWER OPTIONS WINDOW
Horizontal Page Advance (cols):
(Opt: SW)
This option determines how far the cursor advances in the left/right
directions when the HOME/END keys are pressed. If this option is set to 0,
a value equal to approximately one-half the screen width will automatically
be used. You may wish to set this to a smaller or larger value. (You can
also use the CTRL-LEFT and CTRL-RIGHT keys to move left and right on the
chart display; these keys move the cursor by one screenwidth.)
Vertical Page Advance (rows):
(Opt: SH)
This option determines how far the cursor advances in the up/down
directions when the PGUP/PGDN keys are pressed. If this option is set to 0,
a value equal to approximately one-half the screen height will
automatically be used. You may wish to set this to a smaller or larger
value. (You can also use the CTRL-PAGEUP and CTRL-PAGEDOWN keys to move up
and down on the chart display; these keys move the cursor by one screen
height.)
Side-Side Page Break Character:
(Opt: HB)
This option determines which character is used to represent page breaks
between pages that are side-by-side (left/right) when in the viewer. The
default is the vertical bar, `|'. Note that the page break characters are
just part of the view; they are not part of the chart, and do not appear
when the chart is printed.
End-End Page Break Character:
(Opt: VB)
This option determines which character is used to represent page breaks
between pages that are end-to-end (above/below) when in the viewer. The
default is the dash, `-'. Note that the page break characters are just part
of the view; they are not part of the chart, and do not appear when the
chart is printed.
Smooth Vertical Scrolling? (Y/N):
(Opt: SS)
If set to (Y)es, the PGUP/PGDN keys will result in a smooth scroll of the
chart, when the cursor moves off the current view. If this is unacceptably
slow for your system, set this option to (N)o; the chart will be instantly
updated in its new position.
_______________________________________________________________________________
TAG OPTIONS WINDOW
The TAG OPTIONS WINDOW provides for sophisticated handling of GEDCOM data.
Individual data types can be prioritized, ordered, labeled, described,
truncated, and selectively included. With a little practice, you should be
able to get just the subset of data you want, ordered and labeled the way
you want it to be.
It is helpful to think of GEDCOM data as organized along two dimensions:
the TYPE of data being own dimension, and SUBFIELDS of the data type as the
other dimension. The data type corresponds to GEDCOM LEVEL 1 tags, such as
NAME, BIRT, DEAT, OCCU, MARR. For each of these data types, a number
of subfields may be present, such as TEXT, DATE, PLAC, ADDR, NOTE. The
subfields correspond to GEDCOM LEVEL 2 tags and higher. Not all data types
can have all subfields; NAME, for example, is limited to just TEXT.
On the TAG OPTIONS WINDOW, each row is an individual data type,
corresponding to a LEVEL 1 GEDCOM tag. Each row contains six data values:
<Tag>, <Name>, <Label>, <Order>, <Rank>, and <Level>.
Tag
The TAG value contains the actual LEVEL 1 GEDCOM tag. Only tags that have
an entry here will be processed by GENBOX. If other LEVEL 1 tags in the
GEDCOM file are encountered when producing a chart, they will automatically
be added to the list, ready for you to set the other five values for each.
Name
The NAME value should contain descriptive text, describing what the data
for this tag represents. This descriptive text will appear on the Key
Page when a chart is produced, if the Key Page option is enabled.
Label
The LABEL value contains the label text that will appear in the box before
the associated data. The BIRT tag may have a label of `b.' or maybe just
`b'. No label is required; typically, the NAME tag has no label, for
example. Labels that actually appear on a chart will also be listed with
the corresponding descriptive text on the Key Page, if the Key Page option
is enabled.
Order
The ORDER value determines how tag data is organized in the box. Data for
tags with order=1 are listed before data for tags with order=2, and so on.
If data for several tags appearing in a box have the same order value, they
will be sub-ordered according to their order in the <TAG OPTIONS WINDOW>.
An ORDER value of 0 is considered non-ordered: it is treated the same as an
order of 99. New tags are given an order of 0, drawing attention to the
fact that they have not been ordered yet.
Order values less than 0 are special; see <RANK ADVANCEMENT>.
Rank
The RANK value determines the priority of tags. If there is more data
available than will fit in a box, the rank value will be used to determine
which data items to leave out. A rank value of 1 is typically the highest
priority, and 99 the lowest.
Rank values are not necessarily fixed. It is possible for the effective
rank on some data types to be advanced (changed to a smaller number), if
data on some other data type is absent; see <RANK ADVANCEMENT>.
A RANK value of -1 is actually a higher priority than a value of 1: it is
used to FORCE a data type to ALWAYS be included in every box, even if no
corresponding data is present. This feature is useful when a chart will be
edited/written on after it is produced, and extra space to add data is
desired.
A RANK value of 0 is considered non-ranked: it is treated the same as a
value of 99. New tags are given a rank of 0, drawing attention to the fact
that they have not been ranked yet.
Level
The LEVEL value determines the amount and types of SUBFIELD data that will
be presented. It also serves as an ON/OFF switch: any tag with a LEVEL
value of zero will be turned OFF: no data corresponding to this tag will
appear on the chart.
