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World of Shareware - Software Farm 2
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GENERAL
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DOCSHARE.TXT
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1991-01-15
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5,867 lines
COPYING THE FAMILY EDGE FOR OTHERS
You are encouraged to copy the Shareware Version of THE FAMILY EDGE and pass
it on to anyone you choose. If you find it useful, it's a pretty good bet your
friends will too. But there is one requirement - you MUST pass it on as a
complete unmodified package. That means the whole shebang - the Manual, the
Main Program with the Install module, and the Utilities. The BEST way to do
this is by passing on the self-extracting files and letting the next user
extract them on his or her own computer.
REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS
THE FAMILY EDGE is NOT a public domain program - it is Shareware. If you use
the program for more than 30 days, you must send in your registration and
become a registered user. Using THE FAMILY EDGE for more than 30 days without
registering the program is a violation of United States copyright laws (as
well as International Treaty provisions) which protect both the software and
the manual - and it breaks my heart as well.
THE FAMILY EDGE Shareware registration is $19 (count 'em, NINETEEN SMACKERS!).
If you are already a registered user of a version of THE FAMILY EDGE earlier
than the B.5 version, the upgrade cost is $9 (count 'em, NINE SMACKERS!). We
DEFINITELY aim to keep the price low! In either case, if you wish to receive
diskettes containing the latest version of THE FAMILY EDGE, include an extra
$10 for the diskettes, shipping, and handling.
THE FAMILY EDGE INDIVIDUAL LICENSE
You are granted a limited license to use and copy THE FAMILY EDGE only in
accordance with the terms of this license. You are granted permission to
evaluate THE FAMILY EDGE for a period not to exceed 30 days. If you continue
using the program after the 30 day evaluation period, you MUST purchase the
program by sending in the registration fee. You are also encouraged to pass
THE FAMILY EDGE to others as described above and below.
THE FAMILY EDGE DISTRIBUTOR LICENSE
Any Bulletin Board System, Shareware Distributor, or Computer User Group is
granted limited license by THE FAMILY EDGE to copy and share the diskettes
under these conditions:
The entire FAMILY EDGE package - that means the Installation Program, the Main
Program, the Utilities, and the Manual - cannot be altered or modified in any
way and must be distributed as a complete package, with no exceptions. No
price or compensation of any kind can be charged. However, a DISTRIBUTION cost
may be charged for the diskettes, shipping and handling, as long as the total
does not exceed $8.00 per diskette in the United States or $12.00 per diskette
outside the U.S.
WARRANTY
As is standard in the software industry, THE FAMILY EDGE makes no warranty of
any kind, expressed or implied, including without limitation, any warranties
of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event will
THE FAMILY EDGE be liable to you for any damages, including any lost profits,
lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising from the use
of or inability to use this software. Under NO circumstances will THE FAMILY
EDGE in any way be responsible for the loss of sleep occasioned by the
addictive nature of THE FAMILY EDGE and/or genealogy itself. In similar
fashion, horse thieves found on the family shrub will not even elicit a
sympathetic cluck.
PAYMENTS FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES
So you live outside the U.S., right? Why must payment be in U.S. funds drawn
on a U.S. Bank? Because if you send a foreign check, my bank chuckles and
charges me more to cash the check than the check itself is worth. And I feel
certain you want to support THE FAMILY EDGE, not the bank.
REGISTRATION AND ORDER FORM
THE FAMILY EDGE Shareware Version, THE FAMILY EDGE PLUS Professional Version,
and Professional GEDCOM Utility carry NO addition shipping/handling charges
for US orders. But - Tennessee residents please add applicable sales tax.
THE FAMILY EDGE Shareware Version B.5
New Registration $19.00 _____________
New Registration plus the latest diskettes $29.00 _____________
or
Upgrade Registration $9.00 _____________
Upgrade Registration plus the latest diskettes $19.00 _____________
THE FAMILY EDGE PLUS Professional Version 2.5
Professional Version $99.00 _____________
GEDCOM Utility $20.00 _____________
GEDCOM if ordered WITH 2.5 $10.00 _____________
APPLICABLE TAX FOR TENNESSEE -------------------------------- _____________
FOREIGN AIRMAIL SHIPPING ------------------------------------ _____________
TOTAL ORDER _____________
PLEASE NOTE!! - Outside of the US, Money Orders ONLY in US Funds ONLY.
Add $3 for Canada and Latin America.
Add $9 for Europe and South America.
Add $12 for Africa, Australia, and the far East.
Add round trip first class airline ticket for Tahiti (hand delivered).
Send Check or Money Order made payable to: Carl J. York
PO Box 3157
Knoxville TN, 37927
Send to: Name: __________________________________________________________
Street Address: __________________________________________________________
City: __________________________________________________________
State: _________ Zip: ___________ Phone: ______________________
Disk Size: 5 1/4 " __________ 3 1/2 " ___________
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******************************************************************************
THE FAMILY EDGE - GENEALOGY SOFTWARE
THE $19 (COUNT 'EM, NINETEEN SMACKERS) SHAREWARE VERSION B.5
CARL J. YORK - PO BOX 3157, KNOXVILLE TN 37927
******************************************************************************
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1) INTRODUCTION - GETTING STARTED WITH THE FAMILY EDGE
How the PROGRAM MANUAL Is Arranged ..................................1.1
The Good News and the Bad News ......................................1.2
Backing Up Data .....................................................1.2
Quick Instructions for Experienced Users ............................1.3
2) GETTING THE FAMILY EDGE UP AND RUNNING
What this Version Needs and Supplies ................................2.1
THE FAMILY EDGE PLUS Professional Version ...........................2.1
Extracting the Self-extracting Files ................................2.1
Preparing to Use THE FAMILY EDGE ....................................2.2
Preparing Blank Formatted Floppy Disks ..............................2.2
Running the INSTALL Program .........................................2.3
The CONFIG.SYS File ............................................2.3
Floppy Disk Installation .......................................2.4
Hard Disk Installation .........................................2.4
Upgrading from a Previous Version of THE FAMILY EDGE ...........2.4
3) PLAYING WITH THE FAMILY EDGE - THE FIRST SPIN AROUND THE BLOCK
Starting the Program ................................................3.1
The Main Data Entry Form ............................................3.2
Cursor Movement .....................................................3.3
4) FIRST REAL DATA ENTRY SESSION
What We're Gonna Do .................................................4.1
And We Begin ........................................................4.1
Toggles .............................................................4.1
Data Entry ..........................................................4.2
Spouse Linking.......................................................4.2
Parent Linking ......................................................4.3
Why I Did It ........................................................4.5
5) THE REFERENCE MANUAL
NAMES - ENTERING, DISPLAYING, AND PRINTING ..........................5.1
What You Really Need to Know to Get Started ....................5.1
Extra Power Features ...........................................5.1
DATES - ENTERING, DISPLAYING, AND PRINTING ..........................5.2
What You Really Need to Know to Get Started ....................5.2
Extra Power Features ...........................................5.3
Living .........................................................5.3
DOUBLE DATING ..................................................5.4
LOCATIONS - ENTERING, DISPLAYING, AND PRINTING ......................5.4
What You Really Need to Know to Get Started ....................5.4
For the United States .....................................5.4
For Foreign Countries .....................................5.5
SEARCHING AND BROWSING ..............................................5.5
Find by NUMBER .................................................5.5
Find by NAME ...................................................5.5
Find by PARTIAL NAME ...........................................5.5
Find by SOUNDEX CODE ...........................................5.6
Find by LOCATION ...............................................5.6
User Created Lists .............................................5.7
PARTIAL NAME ..............................................5.7
LOCATION ..................................................5.8
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
5) THE REFERENCE MANUAL (CONTINUED)
RENUMBER ............................................................5.9
SAVING YOUR RECORDS .................................................5.9
CONTROL TOGGLES .....................................................5.10
What You Really Need to Know to Get Started ....................5.10
Extra Power Features ...........................................5.10
CONTROL ALL ....................................................5.10
CONTROL ACCESS .................................................5.11
CONTROL BROWSE .................................................5.12
CONTROL COMPUTER ID NUMBERS ....................................5.12
CONTROL DATES ..................................................5.13
CONTROL ECHO ...................................................5.13
CONTROL FAMILY FORMS ...........................................5.14
CONTROL GENERATIONS ............................................5.14
CONTROL INDEX ..................................................5.15
CONTROL LINES ..................................................5.15
CONTROL MACROS .................................................5.15
CONTROL NAMES ..................................................5.16
CONTROL ORDER ..................................................5.16
CONTROL PRINTER ................................................5.17
CONTROL QUIT ...................................................5.17
CONTROL SCREEN .................................................5.18
CONTROL TEMPER .................................................5.18
CONTROL VERIFY .................................................5.18
CONTROL X-IT TO DOS ............................................5.19
CONTROL Z ......................................................5.20
OTHER SPECIAL KEYS USED BY THE FAMILY EDGE ..........................5.20
What You Really Need to Know to Get Started ....................5.20
DITTO ..........................................................5.20
Spouse DITTO ..............................................5.20
Order of Birth DITTO ......................................5.21
Family Reports DITTO ......................................5.21
CLEARING AND UNDO - <ESC> ....................................5.21
REDO - <CTRL> <ESC> ..........................................5.21
<ALT> = (Next Computer ID Number) ..............................5.21
<ALT> * (Parent Linking from Last Person Edited) ...............5.21
ALTERNATE DATA ENTRY/DISPLAY FORMS - <ALT> KEY Combinations .........5.23
<ALT> BURIAL Records ...........................................5.23
<ALT> CHRISTENING Records ......................................5.24
<ALT> HISTORY NOTES ............................................5.25
CURSOR MOVEMENT ...........................................5.25
TAB .......................................................5.25
CUT AND PASTE .............................................5.25
PRINTING THE PASTE BUFFER .................................5.26
<CTRL> SPLITTING THE SCREEN ...............................5.26
MACROS ....................................................5.26
CHANGES FLAG ..............................................5.26
HISTORY NOTE FILES ........................................5.27
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
5) THE REFERENCE MANUAL (CONTINUED)
ALTERNATE DATA ENTRY/DISPLAY FORMS - <ALT> KEY Combinations (CONTINUED)
<ALT> IMMIGRATION Records ......................................5.27
<ALT> MARRIAGE and DIVORCE Records .............................5.28
<ALT> ORDER of BIRTH ...........................................5.29
<ALT> PARENTS ..................................................5.30
<ALT> SOURCE NOTES .............................................5.30
<ALT> TAGS - Uncertainty TAGS ..................................5.31
<ALT> WILL and ESTATE Records ..................................5.31
DIRECT ACCESS FROM THE MAIN MENU ...............................5.31
<ALT> FOREIGN CHARACTERS .......................................5.32
<ALT> ABBREVIATIONS (State Abbreviations) ......................5.32
ORDINANCES - Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints ...5.32
RESEARCHER INPUT ...............................................5.33
FUNCTION KEYS - CHARTS, REPORTS, and FEATURES .......................5.34
What You Really Need to Know to Get Started ....................5.34
RESEARCHER Print Out ...........................................5.35
F-1 - HELP KEY .........................................5.35
SHIFT F-1 - DIRECT TYPE TO PRINTER OUTPUT ....................5.35
<ALT> F-1 - SCRATCH PAD ......................................5.36
F-2 - NAMES LIST to SCREEN .............................5.37
SHIFT F-2 - NAMES LIST to PRINTER ............................5.37
F-3 - PEDIGREE CHART to SCREEN .........................5.37
SHIFT F-3 - PEDIGREE CHART to PRINTER ........................5.38
F-4 - FAMILY GROUP SHEET to SCREEN .....................5.39
SHIFT F-4 - FAMILY GROUP SHEET to PRINTER ....................5.39
<ALT> F-4 - EXTENDED FAMILY REPORT to PRINTER ................5.39
F-5 - AHNENTAFEL CHART to SCREEN .......................5.40
SHIFT F-5 - AHNENTAFEL CHART to PRINTER ......................5.41
<ALT> F-5 - SINGLE SURNAME AHNENTAFEL TO PRINTER .............5.41
AHNENTAFEL NUMBERING .......................5.41
F-6 - DESCENDANT CHART to SCREEN .......................5.43
SHIFT F-6 - DESCENDANT CHART to PRINTER ......................5.43
F-7 - ALTERNATE INDIVIDUAL to SCREEN ...................5.43
SHIFT F-7 - INDIVIDUAL REPORT to PRINTER .....................5.43
<ALT> F-7 - BLOOD RELATIONSHIP CHART to SCREEN ...............5.44
F-8 - ROOM TO GROW .....................................5.44
F-9 - SCREEN SNAPSHOTS .................................5.44
SHIFT F-9 - INTELLIGENT PRINT SCREEN .........................5.45
<ALT> F-9 - SAVE SCREEN TO DISK ..............................5.45
<CTRL> F-9 - INTELLIGENT SAVE SCREEN TO DISK ..................5.45
F-10 - COMPLETION KEY ...................................5.45
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
5) THE REFERENCE MANUAL (CONTINUED)
MOVING THROUGH THE RECORDS ..........................................5.46
Moving Smoothly ................................................5.46
Jumping ........................................................5.46
Jumping Along the Ancestor Line ................................5.47
Jumping to Other Connected Persons .............................5.47
<ALT> Keypad Combinations .................................5.47
MOVING AROUND WITHIN A RECORD .......................................5.48
WHAT MAKES THE FAMILY EDGE WORK .....................................5.49
The Simple Explanation .........................................5.49
Deleting Records ...............................................5.49
OTHER SPECIFICS OF THE FAMILY EDGE ..................................5.50
The Technical Explanation ......................................5.50
ERROR Messages .................................................5.51
Command Line Options ...........................................5.52
Linking Persons ................................................5.53
Linking Records ...........................................5.53
Adding Linked Records .....................................5.53
Accessing Files in Another Directory ...........................5.53
WHAT'S WHERE (THE COMPUTER FILES) ..............................5.54
SOUNDEX CODING SYSTEM ..........................................5.54
6) UTILITY PROGRAMS - EDGEUTIL
SCREEN, CURSOR, AND PRINTER SETUP ...................................6.1
Changing the Default Colors ....................................6.1
Changing the Cursor Size .......................................6.3
Installing the Printer Codes ...................................6.3
RECOVER - Recovering from the Brink of Disaster .....................6.4
AUDIT - Catching Data Entry Errors ..................................6.5
CONVERT - Changing Other Data Files to FAMILY EDGE Files ............6.5
PAF2EDGE - The Personal Ancestral File Transfer ................6.5
GEDCOM - The Standand Data Transfer Format .....................6.9
OLDER FAMILY EDGE FILE FORMATS..................................6.11
MERGE - Adding Records from Another FAMILY EDGE Database ............6.11
PRINT - Text Files ..................................................6.12
7) TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
Adding Records in a Logical Sequence ................................7.1
Backing Up Files ....................................................7.3
Finding All Burials in a Cemetery ...................................7.4
Childless Spouses on Descendant Charts ..............................7.4
Quick Charts ........................................................7.4
Speeding the Program.................................................7.4
8) THE I-DON'T-EVEN-KNOW-WHAT-A-COMPUTER-IS-SO-HOW-CAN-YOU-POSSIBLY-
EXPECT-ME-TO-USE-ONE SECTION
The Mysterious Hardware Terms List ..................................8.1
The Mysterious Software Terms List ..................................8.3
9) INDEX
==============================================================================
INTRODUCTION - GETTING STARTED WITH THE FAMILY EDGE ..................page 1.1
==============================================================================
It is the intention of this PROGRAM MANUAL to be useful to the widest possible
cross section of users, both experienced and inexperienced. Comments and
criticisms both are equally welcome and invited. Within limits, of course.
EXPERIENCED? SEE: QUICK INSTRUCTIONS FOR EXPERIENCED USERS on Page 1.3.
UPGRADING FROM AN EARLIER VERSION OF THE FAMILY EDGE? SEE: Page 2.5.
The PROGRAM MANUAL is divided into nine main sections whose topics are:
1) INTRODUCTION
We'll get you oriented.
2) GETTING THE FAMILY EDGE SET UP FOR RUNNING
We'll get you ready.
3) PLAYING WITH THE FAMILY EDGE
We'll get you having fun.
4) THE FIRST REAL DATA ENTRY SESSION
We'll get you hooked.
5) THE REFERENCE MANUAL
We'll get you knowledgeable.
6) THE UTILITY PROGRAMS
We'll get you covered.
7) TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
We'll get you tricky.
8) THE I-DON'T-EVEN-KNOW-WHAT-A-COMPUTER-IS-SO-HOW-CAN-YOU-POSSIBLY-
EXPECT-ME-TO-USE-ONE SECTION
We'll get you relaxed.
9) INDEX
We'll get you independent.
THE FAMILY EDGE is designed to be easy to use, fast to operate, and flexible
in both its storage and retrieval of your family data. Although there are many
advanced program features available, you can start entering your family
research information and creating printed forms without learning all of the
facets of the program. In fact, that is exactly how you SHOULD learn THE
FAMILY EDGE - by doing. You can learn to use each new feature as you need the
extra power. And THE FAMILY EDGE is specifically designed to allow you to find
your own personal stance for entering and retrieving your research.
The PROGRAM MANUAL is laid out in a logical format to assist you in learning
by doing. You will first be introduced to the minimum information you need to
get THE FAMILY EDGE set up. Then you will get a chance to just play with the
main features. Next, you will be escorted through a brief data entry session,
using the main entry features for your own family. From there, all the
additional features and supporting documentation will follow as an indexed
Reference Manual. You can browse through the features of THE FAMILY EDGE at
your leisure, or using the Index and Table of Contents, find just the feature
you want to study for your current needs.
