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Text File | 1991-09-07 | 13KB | 263 lines

RDF2GED - Research Data Filer Conversion Utility by John C. Barron 510 E. Braker Lane Austin, TX 78753 Version 1.2 7 Sep 1991 Abstract This program reads PAF's Research Data Filer (RDF) data and produces a gedcom file suitable for reading into a genealogy system, a straight ascii file, or a comma delimited file. Infor- mation stored in RDF .DAT files is included in the gedcom file and information from an associated RDF .DOC file can be included as notes, if desired. The gedcom file is a series of one or two generation links which can then be merged into multi-generation linkages with any genealogy program supporting gedcom. The ascii file is a series of 256 character records which can be read into a wordprocessing program and used in a multitude of ways includ- ing printing. The comma delimited file is a variable length file suitable for reading into a data base or BASIC program. Introduction The Personal Ancestral File Genealogy System (c) produced and sold by the Church of the Latter Day Saints (LDS) is an extremely good, inexpensive way for genealogists to organize their data. A utility program is included with PAF which is used independently as an organizational tool. This program is enti- tled Research Data Filer and allows the input of genealogical events for a person. The events can be linked to related indi- viduals and can also be linked with an associated documentation file. RDF can indeed help to organize a research effort. It is especially helpful in identifying an ancestor from a list of possible candidates. I identified my ancestor, Samuel Pollock, with it after struggling with the unorganized data for 10 years. However, despite it's usefulness, it has one glaring weakness: it is essentially a dead end data base with only printed output possible. Many people, myself included, refuse to type anything twice, therefore, I have not used RDF very much. RDF2GED at- tempts to overcome this problem by providing an outlet for RDF data to either the standardized gedcom protocol or to an ascii/comma delimited file. With gedcom the data is ready to be read into a genealogical data base while the other modes provide a versitile alternatives. Development History The program was begun in January, 1991 and version 1.0 was completed in about 6 weeks. The following table lists the re- leased versions of the program and the principle modifications of each. Vs. Modification Date 1.0 First release 20 Jan 1991 1.1 Added ASCII output option 31 Jul 1991 1.2 Added comma delimited output option, reverse place name handling option 7 Sep 1991 Usage The program is started in the following manner: C:\>RDF2GED To begin with you will be asked to tell the program if you want a gedcom file, an ascii file, or a comma delimited file. After that if gedcom is wanted, three file names are needed before the program can proceed: 1) the RDF .DAT file, 2) the RDF .DOC file if desired, and 3) the .GED file to be created. If ascii or delimited file is wanted then the following file is ceated in the current directory 1) .TXT file (with same filename as RDF read). These files must include paths, too, if the files are not in the current directory. If the files entered are not found or if for some reason DOS thinks they are invalid, then the program prompts the user whether to continue with a new name or to stop. Entry of the file extensions .DAT, .DOC, and .GED is optional as the program will supply them if missing. The screen will look like the following after the names are entered: Enter name of the DAT file to read - a:jeffersn.dat Enter name of the DOC file to read or just press enter if no DOC file is wanted - a:jeffersn.doc Enter name of the GED file to write - d:j.ged Once the file names have been established, two options must be selected. For the first options, RDF2GED needs to know if the names in both the RDF name field and the relationship field have been entered as last name first or as last name last. The other options involves place names. Sometimes these names are entered in reverse order, i.e. state, county, and town. If this is the case for the file to process, then answer yes to the question. At this point processing begins. Making the output files can be quite slow especially if a .DOC file is given and/or a floppy disk drive is used. Progress toward this construction is shown on the screen to let the user know something good is hap- pening and looks like the following: RDF Records in file: 436 RDF records read: 436 RINs created: 905 MRINs created: 352 GedCom lines written: 7367 Certain error situations will cause the program to halt and ask for additional information from the user. If a spouse is found while creating the gedcom file but the sexes are not given, the program prompts the user for this information. It doesn't know that Sarah Braswell is a girl, even though I married her. Computers are dumb like that. If this error occurs repeatedly it will become a nuisance and progress can be stopped here if need- ed. If the gedcom or other file cannot be completed due to insufficient disk space, the program will halt with a message to the user. Discussion Research Data Filer has several fields which are free form and the user can enter anything into them. This freedom is a two edged sword; both good and bad. What makes sense to one person may not be recognizable to another. This is especially true of abbreviations. The PAF user manual recommends and illustrates a "standard" to be used for these fields, but the user ultimately has control. If you're like me, you didn't really read the manual until you had already done a bunch of work with RDF, merrily re-inventing the wheel at every turn. The free form fields which are critical to RDF2GED are the event field, the name field, and the relationship field. Success in creating the gedcom file depends on how close the user fol- lowed the PAF standards for RDF. The other output option modes simply reproduce what is in the fields without regard to content. The standard event identifications, such as BIRTH, DEATH, MARRIAGE, BURIAL, CHRISTENING, etc., are the key to processing the event. Upper/lower case is irrelevant, but use of abbrevia- tions must be sensible and comply to some extent with the stand- ards. Alternates and/or abbreviations such as "born" or "bir" are acceptable, but an abbreviation such a "b" is not mutually exclusive and might stand for birth or buried. Too much creativ- ity will cause errors in the gedcom file. An event which cannot be identified as a true genealogical event, such as RESIDED, will be included as a note along with the date and place. The names in the name AND relationship fields must be en- tered in the same style. They can be either last name first or last name last, but not one form in one and another form in the other. RDF2GED will handle up to two names in this field. The most problematic part of the process is the use of abbreviations in the relationship field. The standards are as follows: S- for spouse, F- for father, M- for mother, etc. An example of a birth event which includes the parents in the rela- tionship field would look like the following: F- Barron, Calvin C. M- Morris, Ruby Jo Obviously, for a computer program to scan and decode such a line, some sort of standard must have been followed and known ahead of time to the programmer. For instance, the names must follow the relationship abbreviation and not precede it. The relationship abbreviation must include "-" as a separator to distinguish it from part of a name. No other separators are currently supported. The order of the persons in the field such as father and mother is irrelevant, however. Atypical relation- ships such as father and spouse are acceptable, too, as long as the abbreviations are recognizable. Certain abbreviations will not convert properly. For in- stance, you can't use S- to represent "son of" since that would conflict with the standard for spouse. This will produce an incorrect marriage instead of the intended linkage. Some exam- ples files that I received to help in writing the program could not be converted due to too much personalized use of the rela- tionship field. If an RDF .DOC file is associated with a .DAT file the gedcom will include the document in the notes of each event. This does not apply to an ascii or delimited file, however. It is entirely optional to use the .DOC file, but it provides valu- able information about the source of the event. It does slow down the program and increases the size of the gedcom file, however. The document identification in the event file must match exactly with the corresponding identification in the .DOC file in order for RDF2GED to find it. Comments If you have problems with the gedcom file created by RDF2GED, please make sure that you examine your RDF files for atypical usage of event and relationship fields before contacting me about possible bugs. I'm sure that there will be program problems as there always are, but I also feel sure that the majority of problems will be "self-inflected." If you find that this is the case, change the way you use RFD to be more typical and standard style. You should then be able to make the best use of RFD and when finished with it import the data into a genealogy program for additional use of your valuable time and efforts. This program is distributed under the shareware concept. If you use it and find it helps you, I would appreciate a donation of $20.00 (or any amount) to cover current and future develop- ment. Please feel free to distribute the program to others. I will attempt to fix problems that are brought to my attention in future versions. I will also try to customize the program, to accommodate atypical RDF users who feel that their investment in a set of data is worth recovering.