Data in a GEDCOM file is organized into a hierarchy. with the level value
as the first number on each line. The data for each PERSON starts at level
0. Each different event record stored for the person, such as birth and
death, begins at level 1. Data related to particular events immediately
follow, at level value 2. This includes things such as place names and
dates. Place names can have additional subfields beginning at level 3, for
information such as addresses or sites. In general: If you are looking at
data item `D' at level Y, you look back in the file for a line beginning
with a level value of Y-1. This is the data item that the data item you
started with modifies.
Each GENBOX LEVEL value, from 1 through 9, represents an increasing amount
of subfield data to include for the current data tag. At level 9, ALL data
in the GEDCOM file associated with the corresponding tag is included, for
each person. Caution: do not confuse GENBOX LEVEL values with GEDCOM data
levels. The assignment of GEDCOM subfields to LEVEL values is as follows:
0 (no data)
1 Label only
2 Text GEDCOM level 1 text (immediately follows tag)
3 TYPE GEDCOM level 2 event descriptor
4 DATE/AGE GEDCOM level 2 date and age subfields
5 PLAC GEDCOM level 2 place text
6 SITE/ADDR GEDCOM level 3+ address and site information
7 CAUS/RELI GEDCOM level 2 text for CAUSE, RELIGION
8 NOTE GEDCOM level 2+ notes
9 all data Includes quality codes, change dates, sources
A normal LEVEL value to use is 5: this will include dates and place names,
but leave out addresses, quality codes, sources, and other "special"
subfield types. If the current tag does not normally have all the subfields
possible, no harm is caused by a large level value: it is always okay to
use 5 as a level value, even for the NAME tag, for example.
All selected subfields are appended with a space separator, in the order
the data appears in the GEDCOM file.
The interpretation of the LEVEL field is affected by the LEVEL Subfield/
Inclusion setting; see <BOX OPTIONS WINDOW>.
NOTE: some data normally appearing as subfields may appear at level 1,
such as ADDR and NOTE; when they do, they are treated as normal level 1
tags. Thus, it is possible to include NOTE data at this level while
omitting NOTE data at higher levels that are attached to subfields.
_______________________________________________________________________________
###############################################################################
CHAPTER 5: VIEWING/EDITING CHART
Help sections available in CHAPTER 5:
<SELECTING A CHART TO VIEW/EDIT>
<VIEWER MENU>
<VIEWING CHART>
<PRINTING>
<ABORTING PRINT>
<DISCARDING CHANGES>
_______________________________________________________________________________
SELECTING A CHART TO VIEW/EDIT
Enter the name of a chart file that was saved previously, with
EITHER the `Save Chart' or `Save as Text File' option on the
<VIEWER MENU>. If the chart was saved as a text file, a temporary
file in <CHART FORMAT> will first be created.
_______________________________________________________________________________
VIEWER MENU
The VIEWER MENU is accessed by pressing ESC while in the VIEW/EDIT mode.
Save Chart
Select this option to save a chart. It will be saved in <CHART FORMAT>,
which is a run-length encoded compressed file with a special header.
Later, the chart may be loaded back into GENBOX, for further viewing,
editing, and/or printing.
Save as Text File
Select this option to save the chart in ASCII format. This format is
convenient for transferring the chart to other systems that do not have
GENBOX. A chart in this format may be directly printed with the DOS PRINT
command. Warning: no attempt is made to save space; large charts can
consume a lot of disk space.
Print Chart
Select this option to print the entire chart. A progress bar will be
displayed.
Print This Page
Select this option to print just the current page.
Done
Select this option to exit the VIEW/EDIT mode and return to the main menu.
If you wish to save the chart, you must choose either <Save Chart> or
<Save as Text File> before exiting the VIEW/EDIT mode.
_______________________________________________________________________________
VIEWING CHART
The chart is displayed onscreen, exactly as it will appear when printed.
Page breaks are indicated.
Press ESC to access the <VIEWER MENU>.
To move around on the chart:
ARROW KEYS move one character position in arrow direction
HOME KEY move left one "scroll distance"
END KEY move right one "scroll distance"
PAGE UP move up one "scroll distance"
PAGE DOWN move down one "scroll distance"
CTRL-PAGEDOWN jump down one screenheight
CTRL-PAGEUP jump up one screenheight
CTRL-LEFT jump left one screenwidth
CTRL-RIGHT jump right one screenwidth
CTRL-HOME go to top-left of screen, then top-left of chart
CTRL-END go to bottom-right of screen, then bottom-right of chart
NOTE: When the chart is first displayed, you are on page "A1". The screen
may be blank if there is nothing in the top-left corner on the chart. If
so, move right until you come to some boxes.
_______________________________________________________________________________
PRINTING
GENBOX prints directly to the parallel port selected, as specified on the
<GENERAL OPTIONS WINDOW>.
NOTE: for proper operation, do NOT use the system MODE LPT command to
specify a retry action to take when time-out errors occur. GENBOX handles
timeout errors automatically.