INTRODUCTION - GETTING STARTED WITH THE FAMILY EDGE ...................page 1.1
If you feel like a major computer bumpkin, there's even a section specifically
for you to help you relax with your computer. It will give you information
about some of the common terms you'll encounter while working with a DATABASE
(aha - there's a common term) PROGRAM (aha - there's another). Even with the
PROGRAM MANUAL closed, THE FAMILY EDGE itself has a special HELP KEY (F-1)
that will display a very brief explanation of the many program features, along
with the particular keys that activate the features. THE FAMILY EDGE works
hard to make your work easy. Now before getting down to specifics, let's wax
philosophical a bit.
Computers should be helpful. But computers should also be fun to use. THE
FAMILY EDGE is a product designed to keep both those points in mind. If THE
FAMILY EDGE is helpful but not enjoyable, we missed our mark. If THE FAMILY
EDGE is enjoyable but not really helpful, we missed again. The concept at THE
FAMILY EDGE is to provide you with the finest tools and the clearest
instructions possible, then get out of your way and let you work the way YOU
want to work. To achieve that end, we are developing a family of products that
combine maximum flexibility with maximum support.
THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD NEWS - NOT IN THAT ORDER
IN WORKING WITH A COMPUTER, THERE ARE TWO MAIN THINGS YOU SHOULD REMEMBER
First the bad news. You WILL lose data with your computer. Not you MAY lose
data, you WILL lose data. I know many people who work with computers. Many
people. YOU WILL LOSE DATA. The ONLY question is how MUCH you will lose. No
one escapes. But then again, what DID ever happen to that marriage record on
the Simmons family from a strange county in an odd state that you meant to put
in the --- which paper file was that? The computer does not have a corner on
the losing-the-info market.
Second the good news. If you take even a reasonable amount of caution, any
loss will be insignificant, AND YOU WILL SAVE AND HAVE ACCESS TO MUCH MORE
DATA THAN YOU COULD EVER DREAM OF ACCESSING WITHOUT A COMPUTER.
The computer is not a miracle tool. But given a small amount of attention, it
can do so much that it will seem like a miracle. And it can, with ease, find,
preserve, and distribute to present and future generations the research to
which you have devoted an astounding amount of your own personal energies.
There will not be in our lifetime a machine capable of the kind of careful,
intuitive logic of a true researcher bulldogging after the facts. But we are
very lucky to have a powerful friend in high places with the computer - and we
can reach far beyond our own physical grasp.
The vast majority of times that you will lose data will be in circumstances
over which you will have little or no control. But - and I repeat - YOU WILL
ALWAYS HAVE CONTROL OVER HOW LITTLE OR HOW MUCH YOU LOSE. The key word is
BACKUP. It is just not realistic to think anyone would do a duplicate
photocopy of each page of their paper files. But an extra disk copy of a HUGE
computer file can be done in the privacy of your own home with ease. Think
about it.
INTRODUCTION - GETTING STARTED WITH THE FAMILY EDGE ...................page 1.2
YOU WILL NEVER EVER REGRET THE TIME YOU SPEND MAKING COPIES OF YOUR COMPUTER
FILES. YOU WILL ONLY REGRET THE TIME YOU DID NOT SPEND MAKING COPIES. This may
seem to be a heavy-handed alert, but compared to the time it took you to
develop your computer files, the time to make backup copies is a drop in the
proverbial bucket. If despite all these warnings you should happen to do
something to lose an important FAMILY EDGE file, there may still be ways to
recover your work. Contact the FAMILY EDGE.
If you feel like you are a computer novice and could use a little brush up
before plunging into the next section, see the I-DON'T-EVEN-KNOW-WHAT-A-
COMPUTER-IS-SO-HOW-CAN-YOU-POSSIBLY-EXPECT-ME-TO-USE-ONE SECTION. Even if
you're a pro, you may enjoy THE FAMILY EDGE tour of Computerville (rhymes with
Hooterville).
QUICK INSTRUCTIONS FOR EXPERIENCED USERS
If your self-extracting files have NOT been extracted, you will need to
EXTRACT these files from their compressed state. The first self-extracting
file, TFExxx.EXE ("xxx" represents the Shareware Version number), will contain
the three files, INSTALL.COM, TFESHARE.EXE, and Read.Me for the Master Program
Disk. The second self-extracting file, UTLxxx.EXE, will contain the one file,
UTLSHARE, for the Master Utilities Disk. The third self-extracting file,
DOCxxx.EXE, will contain DOCSHARE.TXT, the program manual, for the Master
Documentation Disk.
If your copy of the program ALREADY has the self-extracting files extracted
into INSTALL.COM, TFESHARE.EXE, UTLSHARE, and DOCSHARE.TXT, copy INSTALL.COM
and TFESHARE.EXE to the Master Program Disk, copy UTLSHARE to the Master
Utility Disk, and copy DOCSHARE.TXT to the Master Documentation Disk. The
INSTALL.COM program on the program disk is an automated set up utility and
should be run directly from the floppy drive.
F-EDGE.EXE is the actual program file - including overlays. F-EDGE.BIN is the
file that holds colors, data path, printer codes, and ditto defaults.
F-EDGE.SCR is the file containing the program's pop up screens. These files
are all created during the installation from the TFESHARE.EXE file, and all
need to be together on the Program Disk. The EDGEUTIL.* files (the utility
files) need to reside together with the *.DRV Printer Drivers. These files are
likewise created during the installation - from the SHAREUTL file.
Your booting CONFIG.SYS needs FILES=40, and if you are not disk caching,
BUFFERS=16 or so will help. The Help Key is the industry standard F-1 and
provides a listing for most of the important features of THE FAMILY EDGE. F-10
is the Quit key. THE FAMILY EDGE requires a minimum hardware configuration of
a BIG BLUE PC, XT, AT or true compatible with 256K RAM, two floppy drives, and
DOS 2.0 or greater.
All right! Now let's get in there and show 'em our stuff!
INTRODUCTION - GETTING STARTED WITH THE FAMILY EDGE ...................page 1.3
==============================================================================
GETTING THE FAMILY EDGE UP AND RUNNING ...............................page 2.1
==============================================================================
WHAT THIS VERSION NEEDS AND SUPPLIES
This is the Shareware Version of THE FAMILY EDGE. It handles an unlimited
number of family file groups, each file group with a maximum size of 500
individuals. It is intended for use on computers with two 360K floppy drives
but will run even faster on a computer with a hard drive. It requires a
minimum of 256K of installed memory to run, but with more than 300K of memory,
you will also be able to temporarily jump outside the program to the DOS level
(Shell to DOS) and run DOS commands and other programs. Both color and
monochrome monitors are supported. Printed output requires a printer capable
of printing in 10CPI to 12 CPI (at least 80 columns) as well as in 15CPI to
17CPI (at least 120 columns). This program is fully capable of detecting the
presence of EMS and EEMS memory and using that memory, when available, for its
overlay file. The /e command line parameter activates this auto EMS detect.
THE FAMILY EDGE PLUS PROFESSIONAL VERSION
There is also a FAMILY EDGE PLUS Professional Version (available through
normal commercial outlets and by direct mail from THE FAMILY EDGE) that has a
major group of additional features and handles up to 1,000,000 persons per
family file. Contact THE FAMILY EDGE PLUS, Carl J. York, PO Box 3157,
Knoxville, TN 37927 for further information.
ARE YOUR FAMILY EDGE FILES ALREADY EXTRACTED?
If your copy of the program ALREADY has the self-extracting files extracted
into INSTALL.COM, TFESHARE.EXE, UTLSHARE, and DOCSHARE.TXT:
Copy INSTALL.COM and TFESHARE.EXE to the Master Program Disk, copy
UTLSHARE to the Master Utility Disk, and copy DOCSHARE.TXT to the Master
Documentation Disk. Skip over the next section on extracting the files.
EXTRACTING THE SELF-EXTRACTING FILES
If your self-extracting files have NOT been extracted, you will need to
EXTRACT these files from their compressed state. The first self-extracting
file, TFExxx.EXE ("xxx" represents the Shareware Version number), will contain
the two files, INSTALL.COM and TFESHARE.EXE, for the Master Program Disk. The
second self-extracting file, UTLxxx.EXE, will contain the one file, UTLSHARE,
for the Master Utilities Disk. The third self-extracting file, DOCxxx.EXE,
will contain DOCSHARE.TXT, the program manual, for the Master Documentation
Disk. Here's the description of how to extract these self-extracting files
(initially, three files).
GETTING THE FAMILY EDGE UP AND RUNNING ................................page 2.1
If you are using disk drives other than A: and B: to extract the files,
substitute their drive designations in the following instructions. To EXTRACT
these files:
Place the disk containing the TFExxx.EXE file in the A: drive, the Master
PROGRAM Disk in the B: drive, close the drive doors, and type
A:TFExxx B:
Be sure to replace the "xxx" here with the correct three characters!!!
Place the disk containing the UTLxxx.EXE file in the A: drive, the Master
UTILITY Disk in the B: drive, close the drive doors, and type
A:UTLxxx B:
Be sure to replace the "xxx" here with the correct three characters!!!
Place the disk containing the DOCxxx.EXE file in the A: drive, the Master
DOCUMENTATION Disk in the B: drive, close the drive doors, and type
A:DOCxxx B:
Be sure to replace the "xxx" here with the correct three characters!!!
These three disks are your MASTER disks. The Master Program Disk and the
Master Utility Disk are required to INSTALL the necessary Program and Utility
files used by THE FAMILY EDGE. The Master Documentation file can be used
directly to scan on screen or print out the Program Manual.
The INSTALL.COM program (on the Master Program Disk) will provide the
necessary on-screen installation information for converting the files on the
Master Program Disk and the Master Utilities Disk into the different files
needed to run THE FAMILY EDGE. After INSTALLING THE FAMILY EDGE, store your
Master Disks in a safe place. They will be your insurance if you should damage
your Working Disks.
PREPARING TO USE THE FAMILY EDGE
There are three things you must do prior to using THE FAMILY EDGE.
1) You must prepare blank formatted disks.
2) You must INSTALL the program.
3) If your CONFIG.SYS file was changed, you must REBOOT the computer.
PREPARING BLANK FORMATTED FLOPPY DISKS
You will not need any floppy disks (other than your Master Disks) for a hard
disk installation. Besides your Master Disks, you will need a least three
blank formatted disks for a floppy disk installation. which will be prepared
GETTING THE FAMILY EDGE UP AND RUNNING ................................page 2.2
WITHOUT the booting, or system, files. For a floppy disk installation, the
Program Files will take up ALL of the space on a normal 360K Working floppy
disk. If you are using this program on a computer with two 360K drives, YOU
WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BOOT YOUR COMPUTER OFF OF THE PROGRAM DISK. NOTE: If you
are using disk drives other than A: and B: to format the disks, substitute
their drive designations in the following instructions. To format a disk
WITHOUT the "system" files, place your DOS disk (the one with all your DOS
files, not necessarily your normal booting disk) in Drive A:, the disk to be
formatted in Drive B: and type
A:format B:
Press the <ENTER> key. One of these disks will be for your Working Program
files, one will be for your Working Utility files, and one will be for your
first data disk.
ONLY if you have a 720K or larger drive (on a laptop, for example), you may
prepare a bootable disk for the Working Program files by placing your DOS disk
in Drive A:, placing the disk to be formatted in Drive B:, and typing
A:format b:/s
Press the <ENTER> key. This disk, formatted with the MS-DOS system files in
place, will be your program disk. REMEMBER: This system format is for 720K OR
LARGER FLOPPY DISKS ONLY!!!! Otherwise, if running from a double floppy drive
computer, you must use the non-booting disk instructions.
Mark one disk MASTER PROGRAM DISK. Mark one disk MASTER UTILITY DISK. Mark one
disk MASTER DOCUMENTATION DISK.
Many users of the Shareware Version will be running THE FAMILY EDGE on a
computer equipped with only floppy disk drives, but we will go through the
installation procedure for both a hard disk equipped computer and a floppy
disk computer to cover all possible installations.
RUNNING THE INSTALL PROGRAM
THE CONFIG.SYS FILE
Your computer, when it first starts up, or BOOTS, will check the disk which
holds the booting DOS files to see if there is a file named CONFIG.SYS on that
disk. If there IS such a file, the computer will use the information in that
file to alter its basic configuration information; otherwise it will use its
standard internal default values. THE FAMILY EDGE requires that a CONFIG.SYS
file be present and that the statement FILES=40 (or FILES = a number larger
than 40) be in the CONFIG.SYS file. As part of the installation, the INSTALL
program will examine the CONFIG.SYS file (to see if the FILES statement allows
enough files to be opened). If your CONFIG.SYS file does need to be changed,
the INSTALL program will ask your permission and, if you give it, will make a
copy of your current CONFIG.SYS file under the name CONFIG.EDG, changing the
CONFIG.SYS file to the new defaults.
GETTING THE FAMILY EDGE UP AND RUNNING ................................page 2.3
FLOPPY DISK INSTALLATION
Label one of your blank floppy disks WORKING Program Disk. Label another blank
floppy disk WORKING Utility Disk. You will also need the disk that you
normally use to boot your computer. NOTE: If you are using a disk drive other
than Drive A: for the Master Disks, substitute that drive's designation in the
following instructions.
Place the MASTER PROGRAM DISK (containing the INSTALL.COM and SHARETFE.EXE
files) in Drive A:, type A: and press <ENTER> (on some computers, the <ENTER>
key is marked <RETURN> or <CR>). You should now be logged on the A: Drive.
Type INSTALL and press <ENTER>. Follow the simple on screen instructions to
allow the INSTALL program to create the necessary Program and Utility files.
If your CONFIG.SYS file was changed during installation, you will need to
REBOOT your computer for that file to take effect. If you do need to reboot,
be sure you have your boot disk in the computer before rebooting.
HARD DISK INSTALLATION
NOTE: If you are using a disk drive other than Drive A: for the Master Disks,
substitute that drive's designation in the following instructions.
Place the MASTER PROGRAM DISK (containing the INSTALL.COM and SHARETFE.EXE
files) in Drive A:, type A: and press <ENTER> (on some computers, the <ENTER>
key is marked <RETURN>). You should now be logged on the A: Drive. Type
INSTALL and press <ENTER>. Follow the simple on screen instructions to allow
the INSTALL program to create the necessary Program and Utility files. If your
CONFIG.SYS file was changed during installation, you will need to REBOOT your
computer for that file to take effect.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPGRADING FROM A PREVIOUS VERSION OF THE FAMILY EDGE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you're an experienced FAMILY EDGE user who is upgrading from another
Shareware Version, you'll find three major differences with this new Version
of THE FAMILY EDGE:
1) It will run even faster.
2) It will do even more things.
3) You will grin a lot.
An upgrade requires four steps:
1) Remove ALL program and utility files from your program and utility
disks. ALL. You will be saving ONLY your *.DAT data files and your
\HISTORY\E?????.DGE History Notes files. The *.IX? index files will be
recreated from your *.DAT files by this new version.
2) INSTALL your new program using the automatic INSTALL.
3) Using EDGEUTIL, run the automatic Conversion to the new file structure
(SEE: The Utility Programs - Section 6 for questions)
4) Have a great time!
GETTING THE FAMILY EDGE UP AND RUNNING ................................page 2.4
==============================================================================
PLAYING WITH THE FAMILY EDGE - THE FIRST SPIN AROUND THE BLOCK .......page 3.1
==============================================================================
You are now ready to play with THE FAMILY EDGE a bit. Remember that the best
way to learn this program is by doing. WE ARE GOING TO ERASE ALL THIS DATA AT
THE END OF THIS SESSION, SO DON'T WORRY TOO MUCH ABOUT BEING ACCURATE. You can
even lie about your age if it bothers you that much.
DOUBLE FLOPPY:
Place the Working Program disk in Drive A:, type A: and then press
the <ENTER> key. Place the data disk in Drive B:.
HARD DISK:
Type C: and press <ENTER>. Type CD \F-EDGE and press <ENTER>. This
moves you to the F-EDGE directory.
Type F-EDGE and press <ENTER>. This loads the program. You may be asked for
the Drive that will hold the Data Files, along with the Path/Directory (THE
FAMILY EDGE has full directory support - in this case <ENTER> selects the
default). If you are creating new data files, you will be asked to doubly
confirm that you wish to create new files. AND YOU'RE OFF!!!
If working with a computer is new to you, DON'T WORRY. Nothing is going to
break. You are just going to play a bit, and you can't hurt anything.
First, after starting the program with the F-EDGE command, admire that
dazzling opening screen. After you get your breath back (take your time), you
press a key. The standard Registration Information. The one place YOU can
influence how many new features are added to THE FAMILY EDGE. Press a key.
Okay... this is the Status Screen. It shows you the current status of a whole
host of Toggles whose values you can change at any point during the program.
Many of the user choices concerning how THE FAMILY EDGE displays and prints
information can actually be changed WHILE the program is running. And here's a
list of these choices with their current values.
Near the bottom of this screen is the name of the drive and directory which
holds the active data files. But what's important at the moment is that you've
got your first MENU across the very bottom of the screen. From here on in, YOU
are the navigator. When you need to make a choice from a MENU, the cursor,
that little flashing bar, will be blinking on the MENU line. Normally the MENU
is at the bottom of the screen but sometimes the MENU is elsewhere.
WHAT IF YOU CAN'T FIND IT??