_______________________________________________________________________________
ABORTING PRINT
To abort while printing a chart, press ESC.
_______________________________________________________________________________
DISCARDING CHANGES
If you have edited the chart, you will be asked if you wish to `Discard
Changes' when you choose `Done' and the changes to the chart have not been
saved yet. Answer by typing:
`Y' or `y' for YES (discard changes and exit),
`N' or `n' for NO (don't discard changes; stay in view/edit mode)
_______________________________________________________________________________
###############################################################################
CHAPTER 6: TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
Help sections available in CHAPTER 6:
<SOURCES FOR GEDCOM FILES> Where to find interesting GEDCOM files to use.
<SHAPE CONTROL> How you can control the overall chart "shape".
<QUICK BOX CHARTS> How to make a quick chart to check connections.
<CHECKING BOX OPTIONS> How to check box options before doing a chart.
<EDITING GENBOX.OPT> Additional techniques for controlling options.
_______________________________________________________________________________
SOURCES FOR GEDCOM FILES
An excellent source for GEDCOM files that you can use in GENBOX is the
CompuServe Genealogy Forum (GO ROOTS). Library 7, Surnames & Tafels,
contains a number of GEDCOM files uploaded by CompuServe users. A sampling
is listed below:
BULK.ARC/Bin Bytes: 66835, 11-Jun-91 [72167,3003]
Title : GEDCOM file of BULKELEY, including George Bush
Keywords: BULKELEY BUSH GROSVENOR CHARLTON BIRD GEDCOM
Ancestors listed in this file include Peter Bulkeley (circa 1400 AD in
England), William the Conqueror, Robert le Grosvenor (circa 1200), Alan de
Charlton (1300's) and Thomas le Bird. Descendants include George Herbert
Walker Bush. Over 850 people, 400 marriages.
LINCLN.GED/Asc Bytes: 13804, 09-Feb-91 [76701,263]
Title : GEDCOM file of Abraham Lincoln's family
Keywords: ABRAHAM LINCOLN GEDCOM FILE PRESIDENT
73 of Abraham Lincoln's ancestors plus his wife and his children.
GENESI.ARC/Bin Bytes: 12035, 31-Aug-90 [76701,263]
Title : GEDCOM file of everyone listed in GENESIS
Keywords: GENESIS BIBLE GEDCOM ADAM EVE CAIN ABEL NOAH METHUSELAH
297 individuals from GENESIS.
NIXON.ARC/Bin Bytes: 12416, 03-Sep-89 [70357,2312]
Title : GEDCOM file of Richard NIXON's ancestors
Keywords: GEDCOM NIXON PRESIDENTIAL PAF 2.1
Ancestors of Richard Nixon. Most lines through at least 7 generations.
ROYAL1.ARC/Bin Bytes: 49016, 14-Jul-89 [72730,323]
Title : GEDCOM file of British Royalty with ALL the kings
Keywords: GEDCOM GREAT BRITAIN ROYALTY ROOTS III PAF BROTHERS KEEPER
British Royalty from the Anglo-Saxons to today.
WASHIN.ARC/Bin Bytes: 16235, 09-Jul-89 [76701,263]
Title : George Washington's relatives in GEDCOM format
Keywords: GEORGE WASHINGTON PRESIDENT GENERAL GEDCOM 2.1 PAF
26 generations of George Washington's relatives. Includes King John and 9
of the Magna Carta Sureties, many other kings, Winston Churchill, Queen
Elizabeth II, Lady Diana, Prince Charles, and Robert E. Lee.
_______________________________________________________________________________
SHAPE CONTROL
The overall "shape" of a chart, whether it appears to be balanced or
lop-sided, tall and narrow or short and wide, depends largely on the data
itself: how many marriages and children each individual has, and the order
that the children and marriages are listed in the GEDCOM file. A balanced
chart gives a better visual impact, and usually makes more efficient use of
paper and display space. There are a number of techniques that can be used
to influence the shape of the chart.
Box Width vs. Box Height
Tall and narrow charts can be made shorter and wider by REDUCING the box
height, while at the same time INCREASING the maximum box width. Short and
wide charts can be made (somewhat) taller and narrower by doing the
reverse.
Order of Starters
By simply changing the order of the <STARTING NAMES> specified in the
Custom Box Chart option, the overall chart shape can be affected. Often,
this can result in reduced chart width. The key is in which names to use
as starters, and the order in which to enter them.
In general, this is what is happening: children boxes, as a group, are
centered beneath their parent box. Then, the parent box and its siblings
are grouped as the children, and centered beneath THEIR parent box.
After the descendants of each STARTING NAME are determined, their
descendants, as a group, are placed next to each other. Any family box
pair links between descendants of different starting names are drawn.
When the major line of descendants is off of a starting name or parent box
that is spaced far from the left edge of the chart, an empty block of space
can appear to the left of the descendants. This space would be filled by
the descendants of other boxes to the left of the parent box, if there were
some.
The solution is to "move" the box with the major bulk of the descendants
closer to the left edge of the chart, so that its descendants are also
close to the left edge, and the large, empty space is reduced.