If you're in a restaurant and hungry, you have no trouble finding a MENU,
right? Don't you worry - you'll find the MENU here, too. With a MENU in THE
FAMILY EDGE, all you have to do is press the first letter of the choice, and
the computer will respond. Select Update and before making any further MENU
choices, take a closer look at this screen. It should look like this:
(Insert the pre-recorded fanfare of trumpets for maximum effect.)
PLAYING WITH THE FAMILY EDGE - THE FIRST SPIN AROUND THE BLOCK ........page 3.1
THE MAIN DATA ENTRY FORM
= Overwrite == 12:30 pm ================================== 0 Persons on File =
Surname : Burial :
State : County : State : County :
City : City :
==============================================================================
Surname : Sex :
Given Name :
Birth Date : State : County :
City :
Death Date : State : County :
City :
Burial :
Occupation :
Father # :
Mother # :
Spouse # :
Note :
== MARRIAGES =================================================================
==============================================================================
Select : Add, Find, Quit?
IMPORTANT INFORMATION!!!! Your clock in the upper left hand corner of the
screen will almost certainly display a different time than the clock pictured
here.
This is your MAIN DATA ENTRY FORM. You will spend lots of time with this baby.
The first line shows whether you are in Insert or Overwrite mode. In Insert
mode, anything you type will "push aside" the text on in that field. In
Overwrite mode, anything you type will "overwrite" the text in that field.
Insert and Overwrite are TOGGLED by pressing the <INS> Key on your keyboard.
The first line also gives you the time and the total number of Persons in your
file.
The next three lines hold reminders about the contents of your main DITTO
values, data items that you will frequently DITTO instead of retyping. Mor eon
that in a minute. The next double bar line, currently blank, will not only
tell you which computer record number is in use but will also display on-
screen reminders about additional information on file for the active Person.
This is the EXTRA RECORDS STATUS line. As you move through the program, you
will learn how to use its information. Lots of little goodies will pop up
here.
Next is the primary data entry area, twelve lines of your main data input and
display. You will not only enter vital data here, but also perform all Parent
and Spouse Linking directly on this form. This is where the real action is.
PLAYING WITH THE FAMILY EDGE - THE FIRST SPIN AROUND THE BLOCK ........page 3.2
The next line, labelled "MARRIAGES", will contain information about the five
lines beneath it. These five lines can be TOGGLED to display, for the Person
whose data is on the main data entry area, the first five Marriages, the first
five Children, the first five Siblings, all four Grandparents, a peek into the
History Notes, the LDS Ordinances, or the next door neighbor's IRS Tax Return.
The Tax Return feature is under development.
Finally, at the bottom are the MENU SELECTIONS. Current choices on THE FAMILY
EDGE MENUS are selected by pressing the first letter of the choice. No <ENTER>
key is required to make a MENU choice, only the press of the first letter.
All of your data will be entered directly onto this screen, or on a number of
windows that will pop up on this screen. This is Home, Sweet Home.
Now let's have some fun!!! Select Add and do the following:
Experiment with typing information on yourself. First type in your Surname. Go
ahead - I'll wait. Good. Now repeatedly press the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys
to see how they work. Also try PgUp and PgDn. This is how you move between
fields. NOW NOTE THIS ONE THING: You will sooner or later find yourself trying
to use the Left Arrow or Right Arrow to move SIDEWAYS to a new field of
information. It won't work.
ALL FIELD-TO-FIELD MOVEMENT IS ACCOMPLISHED WITH THE UP ARROW AND DOWN ARROW,
EVEN WHEN THAT MOVEMENT IS SIDEWAYS.
This will trip you at first, but the purpose is to allow you to use the Left
and Right Arrows INSIDE a field for side to side movement, in short to retain
some sideways cursor movement when editing data. You may use the <TAB> and
<ENTER> keys to move to the next field as well.
YOU CAN PRESS THE LEFT AND RIGHT ARROWS UNTIL YOU AND YOUR KEYBOARD TURN AN
ODD SHADE OF PURPLE WITHOUT GETTING TO ANOTHER FIELD.
Don't get mad. Get even. Send me a nasty note if you don't learn to appreciate
the flexibility that results. Oh, and while you are in your Surname entry, try
the End and Home keys. More logical cursor movement. While in a field where
you have typed information, press the <ESC> key. And the field is CLEARed.
Press <ESC> again. The UNDO feature. Try this several times. You will use it a
lot. Move to another field with data already in it, type a few characters,
then hold down the <CTRL> Key and tap <ESC> - the REDO feature <CTRL>-<ESC>.
Try this in another field.
While still Editing this Person, notice the list of additional choices on the
bottom of the screen. These are additional data entry screens available while
working on this Person. Notice the list starts with "ALT:". Each of these
<ALT> key choices can be examined by holding down the <ALT> key and tapping
the first letter of the choice. Enter fake data if you like. Each of these
screens can be exited by pressing your universal COMPLETION key F-10. The rule
of thumb is, when in doubt, at any minute, F-10 it. Hmmmmmm. I like that.
Now try the other FUNCTION KEYS. The F-1 key will display six screens of Help
information that you can pop up whenever you like. Once again F-10 will pop
you back to where you came from. Try each FUNCTION KEY. You can read about
PLAYING WITH THE FAMILY EDGE - THE FIRST SPIN AROUND THE BLOCK ........page 3.3
their features later. This first little session will just be a test drive.
Notice that for the Father, Mother, and Spouse, only numbers may be entered.
As you enter information, notice that at the top of the screen reminders will
appear about some of the data held in DITTO for you. Use your Completion Key
(F-10) to end the Edit of this Person, then choose Edit again. Try that once
more. The F-10 pops you out of the Edit.
Use the <ESC> key again to clear another field, then use it again to UNDO your
action. Just get a general feel for the keyboard operation. Use the F-10 key
to complete the Edit on this Person and then Delete the Person.
Now try exiting the program and then returning to it. To exit, just select
Quit until you are asked if you want to save your Scratch Pad, answer no, and
you're out of there. Go back in and play some more.
In general, the idea in this session is to get a feel for how the keys work.
We're going to start fresh again after this session anyway so have a good
time. Then when you are ready to really enter data, you can concentrate on
your data and feel more comfortable.
Add another Person, and try using the DITTO feature. THE SINGLE OR DOUBLE
QUOTE ENTERED BY ITSELF IN A FIELD WILL DITTO THE MOST RECENT DATA FOR THAT
FIELD. Some of the more important and more frequently used DITTO values are at
the top of the Main Data Entry Form. You will notice two sets of Location
DITTOS displayed. The left hand group will be used in DITTOS for records about
the Person's life, the right hand group in records about the Person's death.
EVERYTHING has a DITTO backup, but only the most important ones (i.e., the
most frequently used) are actually prompted on the top of this screen. Try the
feature to see how it works.
When you feel comfortable with this area of THE FAMILY EDGE, move around and
play some more. Don't try to learn everything at this point - or even ANYTHING
in particular. Just get a feel for the way the program operates. You will
enjoy the experience more if you add knowledge of the EXTRA POWER FEATURES as
you need them. Try the PgDn and PgUp. If the Father# field is empty, PgDn will
stop there first, otherwise it will take you straight to the Spouse# field
before dropping to the last field.
When you decide it's time to stop this, and start entering real information,
then quit the program. Just F-10 or Quit your way back to that Status Screen
and Quit. When asked about the SCRATCH PAD during the closing of the program,
JUST SAY NO! Now we need to start fresh so that we are together on the next
section.
If you want to start fresh, delete these data files -- NOT THE PROGRAM FILES,
BUT THE DATA FILES (all of those named *.DAT) -- on the data disk. Now start
the program again. THE FAMILY EDGE will ask if you want to create new files.
Yep, and you are into it for real. We're gonna walk you through a data entry
session for your Grandparents, your Parents, and yourself. If you don't known
who your Grandparents are, start with your Parents. If you don't know who your
PARENTS are ... hmmmmmmm ... this genealogy thing is gonna be a REAL bumpy
ride.
Now then. It's time to plaaaaaaaaay baaaaaallllllllll......
PLAYING WITH THE FAMILY EDGE - THE FIRST SPIN AROUND THE BLOCK ........page 3.4
==============================================================================
THE FIRST REAL DATA ENTRY SESSION ....................................page 4.1
==============================================================================
WHAT WE'RE GONNA DO
In this section we will go through in detail actually entering data on a total
of eight Persons IN THIS ORDER - your Dad's parents, your parents, your Mom's
parents, you, and (if you are married) your Spouse. We will do the entry in
that order to show most of the major data entry features of THE FAMILY EDGE.
There is no requirement in THE FAMILY EDGE that Persons be entered in any
particular order. THE FAMILY EDGE keeps track of everybody no matter when they
were entered. But in this, we will use the order described for clarity's sake.
AND WE BEGIN
If you have not yet restarted THE FAMILY EDGE, start the program and press a
key to get to the STATUS SCREEN. Let's use the STATUS SCREEN and set up some
of the defaults for the way you would like to work. If you are already past
the STATUS SCREEN, F-10 until you get back to it. All that this screen does is
display as a group all of the major default settings you have at your
disposal. We are going to change some of these defaults while at the STATUS
SCREEN. However, these defaults MAY BE CHANGED FROM ANYWHERE IN THE PROGRAM.
We are going to change them here just so you can see these all at once - but
to repeat, they can be changed exactly the same way no matter which screen you
are using.
First we will CONTROL DATES - <CTRL> D. Try it. Up pops the current status of
the DATE TOGGLE. It shows the same value as the main screen. Press any other
key and it disappears. Now bring it back with <CTRL> D. WHILE it is popped up
on the screen, press <CTRL> D again. As a matter of fact, hold the <CTRL> key
and tap the D several times. You will see the TOGGLE change with each tap of
the key. Note the different possibilities. Find a value of the DATE TOGGLE you
would like to use, then press any other key, and as the window disappears,
note that the Date Status display has changed to your new choice. This is how
THE FAMILY EDGE will display DATES at this point. You can ENTER dates in ANY
of the formats you saw - and the date will then be converted to DISPLAY in the
format you selected with <CTRL> DATES.
Do the same thing with the NAMES and ORDER TOGGLES using first <CTRL> N and
then <CTRL> O. Leave these TOGGLES set to values you would like to use. I know
you're saying, "How do I know what I want to use?" Don't worry, these TOGGLES
only affect how the data is displayed. You can flip any TOGGLE when you want
to change how that TOGGLE'S data looks. We are just feeling out the keystrokes
here. When you've got things set the way you want, select Update from the
MENU.
The Main Data Entry Form. Zero Persons on file. A clean slate. Just so we stay
together, remember that we will add Persons in this order - your Dad's
parents, YOUR parents, your Mom's parents, you, and (if you are married) your
Spouse. Eight Persons. From here on <CR> means the <ENTER> key. Are you
ready? OK - select Add from the MENU.
THE FIRST REAL DATA ENTRY SESSION .....................................page 4.1
ENTER YOUR DAD'S FATHER:
Enter the Surname (the last name). <Down Arrow> or <CR>. Sex. <DA> or
<CR>. Given Name (all other names, first, middle, etc). <CR>. Birth Date.
Enter ANY of those date formats. <CR>. State - a two letter abbreviation.
If your grandfather was born in a foreign country, enter the letter X for
the state. <CR>. County. <CR>. City. <CR>. Notice that on the top left
side of the screen (DITTOS for living data), the DITTO reminders are
filling up. Need to go back to a previous field? Use the Up Arrow, EVEN
IF IT'S TO THE SIDE OF THE FIELD WHERE YOU ARE CURRENTLY.
Now the Death Date. Is he living? If so try:
L
<CR>. What did you get? In this case, the date is pulled from the
computer's internal clock. Now the State (or X for foreign country).
<CR>. County (or Country). <CR>. City. <CR>. Notice that the DITTO
reminders on the RIGHT side of the screen are filling up (DITTOS for
death data).
Burial. Ooops! Jumped right over that. Do you have Burial Record
information? If so try <ALT> Burial - <ALT> B. Bingo. Select Add. Enter
the Cemetery Name - but do NOT add "Cemetery" to the name (THE FAMILY
EDGE will do that for you). <CR>. Is it a new Cemetery you have not
entered before? OK, now the State. Is it the same State as the DITTO
reminders on the top RIGHT of the screen? If so, enter a " or a ' and
press the <CR>. County - same question. <CR>. City. <CR>. Any notes?
Now the TOMBSTONE DATA. You have a complete set of entry fields to record
the data exactly as it is on the TOMBSTONE. Surname. Can you DITTO? Given
Name. Is it different or can you DITTO? Born - Died - there are DITTOS
held for you if you want to use them. Inscription and Note. Finished.
F-10 to the Cemetery MENU, then F-10 back to the Main Data Entry Form to
continue working on this entry.
We are not going to enter any information on your Grandfather's parents,
but his Spouse, your Dad's Mother, is going to be the next record we put
in, so for your Grandfather's Spouse number put 2. <CR>. Beep. PERSON NOT
ENTERED YET. Just acknowledging what we already know. One of the more
unusual things THE FAMILY EDGE is capable of doing is exactly what you
just did. You just linked your Grandfather to someone who has not yet
been entered. This will be an extremely valuable technique. Used
SPARINGLY, when you need it, it will greatly speed tricky data entry
problems. Now you are at the Note Field.
Let's do a Marriage Record. <ALT> Marriages. Select Add. Your
Grandparent's numbers are in place. <CR>. Beep. Dates? You have space for
two, both a License and a Bond. <CR>. Is this a Marriage or Divorce
record? You will always want to enter a complete record for each marriage
and another complete record for each divorce. <CR>. Can you DITTO the
locations from the DITTO reminders on the top left of the screen? When
you are finished, F-10 to the Marriage MENU, then F-10 back to the Main
Data Entry Form, still on the Note Field. Do you have a personal note to
enter? When you are finished, F-10 back to the MAIN MENU. Great.
THE FIRST REAL DATA ENTRY SESSION .....................................page 4.2
ENTER YOUR DAD'S MOTHER:
Select Add. Notice the blinking LINKED RECORD alert. It will stay on
screen for one entry field, then stop being annoying. Notice the Spouse
or Marriage record at the bottom of the screen. These are ways to ensure
you use the ADVANCE LINKING accurately. Your Grandmother's Surname is her
MAIDEN NAME. Always use a woman's Maiden Name. Follow the same data entry
routine for your Grandmother. When you get to her Spouse, enter a DITTO.
Up pops your Grandfather. The number of the most recent record edited is
held in this Spouse DITTO, since you frequently work on a Persons's
Spouse's record immediately upon completing a Person's record.
Finish the entry with F-10, and you now have your second Person entered.
With the entry for your Dad's parents completed, we are now going to move
on to your parents and create our first little family. We'll move faster
now that we've got the routine set.
ENTER YOUR DAD'S INFORMATION:
Select Add. Follow all the same steps you've just learned to enter all
your Father's information. When you get down near the bottom, try <ALT> *
for your Dad's Father. Hold down the <ALT> key and press the * that is
located on the same top row key as the number 8.
THE FAMILY EDGE will look at the last Person edited. If that Person was a
male (she was NOT in this case) then that Person's number would be
entered here. If that Person was a female (she WAS in this case), that
Persons's SPOUSE'S number would be entered. And in fact #1 (your
Grandmother's Spouse) is automatically inserted.
OK - move down to your Dad's Mother field. <ALT> * again. THE FAMILY EDGE
will look at the last Person edited. If that Person was a male (she was
NOT in this case) then that Person's SPOUSE'S number would be entered
here. If that Person was a female (she was in this case), that Persons's
OWN number would be entered. And in fact #2 is automatically inserted.
Wasn't that easy?
After entering #1 for the Father (normal linking) and #2 for the Mother
(normal linking), we'll enter your Dad's Spouse (your Mother) as #4
(advance linking). Now <ALT> M and enter the Marriage. Pop the Marriage
window down and you are to the Note field. F-10 and you are finished.
Let's take a look at what we've got. Press F-3, the on-screen Pedigree
Chart. Select Person. Enter your Dad's number, 3. <CR>. And a brief
Pedigree Chart is generated for this family. F-10, back to the Main
Screen. Press F-4, the on-screen Family Group Sheet. Select Person. Enter
your Grandfather's number, 1. <CR>. And a brief Family Group Sheet is
generated. F-10 and you are back again.
ENTER YOUR MOM'S INFORMATION:
Select Add. LINKED RECORD. Once again follow the steps. When you get to
Father #, enter 5 (linking in advance). Beep. Mother #6 (linking in
advance). Beep. Spouse - DITTO. It pulls up your Dad (normal linking).
F-10 to finish. OK, remember, we are going to enter your Mom's parents
now.
THE FIRST REAL DATA ENTRY SESSION .....................................page 4.3
ENTER YOUR MOM'S FATHER:
Select Add. LINKED RECORD. But no Marriage or Spouse shows below. Let's
just double check. Press F-4, the Family Sheet. Select Person. Just press
<ENTER> with no number entry. If you do not enter a number, THE FAMILY
EDGE assumes you want the Family Sheet on this current Person. And there
is your link. F-10 back to the Main Screen. Anything new here? Well for
starters, we can DITTO the Surname for the first time. The rest is the
same. Leave the Father # and Mother # blank - we're not gonna enter them -
but the Spouse will be 6. Beep. You probably are getting to be an old
hand at this by now. When you are finished with this Grandfather's entry,
F-10 to the MAIN MENU.
ENTER YOUR MOM'S MOTHER:
Select Add. LINKED RECORD. Follow all the same steps. Once again, the
Spouse number will DITTO. F-10 when you are through.
ENTER YOUR OWN INFORMATION:
Select Add. You know the routine. But what were the numbers for your
Father and Mother? Press F-2, the Names List. Select Scan Names. Select
Number. Enter 1 and press <ENTER>. And there is a handy list. F-10 to the
Names List MENU. F-10 back to the Main Screen and continue with your
entry. If you are married, your Spouse will be #8. Beep. F-10 to the
MENU.
ENTER YOUR SPOUSE'S INFORMATION:
We're winding this down. Select Add. LINKED RECORD. Boom, boom, F-10. It
gets easier all the time. Back to the MAIN MENU.
LET'S CHECK IT OUT:
Press F-3. Select Person. Enter your number, 7, and press the <ENTER>.
F-10 back to the MENU. Who is descended from that first Person? Press
F-6. Select Person. Enter 1. Yes, this is the guy we want. There are the
Descendants. Press F-10. How are you related to that man who is number 1?
Press <ALT> F-7. Select Personal relationship. Enter 1. <CR>. Enter 7.
<CR>. Yes, these are the two. And there is your calculation.
THAT IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET MOVING!
Clearly, we have raced through this first session. And for good reason.
You will learn much more, much faster at your keyboard than you will by
reading this or any other manual. So from here, we're going to turn you
loose with a well-indexed reference. When you want to learn more about a
feature, look it up in the index and go to it.
The information that will be most valuable to study at this point is in
the immediately following pages - how THE FAMILY EDGE handles Names,
Dates, and Locations. Since all of your records will basically revolve
around these types of data, it's a good idea to get a solid grasp on how
to go about being consistent in the way you enter these types of
information. Once again, you don't have to learn it all, but it will be
helpful to have some general knowledge about those three items.
THE FIRST REAL DATA ENTRY SESSION .....................................page 4.4
And that is ALL it takes to start with THE FAMILY EDGE. Take your time - enjoy
the process. As you become more experienced with THE FAMILY EDGE, you will
find more and more handy features built in - features to make your data entry
easier, your charts more custom looking, and your research more successful.
WHY I DID IT
I first purchased a computer specifically to use in my own genealogical
research. When I began to use that computer, I said to a more experienced
user, "If I don't find what I want and need in a genealogy program, I suppose
I could always learn to write my own." His reply was, "Frankly, I would rather
be out researching." I remembered that. When I wrote THE FAMILY EDGE, I tried
to make the data entry and retrieval just as fast and flexible as possible -
so that what is IN the computer can get OUT of the computer - and get you back
out there doing further research just as quickly and efficiently and
KNOWLEDGEABLY as possible.
THE FIRST REAL DATA ENTRY SESSION .....................................page 4.5
==============================================================================
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.1
==============================================================================
ENTERING, DISPLAYING, AND PRINTING NAMES
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: NAMES:
Some people prefer a Person's last name to be displayed in capital
letters, some do not. With THE FAMILY EDGE, you may enter a Person's last
name normally, but then at any time choose to have that last name
displayed and/or printed as entered, or in all capital letters. This is a
Toggle (or switch) to which you have access from any area of the program.
As with all the Control Toggles in THE FAMILY EDGE, this NAME Toggle is
activated by holding down the <CTRL> (Control) Key on your keyboard and
tapping the first letter of the Toggle's type, in this case NAME. Hence,
<CTRL> N will pop up an on-screen window that displays the current status
of the NAME Toggle, how last NAMES are displayed on the screen, and how
they are sent to the printer. To change the values displayed, simply tap
<CTRL> N until you find the combination you want.
You will also notice that in the same window is information about another
Toggle, the ORDER Toggle. Using this Toggle, you can change whether names
display/print in a normal last name last position or inverted as last
name first. In a similar fashion to the NAME Toggle, <CTRL> O will change
the value of the ORDER Toggle.
Pressing any key other than <CTRL> N or <CTRL> O will remove the window
and leave these two Toggles set to the last values shown.
EXTRA POWER FEATURES: NAMES:
Names entered in THE FAMILY EDGE are automatically indexed for extremely
fast searching. If cases where you need to record a name with a title
(e.g. Captain) or an extension (e.g. Jr), or if you are recording a
Person whose surname would not normally appear at the end of his/her
name, THE FAMILY EDGE provides a way to enter the information in the
correct order and still have the index reflect the proper value (so that,
for example, Capt. William Smith would appear with the William Smith's
rather than with the Capt. Smith's). To fine tune your use of this
indexing system, you can surround parts of the name with the characters
whose numbers are #174 and #175 as in the following :
Captain William Smith Jr would look something like:
Surname : Smith <<Jr>>
Given Name : <<Capt>> William
The double brackets shown here are SIMILAR (but not identical) to the
little symbols that the standard characters #174 and #175 actually
display on your computer screen.
Right now you are probably looking at your keyboard wondering where those
little "things" are going to come from. Computers are able to display
THE REFERENCE MANUAL ..................................................page 5.1
more characters than we see on the actual keyboard. These so-called HIGH
ORDER CHARACTERS contain a number of useful symbols, including several
foreign alphabetical characters. They are normally entered by holding
down the <ALT> (Alternate) key on the keyboard, and typing on the NUMERIC
KEYPAD the number value of the symbol you want to print. Sort of clumsy,
but that is the way your keyboard works.
Now don't worry - this first one is easy, no numbers to remember. All you
have to do to get these two particular symbols is hold down the <ALT> key
and tap the NUMERIC KEYPAD Left Arrow for the left symbol - or Right
Arrow for the right symbol. Release the <ALT> key and - AHA! That's it.
THE FAMILY EDGE will automatically convert these two keystrokes into
these two little symbols. And then the name index will automatically
index the parts of the name NOT enclosed in these symbols.
You don't have to use these symbols, but if you choose to, all of your
William Smith's - the Captains, and Majors, and Jr's, and III's - all
will be grouped together. And anywhere EXCEPT on the actual entry screen
for Willie, you will see a clean Captain William Smith Jr. Ooops - got
those last NAMES toggled to capital letters? Then you will see Captain
William SMITH Jr.
As an additional convenience, each time you exit and re-enter THE FAMILY
EDGE, the NAMES Toggles will be toggled to their last values.
ENTERING, DISPLAYING, AND PRINTING DATES
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: DATES:
THE FAMILY EDGE is extremely flexible in its approach to DATES. You may
enter structured or unstructured DATES, and the program will respond
accordingly.
Your great grandmother had her last child on 19 Jul 1879, died a short
while thereafter, and your great grandfather remarried (wasting little
time) on 14 Dec 1882. With 23 characters worth of space available for a
DATE, you can easily enter for her the (unstructured) Death DATE of
19 Jul 1879-14 Dec 1882. For that matter you could just as easily enter
"in the fall of 1880", and THE FAMILY EDGE would beep discreetly to alert
you that it was storing your DATE information in an UNSTRUCTURED format.
Great! Then why not do all your DATES UNSTRUCTURED?
Well, it's pretty easy for you or me to look at "in the fall of 1880" and
figure out when that was, but a computer is likely to still be scratching
its memory chips late next week hoping to get a clue about when that
happened. So if the computer is to actually understand WHEN a DATE was
and whether that DATE is before or after another DATE, then some sort of
orderliness needs to step in. Hence the STRUCTURED DATE. That means,
DATES entered in a specific order and style, with the day, month, and
year. Period.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL ..................................................page 5.2
EXTRA POWER FEATURES: DATES:
Well, almost period. That's where the "extremely flexible" comes in. Take
for example July 8, 1946. THE FAMILY EDGE understands and allows you to
enter that DATE structured as any of these eighteen ways -
8 Jul 1946 8 JUL 1946
08 Jul 1946 08 JUL 1946
Jul 8 1946 JUL 8 1946
Jul 8, 1946 JUL 8, 1946
8Jul1946 8JUL1946
08Jul1946 08JUL1946
7-8-1946 07-08-1946
7/8/1946 07/08/1946
7 8 1946 07 08 1946
- and then turns right around and displays or prints that DATE in any of
those formats as well. Now how is that handled? Did you guess <CTRL> D to
CONTROL the DATES? Ta-dah! One tap and up pops the window. Tap until you
get what you want, then press any other key. And away she goes.
Remember, you can pull that DATE back out in ANY of those ways, NO MATTER
WHICH WAY YOU ENTERED IT, by TOGGLING again. Neat, huh? Do your close
friends know how often you TOGGLE? One of the beauties of a computer (you
don't call that gray box UGLY, do you?) is that it just loves to swap
data around for you. So go to it. Wait. There's more. You may enter just
a month and year. Or just a year. THE FAMILY EDGE will understand.
As long as you enter one of these formats, THE FAMILY EDGE will store
your DATE as a STRUCTURED DATE and retrieve it in any of the formats. If
you enter an UNSTRUCTURED DATE, that DATE will always be stored and
retrieved EXACTLY as you typed it. So you actually can enter anything you
choose in a field for DATES. But THE FAMILY EDGE will only understand
WHEN the DATE was and be able to manipulate it further if you enter one
of the STRUCTURED formats.
Wait. There's more. In addition, you can enter at the first of the DATE
one of these specific characters followed by one space to get:
a 8 Jul 1946 ..... after 8 Jul 1946;
b 8 Jul 1946 ..... before 8 Jul 1946;
c 8 Jul 1946 ..... circa 8 Jul 1946;
r 8 Jul 1946 ..... roughly 8 Jul 1946 (making a wild stab at it);
? 8 Jul 1946 ..... 8 Jul 1946(?);
l 8 Jul 1946 ..... living 8 Jul 1946;
- 1946-1948 ...... 1946 to 1948;
Note in this last case, a span of YEARS ONLY may be entered.
These STRUCTURED DATES will be handled by THE FAMILY EDGE in the logical
order you would expect. So if you say "b 1902", THE FAMILY EDGE has the
good sense to know that "1/1/1902" is not "before 1902".
One final little extra - if you enter "L" by itself, THE FAMILY EDGE will
extract the current date from your computer's operating system and insert
in the date field "living xxxxxxxxx", with the x's replaced by the
current date from that internal clock.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL ..................................................page 5.3
As a result of the flexibility of the DATE structure in THE FAMILY EDGE,
you can select the particular DATE format for each chart that is most
pleasing to you, then switch away to another format for screen display.
Remember, you may ENTER a DATE in ANY of the formats at ANY time. The
DATE will then be DISPLAYED in the format you have currently chosen. And
you can change your choice of display format at any time as well. Each
time you re-enter THE FAMILY EDGE, the DATES will be toggled to their
last display format.
DOUBLE DATING:
That leaves just one more discussion on the subject of DATES - DOUBLE-
DATING. ... ... ... ... I am TRYING to be serious here. DOUBLE DATING is
not what it seems. It is neither a way to safely get to know someone
else, nor is it a scheme to avoid the IRS on April 15th. Beep! Ooops, I
mean 15 Apr 1989.
Prior to 1753, a different calendar (JULIAN) was in effect. Instead of
the year changing on January 1 like we KNOW it does, everybody thought
the new year waited until March 25. As a result, you may find records
that have dates like February 9, 1734/5. This does not mean there was a
question about when something happened, it just means that both DATES
were included to avoid confusion. HAH! It didn't work! It's still
confusing!
Suffice it to say, all YOU need to do, if a DOUBLE DATE appears in a
record you are storing, is enter the LATER year, the year we would really
consider it to be ourselves, using our calendar (GREGORIAN). THE FAMILY
EDGE understands and without meaning to appear superior to ordinary
people, it will respond with BOTH DATES.
ENTERING, DISPLAYING, AND PRINTING LOCATIONS
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: LOCATIONS:
Locations are handled by THE FAMILY EDGE in three distinct FIELDS :
State, County, and City. The State and County FIELDS expect specific
information, while the City is more agreeable.
FOR THE UNITED STATES:
Enter a 2 letter abbreviation for the State. It's not necessary to use
the postal abbreviations, but since they are pretty universally
recognized, it's not a bad idea.
For the County, enter the county name only - no Co or County after it.
THE FAMILY EDGE understands about counties and, also understanding that
Louisiana has parishes instead of counties, is rather gracious about its
knowledge, as you will see
For the City, go wild. ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION YOU NEED CAN BE ENTERED
IN THE CITY FIELD. City does not mean "only a city" - enter ANYTHING else
in the way of a location in the City field. Like an address. Or a church.
Or a farm. You will also notice with the County and City and several
other
THE REFERENCE MANUAL ..................................................page 5.4
entry fields that after finishing the entry in that field, the data will
change color. This is NOT the computer's way of expressing embarrassment,
but rather is its tasteful way of alerting you that this data is spelled
differently from any other data you have entered in that particular
field, and it is giving you the opportunity for double-checking your
spelling.
FOR FOREIGN COUNTRIES:
Enter an "X" for the state and THE FAMILY EDGE will very agreeably
convert the County field to Country, leaving the City field for the rest
of your data - and remember, that means ANYTHING else is entered in City.
SEARCHING AND BROWSING
While it's all very well and good that THE FAMILY EDGE stores your family
information for you, it wouldn't help if there was no way to BROWSE through
that information, stopping here and there to make notes and to absorb the
connections. We didn't let you down. There are five main ways to BROWSE
through the Persons filed in THE FAMILY EDGE.
Think of it like this. It's as though THE FAMILY EDGE has five identical
complete sets of your records, each set arranged in a different way. Set #1
has everybody arranged in the order in which they were entered. The first
Person entered is first on the list, the second Person is second. Easy. Piece
of cake. Set #2 has everybody in alphabetical order. Now don't you think THAT
list gets shuffled around when new people are entered! Set #3 has things
cleverly arranged so that people with the same Partial Names stay together.
Set #4 has everybody in the order of their Soundex codes. SEE: The Soundex
Code System. And Set #5 groups people according to Location, where they were
born, where they died, where they married, etc.
Does that sound complicated to do? It WAS! Is it going to be complicated for
you to use? Nope.
It all revolves around the MAIN FAMILY EDGE MENU that looks like this:
Select : Edit, Next, Previous, Find, Add, Delete, Tree, #, Quit?
1) If you select FIND, the flashing cursor will move to the line on the screen
that displays a Person's number and wait for you to enter a number. If you
enter a number and press the <ENTER> Key, you have done a FIND BY NUMBER. And
there is the Person on screen whose number you entered. Well now, that wasn't
so bad.
2) If instead of entering a number, you just press the <ENTER> Key, the
flashing cursor will move to the Surname line. Enter a Surname. Press <ENTER>.
The cursor moves to the Given Name line. Enter a Given Name. Press <ENTER>.
You have just done a FIND BY ALPHABETICAL LIST. Hmmm. A little tougher, but
still not bad.
3) If you had entered a "?" for the Surname, followed by a name (or string of
letters) in either the Surname or the Given Name field, you would have done a
FIND BY PARTIAL NAME. Oh. OK.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL ..................................................page 5.5
4) If you had entered "#" in the Surname, followed by a Surname or a Soundex
Code, you would have done a FIND BY CODE. Is your head buzzing?
5) If instead of entering a Surname or a Given Name, you just press the
<ENTER> key, a window will pop up allowing you to enter a State and County.
Enter the State. Press <ENTER>. Enter the County. Press <ENTER>. You have just
done a FIND BY LOCATION.
What you have done in each case is alert THE FAMILY EDGE how you want to "flip
the pages" and where you want to start. Look at that MAIN MENU again.
Select : Edit, Next, Previous, Find, Add, Delete, Tree, #, Quit?
If you did a FIND BY NUMBER, say for Person #126, THE FAMILY EDGE would grab
#126 from the files and be poised to flip the page forward to #127 - Next or
<PgDn> - or backward to #125 - Previous or <PgUp>. When you FIND BY NUMBER,
you are ready to BROWSE through the files in numerical order.
If you did a FIND BY ALPHABETICAL LIST, say for Jane Doe, THE FAMILY EDGE
would look on the Alphabetical List and grab the first Jane Doe it found. If
it did not find a Jane Doe, it would not just return empty handed. It would
instead grab the next Person on the Alphabetical List and bring them back. You
have now found a starting point on this Alphabetical List, and THE FAMILY EDGE
will be poised to flip the pages forward and backward in alphabetical order
starting with the closest name it could find for you. When you FIND BY
ALPHABETICAL LIST, you are ready to BROWSE through the files in alphabetical
order.
If you did a FIND BY PARTIAL NAME, say for Timothy, THE FAMILY EDGE would
start at the very first Person and look at EVERYBODY'S name to find a Timothy.
When it found one, on the screen he would go, and then very discretely, THE
FAMILY EDGE would continue to work away in the background, searching for any
more Timothy's, adding them to the list, while not disrupting anything you
wanted to do. When it finished, it would Beep and put a SEARCH COMPLETED
message on the screen. And THE FAMILY EDGE would be poised to cleverly flip
back and forth between Persons named Timothy Whatever. When you FIND BY
PARTIAL NAME, you are ready to BROWSE through just the Persons who have that
string of characters in their name.
If you did a FIND BY SOUNDEX CODE, say for that same Jane Doe, THE FAMILY EDGE
would look on the Soundex list and grab the first Jane D000 (the Soundex Code
for Doe - SEE: The Soundex Coding System) it found. If it did not find Jane
D000, it would not just return empty handed. It would instead grab the next
Person on the Soundex list and bring them back. You have now found a starting
point on this Soundex list, and THE FAMILY EDGE is poised to flip the pages
forward and backward in Soundex order starting with the closest entry it could
find for you. When you FIND BY SOUNDEX, you are ready to BROWSE through the
files in Soundex order.