To do this: first, go into Box Options and activate both the `Show primary
person's RIN' option and the `Show spouse's RIN' option. Next, make your
chart normally, to see what needs to be done. If you made an "everybody"
chart, write down the RIN numbers of all the <STARTING NAMES> that are
visible as boxes without any ancestors, in left-to-right order.
Next: note either the RIN of a starting box OR the RIN of the <SPOUSE> of a
descendant box you wish to move to the left. We choose the SPOUSE, not the
<PRIMARY PERSON>, because unless your box already is a starter, the primary
person is a descendant of one of the selected starters, and all starters
that are specified in the Custom Box Chart option must not be blood
relatives.
Add the RIN of the SPOUSE to the front of your STARTING NAMES list.
Now you are ready to make your "shape-improved" chart: Choose the Custom
Box Chart option, and enter all of your starters. When the chart is made,
you will notice that the selected box and its descendants are now on
the left side of the chart, and everything else was adjusted accordingly.
This process can be repeated to improve the shape in other areas of the
chart.
Overlapped Family Box Pair Links
When the GEDCOM file contains many short ancestral lines for spouses to
people in the main descendant lines of interest, the `Everyone' chart that
results can be difficult to read. The short ancestral lines connected with
dotted lines to the spouses tend to "stack up" at the sides of the chart,
with their dotted line connectors all running together.
The clue to reading the chart is to match up the names in each box: the
correct family box pairing will contain the same two names. The connector
on the bottom of each box in the pair will also point in the direction of
the other box.
Often, a different ordering of <STARTING NAMES> will produce a chart with
fewer family box connector overlaps. Try using the `Custom Box Chart'
option, and directly specify the order for just the starters you want to
include.
QUICK BOX CHARTS
A quick way to check box inclusions, connections, and overall shape is to
set the Box Maximum Width, Box Minimum Width, and Box Height all to 1. Turn
on the `Show primary person's RIN' and `Show spouse's RIN' options. Then
make the chart. You will see a "miniature" chart of connected, tiny (empty)
boxes. The RINs allow you to identify the boxes, even though no other
contents are shown.
Any time the minimum width is set equal to the maximum width and the height
selected multiplied by the width is less than 10, a quick box chart will be
produced, with empty box contents. The chart takes less time to produce
because the GEDCOM file does not need to be accessed, and box content
decisions do not need to be made.
If the box is narrower than the number of digits in the RIN number, the RIN
will overlap the box borders and the margin before the box. If you find
this unappealing, you should select a min/max width value equal to the
number of digits in the largest RIN. This will make your quick chart
slightly wider, but it will look "cleaner".
In any case: If your RINs are 4 digits (1000 or more people in your GEDCOM
file), you must set the box min and max values to at least 2; for 10000 or
more, set box min and max values to at least 3.
Quick Charts with `Show family's MRIN'
If you turn on BOTH the `Show spouse's RIN' and `Show family's MRIN'
options, limited space on your quick chart boxes may require the program to
change the placement of the numbers slightly.
Normally, the family MRIN goes in the bottom-left corner, and the spouse's
RIN in the bottom-right corner. If there is not enough room on a box to
display both these numbers on the bottom line with at least one space of
separation, the family MRIN will instead be displayed on the line ABOVE.
Thus, for quick boxes of Box Height = 1, the family MRIN will appear in the
MIDDLE, with the primary person RIN above and the spouse RIN below.
Note: if there is no spouse for a family, the family MRIN will appear in
its normal position, even on quick box charts. Thus, if you have all three
RIN options active, and a box has only two numbers shown on it, then these
are the primary person and family MRIN numbers.
Also: a Box Height value of 2, not 1, is recommended when showing both the
spouse RIN and the family MRIN on charts with min/max widths = 1. This is
because the secondary marriage connectors occupy the first box line, and
would overwrite any family MRIN (wider than the box width) that extended
beyond the box borders. By using a Box Height of 2, the family MRINs would
appear on the line BELOW the line used by the secondary marriage
connectors, so the full MRIN number is visible, even when it extends
outside the box.
OR, you can simply use a min/max box width value equal to or greater than
the number of digits in the largest family MRIN number. Then Box Height can
be set to 1, and the family MRIN numbers will not be overwritten on any
box.
CHECKING BOX OPTIONS
After changing box size or formatting options, you can get a preview of
what the boxes will look like before producing a chart. This allows you to
decide if your selected options are okay, or if you should make some
adjustments. To check box options: simply choose the `Descendant' chart
option, and enter a RIN number at random (or, enter the name of a person of
your choice). The box selected will be shown with the selected options in
effect: box height, box width constraints, wrapping, date format, selected
data types, and so forth. To the question `Is this the right person?',
press the ESC key.
EDITING GENBOX.OPT
The options file, <GENBOX.OPT>, may be edited with any text editor. By
directly editing the options file, it is possible to specify certain
settings that are not possible within the normal OPTIONS MENU windows.