Does FIND BY LOCATION work the same way? If you said "No", you are now
sentenced to a lifetime of researching ancestors who lived in Counties where
the Courthouses BURNED. If you said "Yes", you are granted a reprieve.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL ..................................................page 5.6
THE FAMILY EDGE will find each Person whose records contain that Location -
and will even have blinking Alerts on screen to indicate WHICH of the records
contain the Location. Now THAT'S classy! And you will be able to directly page
between Persons with the specified Location in any of their records. When you
FIND BY LOCATION, you are ready to BROWSE through all the Persons who have any
record containing that Location.
With FIND BY NUMBER, FIND BY ALPHABETICAL LIST, and FIND BY SOUNDEX, you are
essentially selecting a starting point on a trio of existing lists. But with
FIND BY PARTIAL NAME and FIND BY LOCATION, you are additionally deciding who
is actually ON those two lists.
Since FIND BY PARTIAL NAME goes through the files Person by Person, it could
take a few seconds to find the first match. The other four FIND techniques are
indexed and will give you an answer IMMEDIATELY.
Let's quickly review the two ways that YOU create the list.
To Find by Partial Name:
At the MENU for the Main Data Entry Screen, select Find. The cursor moves
to the Person Number. Press F-10 (or <CR>). The cursor moves to the
Surname field. Enter a "?" for the Surname. Press <CR>. The cursor moves
to the Given Name field. Enter the string of characters you wish to match
in the Given Name field. You do not have to enter a complete name. THE
FAMILY EDGE will ignore capitalization and examine each Person in your
data files, finding every Person whose GIVEN NAME contains the string of
characters you entered.
If you enter both the "?" and the string of characters in the Surname
field, THE FAMILY EDGE will look for the string ANYWHERE IN THE ENTIRE
NAME.
The Partial Name search is sequential and may take a number of seconds to
find that first match. After the first Person with a match is found, that
Person is displayed, and the use of the computer returns to you. The
Partial Name search then continues COMPLETELY IN THE BACKGROUND. You can
use all of the normal features of THE FAMILY EDGE (except for FIND)
without disrupting the background search. As THE FAMILY EDGE finds a new
Person with the string of characters in their name, it adds that Person
to the List and continues until it reaches the end of your data files.
When the search is finished, a SEARCH COMPLETED message will appear in
the middle of the screen for 1 second.
If, after you start the Partial Name search, you press a key before the
first Person with a matching Partial Name is found, the search will be
cancelled. Likewise, if you initiate a new Find before another search is
finished, the remainder of the other search will be cancelled.
Just remember, a "?" in the Surname alerts THE FAMILY EDGE that you want
to search by a Partial Name. Then WHERE you enter that Partial Name
determines where THE FAMILY EDGE will look. If the Partial Name is
entered in the Given Name field, THE FAMILY EDGE will confine its search
to the Given Name. If the Partial Name is entered in the Surname field
after the "?", THE FAMILY EDGE will search the full name.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL ..................................................page 5.7
To Find by Location:
At the Main Data Entry Screen MENU, select Find. The cursor moves to the
Person Number. Press F-10 (or <CR>). The cursor moves to the Surname
field. Press F-10 (or <CR> twice). A Location Search window pops up with
State and County fields.
Enter the search criteria exactly as you would enter any other Location
information - including the use of "X" in the State field for a Foreign
Country. You may enter State information only, or both State and County.
You MUST enter at least State information - if you enter County only, the
search request will be cancelled.
The Location Search requires a full County name if a County is entered.
For example, "TN" for the State and "Wash" for the County will NOT find
the Washington County, Tennessee Location.
As with the Partial Name search, after the first Person with a Location
match is found, that Person is displayed and the use of the computer
returns to you. Unlike the Given Name search, the first Location match
will be found IMMEDIATELY. The Location search then continues COMPLETELY
IN THE BACKGROUND. You can use all of the normal features of THE FAMILY
EDGE without disrupting the background search.
As THE FAMILY EDGE finds a new Person with the specified Location
anywhere in their records, it adds that Person to the List and continues
until it has found all instances of the Location. The Location search is
an indexed search and is EXTREMELY fast - much faster than the Given Name
search. When the search is finished, a SEARCH COMPLETED message will
appear in the middle of the screen for 1 second. If multiple spellings
for the County were found, or if a State only was specified and multiple
Counties were found, THE FAMILY EDGE will pause at the end of the search
to sort the records, insuring that no one appears on the List more than
once.
When you Find Persons by Location, THE FAMILY EDGE not only checks Birth
and Death records but also examines Christenings, Marriages, Wills,
Burials, Immigrations - in short ANY structured records that have
Location information in their data. If one of these other records
contains the Location specified, its "marker" on the Extra Record Status
Line will be flashing when that Person is displayed.
If you initiate a new Location search before another search is finished,
the remainder of the previous search will be cancelled.
Now THE FAMILY EDGE is not satisfied to let you just do one or another of
these SEARCH and BROWSE routines - it wants you to do ALL of them. And to
switch back and forth BETWEEN them easily. And to jump to other Persons
connected to these Persons. The idea is to be able to USE your files, not just
have them.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL ..................................................page 5.8
In the section on the CONTROL TOGGLES, you will learn how to switch back and
forth between the BROWSING modes, using the BROWSE TOGGLE. In a later section
entitled MOVING THROUGH THE RECORDS, you will discover ways to page DIRECTLY
to other Persons with family connections to the Person on screen. In the
section on the Function Key Combinations, you will learn how to display and
print Charts and Reports based on the records. But the most fundamental
technique will be SEARCHING for the Persons whose records you wish to view.
And that's what this section has been about.
RENUMBER
There may be times you wish to change a Person's Computer ID Number - and for
those times, RENUMBER is the ticket. Remember that Main MENU?
Select : Edit, Next, Previous, Find, Add, Delete, Sort, Tree, #,
Quit?
Guess what # on that MENU is for. You're correct! That choice will RENUMBER
the Person on screen to the next available Computer ID Number and free up its
present Number. How does that help, you ask? Suppose you want to take Person
#125 and make them #244. But #244 is in use. No problem. FIND #244. Select #
to RENUMBER #244 to the next available Number. Now #244 is free - and is the
next available Computer ID Number. FIND #125. Select #. Bingo - RENUMBERED to
#244.
SAVING YOUR RECORDS
If you have used other computer programs, you may be wondering exactly what
you have to do to ensure that your entries have been saved and stored away on
disk. There are two things you must do:
1) Inhale.
2) Exhale.
Now wasn't that easy? With THE FAMILY EDGE, we believe if you typed it, you
wanted it. That doesn't mean you can't delete things. You can (but THE FAMILY
EDGE will moan, "Are you suuuuure you want to delete that?"). THE FAMILY EDGE
saves the records as a part of its nature, and you have to explicitly direct
it to discard something before it will. So if you exit an Editing routine, or
Exit the program, it IS saved - by default. But you will also want to read the
information about the VERIFY TOGGLE to understand how your computer's basic
disk operating system (MS-DOS) will try to thwart that - and what you can do
to counter (if, for example, your computer has power supply problems).
The main thing to keep in mind is that THE FAMILY EDGE will take the
responsibility of making sure your hard work is not accidentally discarded.
But one thing needs to be clear. Sooner or later, SOMETHING will happen to a
disk, or your dog will knock the computer over, or the chocolate milk from the
(BLESS his little heart!) next generation will seep through a heat vent in the
computer. And you will slap your cheek and think "Oh no! I hope I have a
current back up of these files!" If you have that back up, you're going to be
very happy. If you don't ------ a word to the wise.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL ..................................................page 5.9
THE CONTROL TOGGLES
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: THE CONTROL KEY TOGGLES:
There are a number of aspects of the program operation that can be
changed during the run of the program. They are all activated with a
combination of the <CTRL> KEY and the first letter of their name. The
list of CONTROL KEY TOGGLES includes:
CONTROL ALL ..................... Display ALL the TOGGLES
CONTROL ACCESS .................. Temporarily block editing changes
CONTROL BROWSE .................. Switch BROWSING modes
CONTROL COMPUTER ID NUMBERS ..... Use or suppress numbers & Soundex
CONTROL DATES ................... Switch DATE formats
CONTROL ECHO .................... ECHO Screen List to Printer
CONTROL FAMILY FORMS ............ Source and History Note printing
CONTROL GENERATIONS ............. Limit maximum GENERATIONS
CONTROL INDEX ................... Print shortened listings
CONTROL LINES ................... TOGGLE LINES per inch
CONTROL MACROS .................. Text MACROS
CONTROL NAMES ................... Switch NAME formats
CONTROL ORDER ................... Switch name ORDER
CONTROL PRINTER ................. Redirect PRINTER output
CONTROL QUIT .................... Block DITTO updating
CONTROL SCREEN .................. TOGGLE lower SCREEN display area
CONTROL TEMPER .................. Hmmmmmm
CONTROL VERIFY .................. TOGGLE immediate data write
CONTROL X-IT TO DOS ............. Run other programs from inside THE
FAMILY EDGE
All the TOGGLES other than SCREEN, QUIT, and EXIT first display their
current value, then TOGGLE with each press of the same key.
EXTRA POWER FEATURES: THE CONTROL KEY TOGGLES:
The normal rule of thumb is that all these TOGGLES are available one at a
time. The TOGGLES allow significant customizing of the operation and
output of the program during the run THE FAMILY EDGE. Each chart can be
printed in the way most suitable for that chart, while the screen
displays are TOGGLED for most efficient operation. In combination with
manual/automatic TOGGLING of the Extra Data Entry Forms, THE FAMILY EDGE
can be set for fastest entry of and access to the specific data being
handled. Each of the CONTROL TOGGLES will be covered in detail.
CONTROLLING ALL:
The opening Status Screen in THE FAMILY EDGE displays all of the various
Control Toggles available and their current status information. This same
chart can be displayed at any point in THE FAMILY EDGE using <CTRL> ALL.
If you wish to select a Toggle choice directly from the screen, use its
Control Key combination. Any other keystroke simply removes this Status
Chart.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.10
CONTROLLING ACCESS:
There will probably be times you will want to allow someone else to use
your computer files for THE FAMILY EDGE. Now you KNOW what that does to
your heart to watch another person press the sacred keys on YOUR computer
with YOUR data files - files written with YOUR blood, sweat, and tears.
Well, there is an alternative to prescription nerve medications while all
this is going on - the <CTRL> ACCESS TOGGLE. Be sure that you are not
actively Editing a Person (or the TOGGLE will be unavailable to you), and
first TOGGLE the <CTRL> VERIFY window, thereby assuring that all current
changes are safely tucked away onto disk.
While the VERIFY TOGGLE is still visible, press <CTRL> ACCESS. The pop up
window will display the current status of the ACCESS TOGGLE. Additional
<CTRL> A keystrokes TOGGLE the value. Any other keystroke will remove the
window, leaving the ACCESS TOGGLE set to its last value.
If you have changed the TOGGLE to deny ACCESS, you will now be prompted
for the Password that you will later use to open ACCESS to the editing
changes. After typing the Password, press <ENTER>, and you will be
returned to THE FAMILY EDGE.
If on the other hand you have changed the TOGGLE to open the ACCESS, you
will be prompted for the original Password that was used to deny ACCESS
to the editing changes. After typing in the Password, if it is correct,
you will be returned to THE FAMILY EDGE. If it is NOT correct, THE FAMILY
EDGE will beep, and you will remain in the VERIFY window (to make further
changes or exit without further changes).
With the ACCESS TOGGLE set to deny ACCESS, all operations of the program
continue normally - with one BIG exception. NO CHANGES, ADDITIONS, OR
DELETIONS ARE WRITTEN TO DISK.
To repeat: the ACCESS TOGGLE is not available for changing while a Person
Record is being Edited. With the TOGGLE set to ACCESS denied, you can
contentedly watch someone Browse, Edit, Print, Add, and Delete - knowing
that NONE OF THE CHANGES WILL BE WRITTEN TO DISK. Further, you will be
alerted to this fact at the top of the Main Data Entry Screen.
Forget your password? No problem. Exit THE FAMILY EDGE. The Password will
be automatically cleared when you re-enter the program, and full record
ACCESS will available. The ACCESS TOGGLE is not intended to provide data
security from malicious hands. But it IS intended to prevent accidental
changes to the records by someone unfamiliar with THE FAMILY EDGE.
CONTROLLING BROWSING:
<CTRL> BROWSE displays the current status of the BROWSE TOGGLE.
Additional <CTRL> B keystrokes will TOGGLE the value. As an extra
convenience, '+' and '-' will also TOGGLE the value forward and backward.
Any other keystroke will remove the window, leaving the BROWSE TOGGLE set
to its last value. THE FAMILY EDGE allows BROWSING through the database
in five ways. After you use the Find selection on the Main Data Entry
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.11
Form, THE FAMILY EDGE determines how it will Browse through the database
by examining the way you found that Person. You will see this MENU:
Select : Edit, Next, Previous, Find, Add, Delete, Tree, #, Quit?
If you found this Person by entering their Computer ID Number, then THE
FAMILY EDGE will be set to BROWSE through the database by number. If you
found the Person by entering their Name, then THE FAMILY EDGE will BROWSE
through the alphabetical list of Names. If you found the Person by
entering a Partial Name, then THE FAMILY EDGE will BROWSE through Persons
with the same Partial Name. If you found the Person by entering their
Soundex Code, THE FAMILY EDGE will BROWSE through the Soundex list of
Names. And if you found the Person by entering a Location, then THE
FAMILY EDGE will BROWSE through Persons whose records contain this same
Location.
What does all this mean?
It simply means that the Next (or <PgDn>) and Previous (or <PgUp>) MENU
choices will select the next or previous Person from the appropriate
category. However, using the CONTROL BROWSE routine, you can swap back
and forth between BROWSING around in the records of Persons who have
similar last names and BROWSING around in the records of Persons whose
Computer ID Numbers are sequential (and hence, likely entered at the same
time of this Person), as well as between Persons with the same Partial
Name or Soundex Code and Persons in the same Locations. Since each Find
resets the BROWSE mode based on how that particular Person was found,
CONTROLLING the BROWSE only matters when the above MAIN MENU shows, and
hence is available only then.
You will notice that CONTROL BROWSE doesn't change who is currently on
screen - but the next time you select Next or Previous, you will be
BROWSING the way the TOGGLE is set.
NOTE: The Partial Name List and Location List are created by the user -
that's you - and remain intact (even after exiting the program) until new
Lists are created in their places. You cannot TOGGLE to these Lists or
SCAN these Lists (in the F-2 screen) until YOU create them. For further
information on creating the Lists, see the sections on SEARCHING AND
BROWSING.
There are several ways to move through your records other than in these
sequential orders. More on those ways of MOVING THROUGH THE RECORDS is
covered in a separate section by that name.
CONTROLLING COMPUTER ID NUMBERS AND SOUNDEX CODES:
There may be times when you wish to suppress the COMPUTER ID NUMBERS that
appear on the various printed Charts in THE FAMILY EDGE or display and
print Soundex CODES on screen and in charts. <CTRL> COMPUTER CODES pops
up a window displaying the current status information. Additional <CTRL>
C keystrokes TOGGLE the COMPUTER ID Numbers value, while the <TAB> Key
TOGGLES the Soundex CODE value on and off. Any other keystrokes will
remove the window, leaving these TOGGLES set to their last values.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.12
When the COMPUTER ID NUMBERS are suppressed, no internal COMPUTER ID
NUMBERS are carried to the Printer Charts. The COMPUTER ID NUMBERS are
still displayed on screen, however, since they are integral in accessing
THE FAMILY EDGE data files.
When Soundex CODES are TOGGLED ON, the CODE for each Person is displayed
on the right side of the Extra Record Status Line each time a Person is
displayed. The only exception is Persons without a valid Soundex CODE.
The CODES are also printed on all Charts EXCEPT the Pedigree and
Descendant Charts. When CODES are TOGGLED OFF, no CODES are displayed or
printed. However, Soundex Searching and Browsing is available whether the
Soundex CODE display/printing is TOGGLED ON or not.
When you exit and re-enter THE FAMILY EDGE, the COMPUTER ID NUMBERS
TOGGLE and the Soundex CODE TOGGLE will be set to their most recent
values.
CONTROLLING DATES:
As noted in the section on ENTERING AND DISPLAYING DATES, the DATES may
be TOGGLED to any one of eighteen different display formats. The TOGGLE
affects the display and printing formats - but ANY of the various formats
may be used at ANY time in data entry. <CTRL> DATES pops up a window
displaying the current Date Display Format. Additional <CTRL> D
keystrokes TOGGLE the value. As an extra convenience, '+' and '-' will
also TOGGLE the value forward and backward.
Also displayed is the cross over point for the Date Alert. If you enter a
Date prior to 1500, THE FAMILY EDGE will Alert you to that fact (with an
on-screen message) as a way of nudging you to double check. The cross
over year for the Date Alert can be set anywhere from the year 1000 to
the year 1900. Using the <TAB> Key changes that Date Alert in 100 year
steps. Since THE FAMILY EDGE stores standard compressed Date formats back
to the year 100, the Date Alert is handy way to keep you on your toes.
For example, after entering a lot of Dates in the 1700's, it can be very
useful to change the Date Alert to 1800 when you move to that century -
to keep from unintentionally entering a 17-- Date.
Any keystroke other than <CTRL> D, "+", "-", or <TAB> will remove the
DATE window, leaving the DATES TOGGLE and the Date Alert set to their
last values.