The most important capability is in ordering the TAGS data lines. Suppose
you load a data file that has the GEDCOM tag `TITL'. If GENBOX currently
does not have an entry for this tag, it will create one, at the bottom of
the tag list. Now, suppose you want title data to appear BEFORE NAME data,
which has an order value of 1. You can set TITL data to have an order of 1,
but unless you change NAME data to order 2 (and ripple all other order
values down one level as well), the TITL data will appear AFTER the NAME
data, because tags with the same ORDER value will be ordered in the box
according to their order on the tag list. The solution is to edit the
options file, GENBOX.OPT, and move the TITL tag line to the top of the
list, ahead of the NAME tag line.
Another situation is with the Viewer `Horizontal Page Break Character' and
`Vertical Page Break Character'. By editing the options file with an
editor that allows entry of graphics characters, you can change the
characters used for page breaks to any graphics characters of your choice.
_______________________________________________________________________________
###############################################################################
APPENDIX A: READING THE CHARTS
Help sections for APPENDIX A:
<BOX CHART> Sample portion of box chart, with parts labeled.
<FAMILY BOX> Description of a family box.
<FAMILY BOX PAIRS> Description of family box pairs.
<DOTTED LINE SUMMARY> A summary of the use of dotted lines.
_______________________________________________________________________________
BOX CHART - Sample portion of box chart, with parts labeled.
(ancestors of A.J. DOE) (ancestors of S.L. PETERSON)
top root --> │ secondary marriage │
┌───────┴──────32┐ ┌───────────────32┐ ┌───────┴──────46┐
│ANDREW J. DOE ├∙┤ANDREW J. DOE │ │SUSAN LYNN │
│b 8-Mar-1929 │ │b 8-Mar-1929 │ │ PETERSON│
│Mount Samson, OH│ │ Mount Samson, OH│ │b 6-Jul-1932 │
parent --> │m 19-Oct-1957 │ │m 5-Jun-1970 │ │ Smallville, NY│
box │ Brookfalls, WA│ │Mountain View, KS│ │m 19-Oct-1957 │
│SUSAN LYNN │ │CANDICE PATRICE │ │ Brookfalls, WA│
│ PETERSON│ │ SMITH│ │ANDREW J. DOE │
│b 6-Jul-1932 │ │b 17-Aug-1936 │ │b 8-Mar-1929 │
│ Smallville, NY│ │ Bigtown, WY│ │Mount Samson, OH│
└16─────┬──────46┘ └17─────────────58┘ └16─────┬──────32┘
├∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙┘
parent/child link --> │ ^
│ | Family box link
┌──────────┴───────197┐<-- RIN of primary person
child --> │WILLIAM JEFFERSON DOE│<-- primary person
box │b 3-May-1961 │
│ Sunnytown, FL│
│m 11-Dec-1986 │
│ Oceanside, NJ│
│ANGELA CAROLYN │ <-- spouse
│ CARPENTER│
label -->│b 22-Jan-1963 │ \
│ Bear Lake, TN│ wrapped line; wrap is right-justified
└35────────────────198┘ /
^ ^ ^ ^
| | | |
family MRIN date place RIN of spouse
_______________________________________________________________________________
FAMILY BOX
A family box can contain one or two names. The first person listed is the
<PRIMARY PERSON>. If the parents of this person are on the chart, they will
be in a box above, with a connecting line. In the sample chart, this line
is labeled `parent/child link'.
_______________________________________________________________________________
FAMILY BOX PAIRS
If the parents of the <SPOUSE> are on the chart, there will be a SECOND
family box containing the same two people, but with the spouse in the
position of the PRIMARY PERSON. This box hangs below the SPOUSE'S parent
box. Having the same two married people shown in two places allows the
parents of both to be clearly indicated. The first box and the "reversed"
box are together referred to as a Family Box Pair.
Family Box Pair Connectors
To show that two boxes contain the same people, a dotted line is drawn
BELOW the boxes, connecting them. In the sample chart, this line is labeled
`family box link'. Note also that the CHILDREN are only listed once: below
just ONE family box in each family box pair.
Whenever included on a chart, family box pairs will ALWAYS be shown on the
same generational level, so that a horizontal dotted line can be drawn
STRAIGHT ACROSS to connect them. This means that if their parents are in
different generational levels, an EXTENDED VERTICAL CONNECTOR will need to
be drawn, to lower the child with the parents in the higher generational
level to the same level as the child with the parents in the lower
generational level.
NOTE: on large `everybody' charts, it is possible for these dotted lines
connecting family box pairs to be overlapped. To read such a chart
correctly, each box with a bottom connector to the overlapped dotted lines
must be checked to see if it is the pair to the box of interest.
_______________________________________________________________________________
SECONDARY MARRIAGES
If the GEDCOM file lists a person as a husband or wife in more than one
family, GENBOX will display an ADDITIONAL family box for each of these
`secondary' marriages, if appropriate for the chart type selected. This
allows each spouse's information to be distinguished, and also provides a
separate connection point for the children of each of the secondary
marriages.
To show that these boxes are all marriages of the same <PRIMARY PERSON>, a
dotted line is drawn BETWEEN the boxes, near the top. In the sample chart,
there is a dotted line drawn between the first and second marriage boxes
for Andrew J. Doe; the name of his first wife is Susan Lynn Peterson, and
they had a son William Jefferson Doe; the name of his second wife is
Candice Patrice Smith, and no children from that marriage are shown.