When you exit and re-enter THE FAMILY EDGE, these TOGGLES will be set to
their most recent values.
CONTROLLING ECHO:
The F-2 Names List to Screen, F-5 Ahnentafel to Screen, and F-6
Descendant Chart to Screen can all use the CONTROL ECHO TOGGLE to ECHO to
the Printer Output an exact copy of what is scrolling across these
screens. While the Print Screen and Intelligent Print Screen routines are
handy for sending a single screen to the Printer, the contents of the
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.13
Names List, Ahnentafel Chart, and Descendant Chart usually run over
several screens. The CONTROL ECHO TOGGLE allows these routines to run
continuously to completion, sending a full stream of data to the Printer
Output.
<CTRL> ECHO pops up a window displaying the current ECHO TOGGLE value.
Additional <CTRL> E keystrokes TOGGLE the value. This TOGGLE only affects
these three routines - and automatically turns OFF on returning to the
Main Data Entry Screen. Since the actual ECHO is in a strict column
format, this can be a very useful way to output structured data for
further manipulation outside of THE FAMILY EDGE.
The CONTROL ECHO TOGGLE is always set to OFF when entering THE FAMILY
EDGE and when entering or exiting these three available screen routines.
CONTROLLING FAMILY FORMS:
Both the FAMILY GROUP SHEET and the EXTENDED FAMILY REPORT may be TOGGLED
to any one of four possible printing configurations for the Source Notes
and History Notes.
1) Source Notes and History Notes for the Husband and Wife printed at
the end of the form;
2) Source Notes only for the Husband and Wife and all Children/
Grandchildren, printed WITH the individual's Family data;
3) Source Notes for the Husband and Wife and all Children/
Grandchildren, printed WITH the individual's Family data, PLUS
History Notes for the Husband and Wife at the end of the form;
4) No Source Notes or History Notes.
<CTRL> FAMILY pops up a window displaying the current TOGGLE value.
Additional <CTRL> F keystrokes TOGGLE the value. Any other keystroke will
remove the window, leaving the FAMILY FORMS TOGGLE set to its last value.
When you exit and re-enter THE FAMILY EDGE, the FAMILY FORMS TOGGLE will
be set to its most recent value.
CONTROLLING GENERATIONS:
On occasion, you will want to display or print Ahnentafel and Descendant
Charts across just a few GENERATIONS. With the GENERATION TOGGLE, you can
select the Maximum number of GENERATIONS that are accessed by these two
Charts. Possible choices are 1 to 23, the maximum number of GENERATIONS
accessed by any one Chart. <CTRL> GENERATIONS pops up a window displaying
the current Maximum GENERATIONS. Additional <CTRL> G keystrokes (as well
as the "+" or "-" keys) TOGGLE the value. Any other keystroke will remove
the window, leaving the GENERATION TOGGLE set to its last value.
When you exit and re-enter THE FAMILY EDGE, the GENERATION TOGGLE will
always be set to the 23 GENERATION Maximum.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.14
CONTROLLING INDEX:
Normally, the Ahnentafel Chart and Names List print extensive information
on each individual. You may choose instead to print only the Name,
Computer ID Number, Birth Date, and Death Death in a shortened INDEX
style. <CTRL> INDEX pops up a window displaying the current INDEX feature
value - ON or OFF. Additional <CTRL> I keystrokes TOGGLE the value. Any
other keystroke will remove the window, leaving the INDEX TOGGLE set to
its last value.
When you exit and re-enter THE FAMILY EDGE, the INDEX TOGGLE will be set
to OFF or full printing.
CONTROLLING LINES:
The number of LINES PER INCH on the printed forms may be TOGGLED at any
point in the program. The PEDIGREE CHART always prints in 8 LPI. All
other charts will print in the configuration chosen by the LINES TOGGLE,
either 6 lines per inch (normal), or 8 lines per inch. <CTRL> LINES pops
up a window displaying the current LINES PER INCH value. Additional
<CTRL> L keystrokes TOGGLE the value.
The number of lines that THE FAMILY EDGE will print on a 6 lines per inch
Chart or 8 lines per inch Chart can also be controlled directly from
within the LINES TOGGLE. When the <CTRL> LINES TOGGLE is selected, also
displayed are the total Lines printed (before a form feed) at both 6 and
8 lines per inch. The "+" and "-" keys Toggle the values, after first
using the <TAB> key to select 6 or 8. Totals lines from 20 to 99 are
supported. This is a very handy way to leave extra space on a page for
hand written notes, or conversely to utilize extra long paper.
Any keystrokes other than <CTRL> L, "+", or "-" will remove the LINES
TOGGLE window, leaving the LINES TOGGLES set to their last values. When
you exit and re-enter THE FAMILY EDGE, these TOGGLES will still be set to
their last values.
CONTROLLING MACROS:
The use of TEXT MACROS in THE FAMILY EDGE further enhances the ease and
speed of data entry. A TEXT MACRO is a user definable keystroke that will
type a whole string of TEXT into either the History Notes or a data entry
field. In the barest outline, it works like this: you press <CTRL>
MACROS; you select a key A - X associated with the TEXT you want to
retrieve; you press <CR>. Bingo! The entire name, phrase, or sentence -
up to 80 characters long - is neatly inserted at the cursor position.
OK. Fine. But how does the "key A - X" get "associated with the TEXT you
want to enter" in the first place? Hmmm? Easy. YOU decide. Pick some TEXT
you want to use. Maybe it's a strange City name - or a frequently used
Source citation - or a County that keeps popping up when you are least
able to DITTO it. The possibilities are everywhere.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.15
Move the cursor to the first letter of that TEXT. Press <CTRL> MACROS.
You will be prompted to select a key A - X, or <CTRL> MACROS TO START A
NEW MACRO. Press <CTRL> MACROS this second time. Now the cursor position
is highlighted, and you are prompted to use the Arrow Keys to highlight
the rest of the TEXT to be used by the MACRO. After highlighting the
TEXT, press <ENTER>. You will be prompted to select A - X to store this
new MACRO. Use a letter that's easy to remember. If it's "Washington
Township", use W. If it's "North Carolina State Archives", use N.
The original TEXT stays put. But a copy is now stored away for future
use. Need to type in "North Carolina State Archives" again? - and again?
Move the cursor to where the TEXT goes, press <CTRL> MACROS, select N,
press <CR> - and the whole phrase is typed for you. If you forget what is
stored where, don't worry. Press <CTRL> MACROS, and instead of selecting
A - X, select "?". The screen will display a list of all the stored MACRO
values. Select the one you want, and you are on your way.
If you choose to associate a new MACRO with a letter already storing
TEXT, you will be asked to confirm that you wish to overwrite the older
MACRO. The exception to that rule is the letter "X" which does not
require this confirmation and hence is ideal for a quick one line Paste.
A full complement of 24 MACROS (A - X) can be saved with each separate
FAMILY EDGE database. All the MACROS associated with a particular
database are stored on disk until needed again - and are reloaded each
time THE FAMILY EDGE is re-entered.
CONTROLLING NAMES:
The display and printing of last NAMES may be TOGGLED back and forth
between upper case and normal. When TOGGLED to normal, NAMES will be
displayed/printed as entered. When TOGGLED to upper case, all normal
keyboard characters will be displayed/printed in upper case letters. The
display format and printing format TOGGLE independently of each other,
and may be changed at any point in the program. <CTRL> NAMES pops up a
window displaying the current NAMES format. Additional <CTRL> N
keystrokes TOGGLE the value. When you exit and re-enter THE FAMILY EDGE,
the NAMES TOGGLE will be set to its most recent value.
CONTROLLING the ORDER:
While the NAMES TOGGLE is on screen, you may also control the ORDER in
which Names appear - last name printed first or last. <CTRL> ORDER is
used to TOGGLE between the two values. Additional <CTRL> O keystrokes
will switch the value again. When you exit and re-enter THE FAMILY EDGE,
the ORDER TOGGLE will be set to its last value.
Any keystroke other than <CTRL> N or <CTRL> O will remove this window,
leaving the NAMES TOGGLE and the ORDER TOGGLE set to their last values.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.16
CONTROLLING the PRINTER:
At any point in the program, you may choose to select where the normal
PRINTER output is to be directed, either to the PRINTER, or to BACKGROUND
PRINTING, or a current dated .DOC file that is pure ASCII with no PRINTER
codes (for perhaps picking up with your word processor), or to a current
dated .PRN file that is ASCII text with PRINTER codes in place (say for
later printing), or to THE FAMILY EDGE trash can.
<CTRL> PRINTER pops up a window displaying the current PRINTER
destination. Additional <CTRL> P keystrokes TOGGLE the value. Any other
keystroke will remove the window, leaving the PRINTER TOGGLE set to its
last value.
The PRINTER can be halted or taken off line at any time during a PRINTING
job without disrupting the flow of the program. If PRINTER Output has
been TOGGLED straight to the PRINTER, halting the PRINTER produces a
beeping alert on the screen. On one hand, you can restore the PRINTER
function, press a key, and the job will continue. On the other hand,
<CTRL> PRINTER at this point will TOGGLE the PRINTER Output to the trash
can, discarding the remainder of the current PRINT job.
In BACKGROUND PRINTING, the print job is spun out to disk much faster
than a PRINTER could handle it, and then control of the computer is
returned to you while the form prints in the background. There is no
change in how THE FAMILY EDGE responds during BACKGROUND PRINTING, since
any foreground requests get the full attention of THE FAMILY EDGE.
When THE FAMILY EDGE is TOGGLED to BACKGROUND PRINTING, the PRINT job may
be interrupted and/or cancelled at any point by accessing the <CTRL>
Printer combination. You will then be prompted as to whether on not you
wish to cancel the PRINT job. If your printer has a built in buffer, you
will need to turn the printer off and back on to clear that storage
space. BACKGROUND PRINTING may also be interrupted by simply taking the
PRINTER off line. Because of the flexibility and speed of this routine,
most users opt for BACKGROUND PRINTING.
When you exit and re-enter THE FAMILY EDGE, the PRINTER TOGGLE will be
set to its last value, unless that last value was the trash can. If you
exit THE FAMILY EDGE with the PRINTER Output TOGGLED to the trash can,
the PRINTER Output will be redirected to the Printer upon re-entering THE
FAMILY EDGE.
CONTROL QUIT:
As handy as the DITTO feature is, you'll find occasions where you would
really prefer NOT to have the information you are typing loaded into the
DITTO. For example, one Person's records are in a different County from
the main group, and you'll just have to retype the main County. Entering
<CTRL> QUIT in any data entry field EXCEPT a State will block updating of
the DITTO value for that field. Sorry about the State - but it's only two
letters to type, a small price to pay for the <CTRL> QUIT key.
The CONTROL QUIT TOGGLE automatically resets each time you move to a new
field.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.17
CONTROLLING the SCREEN:
When you are at the main entry screen, you may use the <CTRL> SCREEN
TOGGLE to switch the lower section of this SCREEN through six data
display/entry modes. This area can be TOGGLED to display for the current
individual the first five MARRIAGES, all four GRANDPARENTS, the first
five CHILDREN, the first five SIBLINGS, a peek at the first five lines of
the HISTORY NOTES, or the major ORDINANCES for The Church of Jesus Christ
of the Latter Day Saints.
TOGGLING the SCREEN to display the LDS ORDINANCES also allows their entry
as a part of the Main Data Entry Form. Those data entry fields will be
accessed exactly as though they directly linked to the Main Data Entry
Form.
Normally, in adding new records that will already be linked, the SCREEN
TOGGLE is most useful set to display MARRIAGES (SEE: ADDING LINKED
RECORDS). In that case, any Spouse and Marriage Records will be displayed
immediately upon selecting Add.
When you exit and re-enter THE FAMILY EDGE, the SCREEN TOGGLE will be set
to its most recent value.
CONTROLLING TEMPER:
One of the most important features of THE FAMILY EDGE is the CONTROL
TEMPER TOGGLE. Genealogists often lead a very stressful existence. Many
have ancestors notoriously lax in tending to important business like
leaving Wills. Others have ancestors who, in surviving documents, refused
to praise their Fathers-in-law by full name. Still others are descended
from real mavericks who insisted on residing in areas constantly plagued
by fires tended by inadequate volunteers. Additionally, long hours at a
computer keyboard can make even the most peaceful Genealogist overly
tense. Fortunately, the CONTROL TEMPER TOGGLE is the ideal way to relieve
these stresses before they reach the point of hampering accurate data
entry. <CTRL> TEMPER initiates this important routine.
When you exit and re-enter THE FAMILY EDGE, the TEMPER TOGGLE will be
reset to its initial value so that it is always ready for use.
CONTROL VERIFY:
DOS, your computer's Disk Operating System, has a mind all its own. Even
though THE FAMILY EDGE instructs DOS to write the information for all
added records, all deleted records, and all edited records immediately to
disk, DOS only makes those writes when its own internal storage is
filled. With the <CTRL> VERIFY TOGGLE, THE FAMILY EDGE tricks DOS into
thinking it has had one meal too many, and after every disk write request
from THE FAMILY EDGE, DOS will immediately write the changes to disk.
Since this results in many more disk accesses and hence a somewhat slower
program operation (when editing data), THE FAMILY EDGE allows you to
TOGGLE this feature on and off at will.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.18
In addition, selecting <CTRL> VERIFY immediately triggers a full fresh
disk write of ALL currently open FAMILY EDGE files. Following the write
to disk, a window will display the current VERIFY TOGGLE value, either on
or off. Additional <CTRL> V keystrokes TOGGLE the value. Any other
keystroke will remove the window, leaving the VERIFY TOGGLE set to its
last value. As a result of the ability to directly control the
performance of DOS in this manner, THE FAMILY EDGE is able to have almost
100% fail-safe data write VERIFICATION. There is one IMPORTANT exception.
The History Note file for an individual is NOT affected by CONTROL
V)ERIFY. Exiting the Edit of a Person's record (and returning to the Main
MENU at the bottom of the Main Data Entry Screen) is the action that
triggers saving the active History Notes File. Then - AND ONLY THEN - the
History Notes are safe on disk. If you are using <CTRL> VERIFY to provide
extra safety (for example, because of a fluxuating power supply in your
area), be sure to Exit the Person Edit to save the History Notes on a
regular basis.
While the <CTRL> VERIFY window is on screen, the <CTRL> ACCESS TOGGLE is
also available. For details, see the description of the <CTRL> ACCESS
TOGGLE.
When you exit and re-enter THE FAMILY EDGE, the VERIFY TOGGLE will be set
to its most recent value.
CONTROLLING X-IT TO DOS:
THE FAMILY EDGE requires a minimum of 256K of RAM to operate. It is
configured to use another 30K-40K if extra memory is available. If you
have more than 300K of RAM, you can actually run other programs and DOS
commands without exiting THE FAMILY EDGE. The basic idea is fairly
simple. THE FAMILY EDGE, on command, will take additional system RAM
beyond the 300K level and use it run other programs, utilities, or DOS
commands. <CTRL> X-IT to DOS clears the screen and places the normal DOS
prompt at your fingertips. When you are finished, entering the command
EXIT at the DOS prompt instantly returns you to the exact point where you
left THE FAMILY EDGE. The only territory off bounds while eXecuting the
DOS Shell is THE FAMILY EDGE program and data files. Since they remain
open, they should not be tampered with.
The DOS Shell process itself is easy to visualize. You press <CTRL> X.
The screen clears, and THE FAMILY EDGE - without a word of protest -
quickly withdraws. While you attend to other matters, the program humbly
waits, quietly murmuring to itself, "I must be strong. I'm still needed.
I'm still wanted." Finally, after what seems an eternity, you enter the
command EXIT at the DOS prompt. And, hope springing anew, THE FAMILY EDGE
comes RUSHING through a proverbial meadow of RAM chips, shoving DOS
aside, files clutched to its pounding heart, tears of relief streaming
from its ... uh ... hmmmm ..... sorry, I guess I got a little carried
away. Anyway, that's how the DOS Shell works.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.19
CONTROL Z:
<CTRL> Z is just a substitute keystroke for the F-10 Completion Key.
There probably was a logical reason for it when THE FAMILY EDGE was
originally conceived, but now it is just a picturesque oddity in an
otherwise seamless User Interface. Someday, we will likely understand the
meaning behind Stonehenge. <CTRL> Z seems more doubtful.
OTHER SPECIAL KEYS USED BY THE FAMILY EDGE
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: OTHER SPECIAL KEYS:
THE FAMILY EDGE uses a number of special keystrokes to perform little
"housekeeping tasks" in its operations. You have already been introduced
to the <ALT> Left and Right Arrows - for altering the way NAMES are
indexed. In brief, the other SPECIAL KEYS work in these ways.
DITTO:
Using the single quote (') or the double quote ("), THE FAMILY EDGE
provides sophisticated routines to speed data entry without actually
typing the repetitive data into the field. THE FAMILY EDGE maintains a
complete set of entries for all the data entry fields, and allows the
insertion of that data with just a keystroke.
EVERY FIELD CAN BE DITTOED. The top portion of the Main Data Entry Form
maintains a listing of the more frequently used DITTO items. The left
side covers information for Birth, Christening, and Marriage, and other
Records pertaining to a Person's life. The right covers Death, Wills or
Estates, and Burials - the records pertaining to a Person's death.
Parents connections may be DITTOED - Spouses, Tombstone dates,
Occupation, Cemetery, Sex, Name - you name it. LDS data has its OWN set
of ditto info.