If the SPOUSE has secondary marriages shown on the chart, they will be
attached to the family box that has the spouse listed as the PRIMARY
PERSON. In the sample chart, Susan Lynn Peterson is not shown as having any
secondary marriages; if she did, they would be connected to the family box
on the right.
On DESCENDANT charts, secondary marriages of SPOUSES are usually not shown,
because any children of these marriages would not be descendants of the
<STARTING NAMES>. The same is true on CUSTOM charts, although if you wish
to include the secondary marriages of a SPOUSE, include the spouse as one
of the STARTING NAMES. On ANCESTOR charts, no secondary marriages for
either the PRIMARY PERSON or the SPOUSE are shown.
Note: so-called `secondary' marriages are not necessarily ordered in time:
the left-to-right order of secondary marriages on the charts is determined
by the order in which the marriages are listed in the GEDCOM file, not by
the actual dates given (The same is true about the ordering of CHILDREN).
_______________________________________________________________________________
DOTTED LINE SUMMARY
On GENBOX charts, there are two kinds of dotted lines: those that run
horizontally BELOW the boxes, connecting <FAMILY BOX PAIRS>, and those that
run BETWEEN boxes, connecting <SECONDARY MARRIAGES>. Secondary marriages do
not always appear in the same generation, so the dotted lines connecting
them may go DOWN a level (or more) as well as across.
In general: every occurrence of an individual on a chart can be found by
following the dotted lines that run between each occurrence, whether to
secondary marriages, or to the pairing box in family box pairs. At most,
there will be two boxes for each marriage that an individual has: if a
person has three marriages, for example, each box could be shown with a
connected family box pair, for a total of six boxes.
_______________________________________________________________________________
###############################################################################
APPENDIX B: GLOSSARY
Help sections for APPENDIX B:
<CHART FORMAT> A description of the GENBOX chart file format.
<GEDCOM> The file format standard for genealogy transfer.
<GENBOX.EXE> The program.
<GENBOX.HLP> The help file.
<GENBOX.OPT> The options file.
<GENBOX.REG> The registration form.
<MRIN> Marriage Record Identification Number.
<HPLASII.CFG> A printer configuration file. (HP Laserjet II)
<CLINTON.GED> A sample GEDCOM file.
<PAGE NUMBERS> Explanation of chart page numbering.
<PRIMARY PERSON> The first person named in a box.
<PRIORITY PERSON> Data has priority over other person in box.
<RANK ADVANCEMENT> Priority adjustments based on unavailable data.
<README.TXT> Introduction to GENBOX.
<RIN> Record Identification Number.
<SPOUSE> The second person named in a box.
<STARTING NAMES> Names selected to produce a chart.
_______________________________________________________________________________
CHART FORMAT
GENBOX produces and reads chart files in a special "chart format", which
consists of run-length encoded data with a special header.
The header contains:
[255]PAGEWIDTH;PAGEHEIGHT;XPAGES;YPAGES\n
The chart data is stored beginning with page A1, with the data for each
page line delimited with the NULL (0) character. Pages are stored a row at
a time. The run-length encoding is performed as follows:
[char][255][repeat count]
GENBOX can also store and read charts in ASCII text format. When reading
an ASCII text chart, it first converts it to chart format. For this to
work correctly, the following constraints are placed on the ASCII text
file:
* All lines are padded with spaces to be the same length
* There is a `B' character in the first position on the page that
begins the second row of pages.
_______________________________________________________________________________
GEDCOM - Genealogical Data Communication
GEDCOM is a file format standard for exchanging computerized genealogical
data. It was developed by the Family History Department of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and has become widely supported, by
numerous genealogical programs.
GENBOX requires the genealogical data to be in GEDCOM PAF 2.1/2.2 format.
Genealogy database programs that support this format include Personal
Ancestral File, Brother's Keeper, and Roots III.
If the normal data storage format used by your genealogy program is not
GEDCOM, it will need to be converted, either with a utility that is part of
your genealogy program, or with some other conversion utility. GEDCOM files
are normally given an extension of .GED.
Data Consistency Problems and Errors
When GENBOX loads in your GEDCOM file, it checks it for consistency, and
reports any problems and errors it discovers. The structure of GEDCOM files
allows for double-checking links between children and parent families, and
between people and marriages, because the linkage information is stored in
two places: with the person's data, and with the family's data. When there
is a link from a person to a family, but there isn't a link from the family
back to the person, this is a DATA INCONSISTENCY.
GENBOX can "repair" some inconsistencies, allowing you to still use the
GEDCOM file without modification. Repairs are made in MEMORY: no actual
changes are made to the GEDCOM file itself. Inconsistencies that GENBOX can
fix are reported as `Data Problems'. Other, more serious data errors will
be reported as `Data Errors', and prevent the file from being used at all.
Make a note of the RINs and MRINs displayed in the messages displayed on
the screen. Later, you may wish to use any text editor to correct the
problems in your GEDCOM file, so that you don't see the same error messages
each time you use the file.