The DITTO value for each field covers the most recent data entry or edit -
FOR EACH FIELD - so an empty field on a form does not destroy the
available DITTO data. The stored data is arranged logically to freshen
its values in the most consistent possible fashion. As noted above, the
Main Screen ONLY displays the most frequently accessed values, but all
fields have a unique DITTO storage area. Each person using the program
will find a technique that maximizes their ability to use this DITTO
feature. But some specific tips are offered later in the TIPS AND
TECHNIQUES SECTION.
The SPOUSE DITTO and ORDER OF BIRTH DITTO operate in a slightly different
manner to maximize their function.
The Spouse DITTO storage area holds the record number of the most
recently edited Person, since you will frequently be adding the
record for a Person's Spouse immediately after editing that Person.
WHEW! Not an easy phrase to construct!
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.20
The ORDER OF BIRTH DITTO, which uses a number, holds the next larger
number from the one last entered, so DITTO here results in automatic
sequential numbering of the Children.
One additional special DITTO occurs in the Family Reports to Printer.
After selecting the Person to head the Report, if you select Spouse and
input the DITTO key, the first Spouse listed will be used to complete
that chart.
CLEARING AND UNDO:
A Data Entry Field may be cleared of data or refilled with that data with
a single <ESC> keystroke.
Since the DITTO feature allows you to enter a full field of information
with a keystroke, THE FAMILY EDGE also provides a way for you to CLEAR a
field just as easily. When the data in any field holds information that
you wish to clear completely, press <ESC> while in that field.
Since you may also CLEAR a field accidentally, this ESCAPE routine also
has an UNDO feature. Simply pressing ESCAPE again, BEFORE LEAVING THE
FIELD, will return the data to the field. Upon the leaving the field, the
UNDO storage space is cleared, so you MUST use UNDO before you leave the
field if you wish to retain the cleared data.
REDO:
After mistyping information into a Data Entry Field, that field may be
restored to it original value by using <CTRL> <ESC>. The REDO feature
allows you to remove any editing changes in the current field by holding
the <CTRL> key and pressing <ESC>. NOTE: You must use this keystroke
BEFORE moving the cursor from the Field - otherwise that capability is
lost.
NEXT COMPUTER ID NUMBER:
The next available Computer ID Number can be inserted into number entry
using the <ALT> = keystroke. When you plan to input the next available
Person Record Number, you have a keystroke to directly insert that number
into a number field - Alt =. Holding the <ALT> key and pressing the "="
symbol will retrieve the next unused Person Number. Additional input with
this key will continue to retrieve the SAME NUMBER UNTIL THAT PERSON
RECORD IS ACTUALLY USED.
PARENTS FROM LAST RECORD EDITED:
Since normal data entry frequently includes Adding a child immediately
after Adding or Editing one of that child's parents, THE FAMILY EDGE
includes a keystroke to facilitate Parent Linking in that circumstance.
<ALT> * in either the Father or Mother field of a Person's reocrd will
pull the appropriate linking number from the most recently Added/Edited
Person. The * above the number 8 in the keyboard's number row must be
used for this feature.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.21
If that other most recently Edited Person was a male, <ALT> * in the
Father field will insert that other Person's number in the Father field.
<ALT> * in the Mother field will insert that other Person's SPOUSE'S
number in the Mother field.
If that most other recently Edited Person was a female, <ALT> * in the
Mother field will insert that other Person's number in the Mother field.
<ALT> * in the Father field will insert that other Person's SPOUSE'S
number in the Father field.
After linking the first child in this fashion, all other children can be
easily linked using the Father and Mother DITTOS.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.22
THE ALTERNATE DATA ENTRY FORMS - <ALT> KEY COMBINATIONS
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: ALTERNATE DATA ENTRY FORMS:
In addition to the Main Data Entry Form, pop up "windows" are available
to enter and display more extensive data on each individual. The choices
for these ALTERNATE DATA ENTRY FORMS will be displayed at the bottom of
the Main Data Entry Form after you select Adding or Editing an
individual's data. These ALTERNATE DATA ENTRY FORMS are all reached by
holding down the <ALT> key and tapping the first letter of the type of
form. All of these ALTERNATE DATA ENTRY FORMS may be exited using the
standard F-10 COMPLETION key. More details on each of the ALTERNATE DATA
ENTRY FORMS are provided below.
BURIAL RECORDS
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: BURIAL RECORDS:
Selecting <ALT> Burial while editing a Person's Main Data Entry Form will
pop up a window displaying the Burial Records Entry Form. Burial Records
have space to store all Burial information, Cemetery Name and Location,
as well as complete Tombstone data, including the Name, Birth Date, and
Death Date from the Tombstone (these need not correspond to the data on
the Main Data Entry Form).
There is also space for the Inscription and any kind of Note, perhaps
about the location of the grave or even the appearance of the Tombstone.
The Note field would be an appropriate spot for the actual Burial Date,
in instances where you wish to record that information.
After a Cemetery has once been entered, subsequent records in the same
Cemetery will only require entry of the Cemetery Name to link the actual
Burial Records to that Cemetery.
Do not use the word Cemetery in the Cemetery Name. THE FAMILY EDGE will
add that information. Location DITTOS are prompted on the top RIGHT hand
side of the main screen.
EXTRA POWER FEATURES: BURIAL RECORDS:
When entering a Cemetery Name, you have a way to suppress the automatic
addition of the word Cemetery to the Name. The same <ALT> Left Arrow and
<ALT> Right Arrow keystrokes that produce the small double << and double
>> that control the alphabetical indexing in Person Name entry (SEE:
Entering Names) can also be used to surround a Cemetery Name, signalling
THE FAMILY EDGE to NOT append the word Cemetery to the name. WITHOUT
these symbols, "Salem Baptist Church" is printed as "Salem Baptist Church
Cemetery. WITH the symbols only "Salem Baptist Church" is printed.
It is not necessary to type the complete Cemetery Name to link to a
Burial Record to a Cemetery. THE FAMILY EDGE will display one at a time a
list of all Cemeteries starting with the letters you have typed, and you
may select the Cemetery from that list. It is important to keep Burial
Records
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.23
from the same Cemetery linked to the same Cemetery entry because future
versions of THE FAMILY EDGE will allow access by Cemetery and Location to
your stored Burial Records. The DITTO feature has direct access to the
Name, Birth Date, and Death Date on the Main Data Entry Form, if you wish
to use those dates on the Burial Records Entry Form.
If you type a Cemetery Name and then decide you don't want to add a
record after all, use <ESC> to clear the name and then F-10 to exit. If
you elect to edit the name of a Cemetery after that Cemetery has been
stored, you will be prompted twice to confirm the change, since many
Burial Records besides the one you are editing may be listed with this
Cemetery.
If you are recording several individuals who have Burial Records, you may
choose to TOGGLE the Burial Records Entry Form to pop up automatically.
Selecting <ALT> Burial after the Burial Records Entry Form is displayed
will pop up a status window displaying the current status of the form -
either manual or automatic. As with all TOGGLES, repeating the keystroke
(in this case <ALT> Burial) changes the TOGGLE value. Any other keystroke
leaves the TOGGLE set at the last value displayed. Automatic pop up
occurs immediately after the Death City field on the Main Data Entry
Form. While in the automatic mode, the form may still be popped up
manually at any time.
When you exit and re-enter THE FAMILY EDGE, the automatic pop up feature
of the Burial Records will be TOGGLED to its last value.
CHRISTENING RECORDS
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: CHRISTENING RECORDS:
Selecting <ALT> Christening while editing a Person's Main Data Entry Form
will pop up a window displaying the Christening Record Entry Form. You
may view, add, delete, or edit an individual's Christening Record on this
form. Location DITTOS are prompted on the top left hand side of the main
screen.
EXTRA POWER FEATURES: CHRISTENING RECORDS:
Besides popping up manually, the Christening Record Form may be TOGGLED
to pop up automatically, for situations where you are consecutively
entering a number of individuals each with Christening Records. Selecting
<ALT> Christening after the Christening Record Form is displayed will pop
up a status window displaying the current status of the Christening
Record Form - either manual or automatic. As with all TOGGLES, repeating
the keystroke (in this case <ALT> Christening) changes the TOGGLE value.
Any other keystroke leaves the TOGGLE set at the last value displayed.
Automatic pop up occurs immediately after the Birth City field on the
Main Data Entry Form. While in the automatic mode, the form may still be
popped up manually at any time.
When the Main Data Entry Form of an individual is displayed and that
individual has no Birth Date recorded, THE FAMILY EDGE checks to see if
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.24
there is a Christening Record on file. If so, the date from that record
is displayed in the birth date field and the field name automatically
changes to reflect the information. When editing this individual, the
field will automatically revert to the birth date.
As an additional on screen alert, the Extra Records Status Line will
display a "C" when there is a Christening Record on file for the current
individual.
When a Pedigree Chart is being printed and there is no Birth Date
recorded for any individual, THE FAMILY EDGE will print the Christening
Date and Location instead of the Birth Date and Location. The Family
Group Sheet and Extended Family Report will always print both the Birth
Date with Location and the Christening Date with Location when both of
these records are on file for a Person. If there is no Christening Record
on file, THE FAMILY EDGE does not print out a blank space for the
Christening Record.
When you exit and re-enter THE FAMILY EDGE, the automatic pop up feature
of the Christening Records will be TOGGLED to its last value.
HISTORY NOTES
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: HISTORY NOTES:
Selecting <ALT> History while editing the Main Data Entry Form will pop
up the History Notes window. The word processor used for this window
allows you to enter text information of any kind on each individual. You
may choose to print these History Notes at the end of any Family Group
Sheet or Extended Family Report on which the individual appears as
Husband or Wife - as well as on any Person's Individual Report. This
screen may be exited by pressing F-10.
EXTRA POWER FEATURES: HISTORY NOTES:
Besides normal text entry and cursor movement, the History Notes word
processor has the following additional features:
CURSOR MOVEMENT:
<ALT> <PgUp>/<PgDn> moves the cursor to the top/bottom of the
screen.
<CTRL> <PgUp>/<PgDn> moves the cursor to the top/bottom of the file.
<TAB>:
The <TAB> Key inserts spaces into the text line while in the insert
mode. Tab inserts a sufficient number of spaces to move the cursor
to the next 8 character column. In overwrite mode, the cursor is
moved to the <TAB> position without inserting any characters.
CUT AND PASTE:
The History Notes Word Processor supports CUT and PASTE operations
on blocks of text. After initiating a CUT with <ALT> CUT, use the Up
and Down Arrows to highlight the block of text to be removed or
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.25
repositioned. All CUT and PASTE operations are performed on full
lines of text, starting at the first column of a line. To PASTE,
position the cursor at the start of the line that is to receive the
PASTE. <ALT> PASTE will first display on screen the contents of the
PASTE BUFFER. Pressing <CR> will insert the PASTE, while <ESC> will
return to the History Notes without inserting the PASTE.
If you need to PASTE into the middle of a line, first split the line
with a <CR>. Then PASTE, and finally remove the <CR>. The PASTE
BUFFER, its memory storage area, retains its same contents until a
new CUT is made or THE FAMILY EDGE is exited. As a result, you can
carry the CUT to someone else's History Notes and PASTE it there as
well. One full screen is the maximum CUT size.
The PASTE BUFFER contents can also be sent to the Printer Output
using <CTRL> Output. You will be asked to confirm your choice, then
off it goes. This is a very handy way to "hot print" a section of
text. CUT it, re-PASTE it, then send it to the Printer Output.
<CTRL> SPLITTING THE SCREEN:
In another useful feature, you may <CTRL> SPLIT the SCREEN to
display any saved SCREEN SNAPSHOTS (SEE: The F-9 Screen Snapshots)
in the lower portion of the screen. PASTE operations from these
SNAPSHOTS to the HISTORY NOTES, using the same <ALT> CUT and <ALT>
PASTE keystroke combinations, are fully supported. SHIFT-<TAB> will
move the cursor to the SNAPSHOT area for scrolling the SNAPSHOT and
CUT and PASTE from the SNAPSHOT to the HISTORY NOTES. Remember: with
the History Notes, as with all other Alternate Data Entry/Display
Screens, all Function Key and Control Key features are available
even while editing.
MACROS:
The use of TEXT MACROS for single key data entry is supported in the
History Notes. The MACROS created in the HISTORY NOTES are available
to use throughout the program as well. SEE: <CTRL> MACRO in the
CONTROL TOGGLES section for Macro Entry and Recall.
CHANGES FLAG:
When editing History Notes, the individual's file remains open until
you exit the Main Data Entry Form. At that point, any changes in the
History Notes file will be written to disk. While in the History
Notes screen, a flashing alert will appear on the right end of the
top line if there have been editing changes to the History Notes. If
the data has changed, upon exiting the History Notes routine you
will be presented with the opportunity to cancel the changes. Simply
exiting at this point keeps the changes intact. However, since (as
noted above) the changes are not actually written to disk until the
Main Data Entry Form itself is exited, you may return to the History
Notes at any point before exiting the Main Data Entry Form and make
any further changes or cancel the changes already made.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.26
HISTORY NOTE FILES:
The History Note files themselves are stored in a separate disk
subdirectory named HISTORY. Each individual with History Notes on
file has a separate disk file named E####.DGE where #### represents
the Computer ID Number for the individual. For example, if Person
#728 had History Notes on file, they would be stored in a file named
E728.DGE in the HISTORY subdirectory of the active data directory.
The files produced by the History Notes word processor are pure
printable ASCII with no extra codes of any kind. THE FAMILY EDGE
uses the <CR> to signal the end of a paragraph. All data reformats
immediately as text is entered. Each line will end in either a space
or a <CR>. The trailing <CR> is indicated on screen by a solid
triangle pointing left. The trailing space is indicated by a dot
floating above the line. These symbols may be edited as normal
characters and are not written into the disk file.
The text file for the History Notes word processor is held
completely in memory. With 256K of memory, there is memory space for
approximately 20 screens of free form History Notes. With additional
memory, proportionally more space is available. When all available
memory is filled, a "No More Space" alert will appear on screen.
The Extra Records Status Line will display an "H" when there are
History Notes on file for the current individual.
IMMIGRATION RECORDS
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: IMMIGRATION RECORDS:
Selecting <ALT> Immigration while editing a Person's Main Data Entry Form
will pop up a window displaying the Immigration Record Entry Form. You
may view, add, delete, or edit an individual's Immigration Record on this
form. DITTOS for the destination locations are prompted on the top left
hand side of the main screen. For improved DITTO capabilities, there are
separate DITTO values held for From Country and From City fields that are
used exclusively by these two fields in this record.
In the Location Search routines, both the Location of origin AND the
destination Location are searchable.
The Extra Records Status Line will display an "I" when there is a
Immigration Record on file for the current individual.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.27
MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE RECORDS
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE RECORDS:
Selecting <ALT> Marriage while editing a Person's Main Data Entry Form
will pop up a window displaying the Marriage Entry Form. You may view,
edit, add, and delete complete Marriage information and Divorce
information for an unlimited number of Marriages/Divorces for each Person
on this form. Space is provided for two dates so that you may record for
a Marriage both the date of the bond and the date of the license return.
NOTE: You should use a completely separate entry for Divorce information.
Both spouses in a Marriage/Divorce have their marriage information
updated when a Marriage/Divorce is added, deleted, or edited. Location
DITTOS are prompted on the top left hand side of the main screen.
EXTRA POWER FEATURES: MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE RECORDS:
The Marriage Entry Form makes use of automatic defaults for some of its
fields. If you have entered both the sex information and a spouse number
on the Main Data Entry Form, the Marriage Entry Form will initially
retrieve for itself the appropriate numbers for the Husband and Spouse
fields. Pressing the <ENTER> key is all that is necessary to accept those
numbers.
On additional marriages after the first, the current individual's number
will be inserted in the appropriate Husband/Spouse field while the other
Husband/Spouse field will remain blank waiting for the new number.
The box surrounding the Marriage window displays the number of Marriage
and/or Divorce Records on file for the individual on screen. The Extra
Records Status Line will also display an "M" when there is at least one
Marriage/Divorce on file for this individual. In addition, if the lower
screen area of the Main Data Entry Form is TOGGLED to Marriages, as many
as five of the Marriage/ Divorce records will be displayed with the
individual on the Main Screen.
Besides popping up manually, the Marriage Entry Form may be TOGGLED to
pop up automatically, a very handy feature when you entering a number of
individuals with marriage records. Selecting <ALT> Marriage after the
Marriage Entry Form is displayed will pop up a status window displaying
the current status of the Marriage Entry Form - either manual or
automatic.
As with all TOGGLES, repeating the keystroke (in this case <ALT>
Marriages) changes the TOGGLE value. Any other keystroke leaves the
TOGGLE set at the last value displayed. This automatic pop up occurs
immediately after the Spouse # field on the Main Data Entry Form. While
in the automatic mode, this form may still be popped up manually at any
time.
When you exit and re-enter THE FAMILY EDGE, the automatic pop up of the
Marriage/Divorce Records will be TOGGLED to its last value.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.28
ORDER OF BIRTH
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: ORDER OF BIRTH:
Selecting <ALT> Order while editing a Person's Main Data Entry Form will
pop up a window displaying the Order of Birth. The order in which
children are displayed and printed on the Family Group Sheet and on the
Extended Family Report is determined by the Order of Birth entry. If
there is no Order listed, or if more than one child has the same Order
entered, the Computer ID Number will be used to make the final
determination.
EXTRA POWER FEATURES: ORDER OF BIRTH:
The Family Group Sheet and Extended Family Report will maintain correct
Order of Birth even when the Birth Dates are not known or inconsistent.