_______________________________________________________________________________
GENBOX.EXE - Executable File
This is the GENBOX program itself.
GENBOX.HLP - The Help File
This file is the source for all of the online help functions. It is a
normal ASCII text file, which may be printed out for a hard copy of the
user documentation. This text you are now reading is part of that file.
The GENBOX program finds help sections by the section titles, both major
and minor. the major section titles begin in column 0 and appear in
uppercase. The minor section titles begin in column 2 and appear in mixed
case. WARNING: do not attempt to edit this file. It may prevent GENBOX
from finding the help section data when a help function is requested.
GENBOX.OPT - Default Options File
This ASCII file contains a record of all of the user-settable options. It
is read in when the program is started, and any changes to the user-
settable options are written back out to the file when the program is
exited. If the file can not be found when GENBOX is started, and an
alternative options file is not specified on the command line, a warning
will be issued, and a new options file with the system default values will
be created.
The file is divided into two sections: non-tag options, and tag options.
Each line in the first part of the file has three parts: MENU, OPTION
CODE, and VALUE. The option codes are two letters. For identification of
the codes used, see the help section for the option in question: all
options codes are shown beneath the option name, as in:
Include `Key' Page? (Y)es (N)o:
(Opt: KP)
Here, `KP' is the options code for this option. In the options file, the
value for this option might appear as:
GENERAL KP N
For the tag section, each line represents the configuration for one GEDCOM
LEVEL 1 tag. It has 6 parts, separated by semi-colons: TAG, NAME, LABEL,
ORDER, RANK, LEVEL. For example, the BIRTH tag entry might appear as:
BIRT;Birth;b;2;2;5
For information on these six tag data items, see <TAG OPTIONS WINDOW>.
GENBOX.REG - Registration Form
This is an ASCII text file that you may print out and fill in when you are
ready to pay for the <REGISTERED VERSION>.
HPLASII.CFG - Printer Configuration File
This file contains codes recognized by the HP Laserjet II series printers.
It can be entered as the name of the `Printer Initialize File' on the
<GENERAL OPTIONS WINDOW>. If you do not have an HP Laserjet II/III printer,
this file will not be useful to you.
HPLASII.CFG initializes the printer for the 16.66 chars/inch mode, with 8
lines/inch spacing, and minimal margins, so that a Page Width of 133
columns and a Page Height of 84 rows can be specified. With a Box Height of
9 lines, exactly 6 generations will fit on a page.
CLINTON.GED - Sample GEDCOM File
This GEDCOM file is provided so that GENBOX may immediately be tried out.
When you have a GEDCOM file of your own, this file may be deleted. It
contains ancestors of President Clinton. The file was downloaded from the
CompuServe ROOTS forum, file CLINTN.GED.
MAXIMUM GENERATIONS
The maximum number of generations supported by GENBOX is 255, which should
be more than adequate for your needs: at an average of 20 years per
generation, 255 generations spans over 5000 years.
Enter maximum number of Generations:
For the Custom Box Chart option, you directly specify the number of
<MAXIMUM GENERATIONS>. When asked, enter a number between 1 and 255. This
number will be used for the MAXIMUM number of generations to show; if
there are fewer generations of data actually available, the number of
generations will be equal to the smaller number.
MRIN - Marriage Record Identification Number
Each family in the GEDCOM file is assigned a unique number, called the
MRIN, which is used in references between people and families.
The MRIN for each family may optionally be displayed in the bottom-left
corner of each family box on the chart, for easy reference. Boxes with
single people will not show a family MRIN.
(See: <BOX OPTIONS WINDOW>)
PAGE NUMBERS
Page numbers have two parts, which indicate the page position vertically
and horizontally. `A1' is the first page number of every chart. The "A"
indicates it is on the first horizontal row of pages. The "1" indicates it
is the first page on that row. A small chart may have pages numbered A1
through A4, with all the pages in a single row. A larger chart may have
pages numbered from A1 through D6, indicating a chart that is 6 pages wide
and four pages high.
For charts higher than 26 pages, the first part of the page number becomes
two letters instead of one, forming a base-26 page row number. The first
page in the 27th page row would be labeled `AA1'. For the second page in
the 30th row, `AD2'. For the 25th page in the 100th page row, `CV25'.
Note that page numbers have no connection to the number of generations;
there are usually several generations displayed on each page row.
PRIMARY PERSON
SPOUSE
Each box on the charts contains either one or two people. If there are
names of two people in a box, this represents a marriage. The name listed
FIRST in the box is the name of the PRIMARY PERSON. The name listed SECOND
in the box is the name of the SPOUSE. The top link of the box will be to
the parents of the PRIMARY PERSON.
PRIORITY PERSON
GENBOX supports an optional data-priority biasing scheme for the cases
where a person appears in more than one box on the chart. This scheme makes
it possible to include more information on the chart than if a purely
balanced scheme was used.
In general: if a person has already appeared in another box on the chart,
priority is given to the OTHER person in the current box. The non-priority
person's name is normally included, and all FAMILY data is included, but
all other data available on the non-priority person is restricted:
depending on the setting of the `Priority Person Biasing' option (see
<BOX OPTIONS WINDOW>), it is either EXCLUDED, or REDUCED IN RANK such that
it is shown only when there is room left after showing all of the data from
the PRIORITY PERSON.
There are two cases when the same person appears in more than one box: when
the ancestors of both husband and wife appear on the chart (resulting in
<FAMILY BOX PAIRS>, and when a person has <SECONDARY MARRIAGES>.
For the first case: priority is given to the data of the <PRIMARY PERSON>.
Since both the husband and wife appear as the primary person beneath their
respective parent boxes, more data on both the husband and wife can be
shown.
For the second case: priority is given to the data of the <SPOUSE>. Since
the primary person already appeared in the first marriage box, priority
can be given to the spouses of the secondary marriages.
Note that this data-priority biasing scheme is in addition to the normal
priority system, determined by the settings on the <TAG OPTIONS WINDOW>.
RANK ADVANCEMENT
An occasional situation arising in genealogies is that basic information,
such as birth or death, is not available for a person, but a related data
item, such as baptism or burial, IS available. Unfortunately, there may not
be enough space in the box to include BOTH birth and baptism information
for other people who have more complete information. It would be nice if we
could say: "When BIRTH data is unavailable for a person and BAPTISM data IS
available, show BAPTISM data; otherwise, show ONLY BIRTH data." GENBOX
supports this conditional inclusion of data through a feature called RANK
ADVANCEMENT.
The approach taken by GENBOX is as follows: when the basic data is
unavailable, the RANK value on any attached RELATED data items is ADVANCED
to be the same as the unavailable basic data. Suppose BIRTH data has a rank
of 2, and BAPTISM data has a rank of 10. That means that in the normal
course of things, all available data types that have a rank between 1 and 9
will be included in the box before BAPTISM data, meaning that the BAPTISM
data may occasionally be left out, from lack of room in the box. But when
BAPTISM data is attached to BIRTH data, and BIRTH data is unavailable, the
rank on BAPTISM data is ADVANCED from rank 10 to rank 2, which is the rank
of the unavailable BIRTH data. In this case, the BAPTISM data will likely
be included, bumping some other data item out of the box.
All that needs to be done to activate the RANK ADVANCEMENT feature is to
indicate which data types are RELATED to other (preferred) data types.
This is accomplished on the <TAG OPTIONS WINDOW>, with a special ORDER
value.
To indicate a relation between a data type and another (preferred) data
type: make its ORDER value equal to the NEGATIVE of the preferred data
type. Suppose BIRTH has an order value of 2, so that it comes right after
the NAME, which has an order value of 1. To attach BAPTISM to BIRTH, you
would set its ORDER value to -2. The negative sign indicates that this data
type is related to another data type, and the 2 indicates that it is
related to the data type that has a (positive) ORDER value of 2, which is
the BIRTH field. When BIRTH data is unavailable and BAPTISM data IS
available, the BAPTISM data will appear after the NAME, where the BIRTH
data normally would go.
In this example, when there IS birth data available, the rank on BAPTISM
data would remain at 10; if space permits, it would still be included, and
an ORDER value of 2 would be used for placement within the box, putting it
near the BIRTH data (actual ordering among data types with the same ORDER
value depends on the order that the tags are listed in the TAG OPTIONS
WINDOW).
For proper use of this feature, there should be only ONE basic data type
that has the ORDER value that the related fields point to. There CAN be
several data types related to the same basic data type; they will all be
considered candidates for advancement. Among the candidates, their normal
ranking will determine the order of their consideration; if equally ranked,
their order on the list in the TAG OPTIONS WINDOW will be used. In any
case, only the first related data item for which there is data available
will be advanced in rank; once an advancement has been made, the other
candidates drop back to their normal rank values.
README.TXT - Introduction to GENBOX
This file should be read first. It contains an introduction to GENBOX, and
a list of the files that should be part of the distribution.
RIN - Record Identification Number
Each person in the GEDCOM file is assigned a unique number, called the RIN,
which is used in references between children, parents, and spouses. The RIN
may be used to select people to chart, instead of typing in names. (See:
<PERSON SELECTION>)
The RIN of the <PRIMARY PERSON> and/or the <SPOUSE> may optionally be
displayed on the corners of the boxes, for easy reference.
(See: <BOX OPTIONS WINDOW>)
STARTING NAMES
All charts are produced top-down, beginning with the STARTING NAMES. For
the Descendants chart, there is one starting name: the person entered. For
the Ancestors chart, the program starts with the person entered and
determines all of the starting names automatically. For the Everyone chart,
the program determines the minimum set of starting names necessary to
display every person, family, and connection in the GEDCOM file.
Enter number of Starting Names:
For the Custom Box Chart you directly specify all of the <STARTING NAMES>,
which provides for maximum chart flexibility. When asked, enter first the
NUMBER of starting names that you would like to enter (a number between 1
and 255). Next, you will be asked to enter the name for each starting
person.
______________________________________________________________________________