For example, if a single child is entered for a family and that child has
Order of Birth of four, three blank children slots will be printed on the
various Family forms before the fourth child is printed. On screen, the
Order of Birth is always displayed on the right side of the Extra Records
Status Line.
Besides popping up manually, the Order of Birth entry may be TOGGLED to
pop up automatically. Selecting <ALT> Order after the Entry Form is
displayed will pop up a status window displaying the current status of
the Order of Birth entry - either manual or automatic.
As with all TOGGLES, repeating the keystroke (in this case <ALT> Order)
changes the TOGGLE value. Any other keystroke leaves the TOGGLE set at
the last value displayed. Automatic pop up occurs immediately after the
Given Name field on the Main Data Entry Form. While in the automatic
mode, the form may still be popped up manually at any time.
When entered without an Order of Birth number, each Person in effect
starts out as the 63rd child. Huh? Well there is a reason for that. THE
FAMILY EDGE assigns the highest possible Order of Birth number to each
individual unless you indicate otherwise. The result is that without your
intervention, children are Ordered according to their Computer ID Number
(since, if two or more Order numbers match, the lower Computer ID Number
determines the listing order). If you wish to reorder the children (hmmm -
that sounds like something you would need a charge card for), you must
ORDER all the children, not just one. SEE: F-4 Family Group Sheet to
Screen for a technique for REORDERING an entire family at once.
As an added convenience, DITTO has an extra feature for use in entering
Order of Birth. The counter automatically advances to one more than the
last value entered. For example, if you have just entered an Order of
five, DITTO on the next Person will enter an Order of six.
When you exit and re-enter THE FAMILY EDGE, the automatic pop up of the
Order of Birth will be TOGGLED to its last value.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.29
ALTERNATE PARENTS
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: ALTERNATE PARENTS:
You may enter additional sets of parents other than the ones listed on
the Main Data Entry Form. This can be very useful for Adoptions, or cases
where you want stepchildren to appear on Family Group Sheets with a
family. Selecting <ALT> Parent while editing a Person's Main Data Entry
Form will pop up the window displaying the Alternate Parent Entry Form.
Entries on this form will result in a Person being listed as a child of
these Parents, in addition to the Parents on the Main Data Entry Form.
EXTRA POWER FEATURES: ALTERNATE PARENTS:
Stepchildren can be listed with multiple sets of parents. Information
from the Alternate Parents Form will be used on Family Group Sheets,
Extended Family Reports, and Descendant Charts - all the charts that
convey DESCENDANT relationships. The Pedigree and Ahnentafel Charts
present ANCESTOR relationships and hence do NOT display these extra
Parent links. The Names List displays only the primary Parent linkages.
SOURCE NOTES
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: SOURCE NOTES:
Selecting <ALT> Sources while editing a Person's Main Data Entry Form
will pop up a window displaying the Source Notes Entry Form. Sources may
be tagged to a specific part of a Person's record, as indicated on the
top of the form. These sources may be printed on the Family Group Sheet
and on the Extended Family Report in two different ways at your option.
This screen may be exited by pressing F-10.
EXTRA POWER FEATURES: SOURCE NOTES:
When printing the Family Group Sheet and the Extended Family Report, you
may choose the <CTRL> Family Forms option to determine where and if
Source Notes will be printed. You may choose to not print these notes.
Or, Source Notes for the Husband and Wife may be printed along with
History Notes at the end of these reports. Optionally, you may also
choose to print the Source Notes for the Husband and Wife and ALL
Children (and, in the case of the Extended Family Report, ALL
Grandchildren), with or without History Notes for the Husband and Wife.
In these third and fourth options, the Source Notes will be printed with
each individual's data before proceeding to the next individual. Printed
Source Notes will print a leader to specify which part of a Person's data
is supported by each Source.
The DITTO of a Source can be carried to other Persons - but a little
extra care is required if that other Person already has Source Notes. You
must use <PgDn> immediately to drop the bottom of the list - and hence
avoid replacing the Source DITTO with the value of the Sources along the
way. F-10 after such a DITTO will allow that same source to be carried to
other Persons as well. There is no direct way to simultaneously carry
MULTIPLE Sources to other Persons - but the MACRO routine would allow you
to carry several Source Notes to enter by Text MACROS. SEE: CONTROL
MACROS in the section on the CONTROL TOGGLES.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.30
TAGS
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: TAGS:
Selecting <ALT> Tags while editing a Person's Main Data Entry Form will
pop up a window displaying the Uncertainty Tags. The Father, Mother, and
Spouse of a Person may be tagged as uncertain, to display a question
about those links. A "?" will appear beside them on screen. Any entry in
this window will automatically be converted to a question mark. On the
Family Group Sheet and Extended Family Report, Uncertainty Tagged parents
will be indicated by question marks in front of the child's printed data.
WILL AND ESTATE RECORDS
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: WILL AND ESTATE RECORDS:
Selecting <ALT> Wills while editing a Person's Main Data Entry Form will
pop up a window displaying the Will/Estate Records Entry Form. Two
separate Date fields are provided so that a Will Record can contain both
a Will date and Probate date, thereby narrowing the Death Date to that
span. Location DITTOS are prompted on the top RIGHT hand side of the main
screen.
EXTRA POWER FEATURES: WILL AND ESTATE RECORDS:
When the Main Data Entry Form of an individual is displayed and that
individual has no Death Date recorded, THE FAMILY EDGE checks to see if
there is a Will/Estate Record on file. If so, the first date from that
record is displayed in the Death Date field and the field name
automatically changes to reflect the information. When editing this
individual, the field will automatically revert to the Death Date. In
addition, the Extra Records Status Line will display a "W/E" when there
is a Will/Estate Record on file for the current individual.
DIRECT ACCESS FROM THE MAIN MENU
You can move directly from the Main Edit/Next/Previous/Add/Delete/#/Quit MENU
into any of these pop up Alternate Data Entry Screens. For example, if you
want to see someone's Burial Record, <ALT> Burial directly from that MENU will
jump straight into the Burial Records window, without having to select EDIT
first. On leaving the window, you will return to the MENU line.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.31
ENTERING FOREIGN CHARACTERS
While you are entering data in an entry field, and you need to enter other
HIGH ORDER FOREIGN CHARACTERS, you can pop a chart of them onto the screen by
typing <ALT> Foreign. In other words, you hold down the <ALT> key and type an
F. Then use the <ALT> key with the NUMERIC KEYPAD to type the value for the
character. Hold the <ALT> key while you type the character number you desire
and release the <ALT> key. It is not necessary to pop up this chart. It is
only there as a convenience. Also, it is not necessary to do anything out of
the ordinary to get rid of the chart. It will disappear after you enter the
next character. The chart itself does not have any effect on your entry. It is
for display/prompting purposes only.
STATE ABBREVIATIONS
During data entry, <ALT> ABBREVIATIONS, available in the same circumstances as
<ALT> FOREIGN, will pop up a list of all US State abbreviations. This list
will be automatically removed from the screen with the next keystroke. Never
again will you have to wonder what the abbreviations for Nevada, Nebraska,
Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Mississippi are. PS: Tennessee is TN.
ENTERING AND DISPLAYING THE ORDINANCES FOR
THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF THE LATTER DAY SAINTS
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: LDS ORDINANCES:
Unlike all the other Alternate Data Entry Forms, the Data Entry Form for
the LDS ORDINANCES is accessed by using the CONTROL SCREEN TOGGLE to
switch the lower part of the Main Data Entry Form to show the LDS
ORDINANCES (SEE: THE CONTROL TOGGLES - CONTROLLING THE SCREEN). Pressing
<CTRL> S - BEFORE entering the EDIT MODE - will switch the display to its
various formats. TO ENTER OR EDIT LDS DATA, THIS TOGGLE MUST BE SET PRIOR
TO SELECTING EDIT or ADD.
EXTRA POWER FEATURES: LDS ORDINANCES:
After Toggling the Lower Screen Display Area, LDS Ordinance data can be
entered as on any other form - but in this case the form just becomes an
extension of the Main Data Entry Form. The <PgDn> key will make a stop at
the first line of the LDS data entry. <PgDn> again will take you to the
bottom of the form. Similarly <PgUp> will stop on the first line of the
LDS data before moving to the top of the Main Data Entry Form.
Space is provided for entry of the four principal Ordinances of the
Mormon Church, with 3 spaces for a Temple Code and the normal 23 spaces
for a date in THE FAMILY EDGE. As with all dates, ANYTHING can be
entered, even pure text, so any of the LDS-specific descriptive labels
are available.
The Ordinance information will be printed on the Shift Family Group
Sheet, the Extended Family Report, and on the Individual Report. Only
Persons who actually have LDS Ordinance Data on file will have this space
printed - blank lines will not be printed on these three Reports.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.32
Once you are actually Editing the Main Data Entry Form, you must exit the
form BEFORE resetting the SCREEN TOGGLE to any other value.
If you exit THE FAMILY EDGE with the SCREEN TOGGLE set to enter and
display the LDS Ordinance data, that same setting will be effect when you
next return to THE FAMILY EDGE.
RESEARCHER INPUT
There is one additional data input item that has not yet been discussed -
Researcher information. The first MENU, for the Status Screen, has a choice
designated Researcher. Selecting Researcher allows you to enter three lines of
information that will placed on the first page of all printed Charts and
Reports. Most family researchers will want to use this space to print their
name and address and possibly telephone number, although the space can be used
for more generalized information, such as the name of a local Historical
Society.
By utilizing the Researcher input, you will be assured that all of your charts
which find their way into other researchers' files will always contain a
contact reference to you.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.33
FUNCTION KEY COMBINATIONS
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: FUNCTION KEY COMBINATIONS:
Using the Function Keys, THE FAMILY EDGE not only accesses a number of
additional features but also produces six different types of on-screen
charts and eight different types of printed charts from the information
you have entered. The printed charts may all be created with a variety of
printers on standard 8 1/2 X 11 paper. Since the data on each chart is
not stored but rather extracted by the computer while the chart is being
printed, all charts will contain the most current possible information.
In each case, the printed charts will contain additional information not
feasible to display in an on-screen chart. A list of these various
features and charts can be popped up by pressing the F-1 Help Key.
Function Key Combinations and their features or charts are:
F-1 - HELP SCREENS
SHIFT F-1 - DIRECT TYPE TO PRINTER OUTPUT
<ALT> F-1 - SCRATCH PAD TO SCREEN
F-2 - NAMES LIST TO SCREEN
SHIFT F-2 - NAMES LIST TO PRINTER
F-3 - PEDIGREE CHART TO SCREEN
SHIFT F-3 - PEDIGREE CHART TO PRINTER
F-4 - FAMILY GROUP SHEET TO SCREEN
SHIFT F-4 - FAMILY GROUP SHEET TO PRINTER
<ALT> F-4 - EXTENDED FAMILY REPORT TO PRINTER
F-5 - AHNENTAFEL CHART TO SCREEN
SHIFT F-5 - AHNENTAFEL CHART TO PRINTER
<ALT> F-5 - EXTENDED FAMILY REPORT TO PRINTER
F-6 - DESCENDANT CHART TO SCREEN
SHIFT F-6 - DESCENDANT CHART TO PRINTER
F-7 - ALTERNATE INDIVIDUAL TO SCREEN
SHIFT F-7 - INDIVIDUAL REPORT TO PRINTER
<ALT> F-7 - BLOOD RELATIONSHIP CHART TO SCREEN
F-8 - Reserved for future development
F-9 - SCREEN SNAPSHOTS
SHIFT F-9 - INTELLIGENT PRINT SCREEN
<ALT> F-9 - SAVE SCREEN TO DISK
CTRL> F-9 - INTELLIGENT SAVE SCREEN TO DISK
F-10 - UNIVERSAL COMPLETION KEY
All chart display/printing routines are accessed through Function Key
combinations and are always available (one at a time) in addition to the
MENU and editing choices. They pop up as alternate windows and screens
without disturbing the current work in progress. For example, these
charts can be accessed even while entering a Marriage Record or Source
information. The function keys themselves follow these GENERAL rules:
1) The FUNCTION KEY itself triggers the primary screen function.
2) SHIFT FUNCTION KEY shifts its feature to the printer.
3) <ALT> and <CTRL> FUNCTION KEYS do a different version of the
primary routines.
Since each FUNCTION KEY feature is available one at a time, and you must
QUIT that feature before entering another FUNCTION KEY feature. However,
if you are at the initial MENU of any FUCNTION KEY screen, you can select
a new FUNCTION KEY feature directly, bypassing QUIT.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.34
On screen, the Charts provide a quick reference to the data anywhere in
the entire FAMILY EDGE database, whether or not that data is connected to
the Person currently being edited. As a result they provide powerful on-
line access to the main body of the database, while maintaining entry
access to the research on a individual. When you return to a Function Key
routine, the last information shown on the screen is still waiting.
On paper, these Charts provide clear and concise summations of a large
range of family members to provide the organization necessary to pinpoint
further research possibilities. The printed Charts may also be sent
straight to disk files using the <CTRL> Printer option, and the on-screen
charts may be printed themselves or sent to disk (SEE: The F-9 Function
Key combos). Once on disk, these Charts can be merged directly with the
vast majority of word processors, to customize their format even further
and to integrate their structure with free form text.
If you have entered Researcher information by selecting Researcher at the
Status Screen MENU, a name and address will be included on page one of
the Printer Charts at print time.
______________________________________________________________________________
F-1 - HELP SCREENS
The HELP SCREENS display all the Function Key, Control Key, and Alternate
Key assignments, as well as information on other features of THE FAMILY
EDGE. Since you may want HELP at any point, the HELP KEY continues to
operate even when you are in another Function Key routine. The various
key operations detailed on the HELP SCREENS can be selected DIRECTLY
FROM THE SCREENS, just by pressing the appropriate key combinations
listed. There are six full screens of information available.
When you leave and re-enter the HELP SCREENS, the las HELP SCREEN
accessed will be displayed.
______________________________________________________________________________
SHIFT F-1 - DIRECT TYPING TO THE PRINTER OUTPUT
Pressing the SHIFT F-1 Key pops a window onto the screen allowing you to
type lines straight to the Printer Output destination - either the
Printer or a disk file. Besides normal keyboard characters, you can also
send a Form Feed to the Printer Output by holding down the <ALT> key,
typing the Form Feed number (12) on the Numeric Keypad, and then
releasing the <ALT> key.
You must press <ENTER> at the end of each line to print that line. F-10
closes the window WITHOUT printing the line. If the Printer Output is
TOGGLED to Background Printing, printing will begin when you close the
window.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.35
______________________________________________________________________________
<ALT> F-1 - SCRATCH PAD
The <ALT> F-1 key pops up a general purpose SCRATCH PAD for any kinds of
notes that are not to be stored with some individual. When exiting the
program, if you choose to save the SCRATCH PAD, the contents of this
screen (if any) will be written to a current dated disk file with the
extension .TXT (for text) and stored in the active data directory. Think
of it as your own personal FAMILY EDGE SideKick. SideKick is a registered
trademark of the Borland Corporation (and probably King Kong Bundy as
well).
The SCRATCH PAD can be a handy place to jot a phone number to call, or a
list of things you want to do during this or a later session, or an
interesting research idea. Each line on the screen is separate from each
other line, so you have space to make a whole list of notes to yourself.
The basic idea of the SCRATCH PAD is to give you as many of the operating
tools as possible from within THE FAMILY EDGE so that you can concentrate
on the work at hand. If you need a paper copy of the notes, just do a
Print Screen or Intelligent Print Screen, and you are on your way.
Each directory of FAMILY EDGE data files has a SCRATCH PAD associated
with it. When you exit and re-enter THE FAMILY EDGE, the SCRATCH PAD will
reload its data.
______________________________________________________________________________
F-2 COMBINATIONS - NAMES LISTS
The NAMES LIST allows you to select individuals or groups of individuals
whose vital data you wish to display or print. You may display/print
Persons one at a time, or you may group Persons alphabetically by Name,
or by sequential Computer ID Number, or by common Partial Name, or by
shared Locations, or by Soundex Code. Lists can contain multiple
groupings, or even a complete listing of the entire file.
In alphabetical listings, THE FAMILY EDGE does not require that you match
a name in the database to get started, rather it uses your entry to find
a starting point. If it finds a match, it will present all the matches.
Otherwise, THE FAMILY EDGE will draw a double line and ask is you wish to
continue. It now has that starting point, and if you continue, it will
roll through the entire database, a screen at a time, displaying and
printing its heart out. Literally.
These Lists can be viewed on screen, ECHOED to the Printer Output (SEE:
The <CTRL> ECHO TOGGLE), or Printed in either an Index format or long
form (SEE: The <CTRL> INDEX TOGGLE). If you attempt to view or print a
User Defined List (Partial Names or Locations) before actually creating
such a list, THE FAMILY EDGE will just beep and bypass the request.
All the Lists can be thought of as circular - that is, when the List is
completed, it can be started from the top again by continuing to scan the
List.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.36
F-2 - NAMES LIST TO SCREEN
For each Person chosen, the screen will display on a single line that
Persons's Computer ID Number, Name, Birth Date, Death Date, and Father,
Mother, and Spouse ID Numbers. At the end of each full screen of NAMES,
THE FAMILY EDGE will pause until you press a key for more NAMES.
To ECHO a copy of the List to the Printer Output, use the <CTRL> ECHO
TOGGLE. When ECHO TO PRINTER Output, scrolling is continuous.
SHIFT F-2 - NAMES LIST TO PRINTER
The printed version of the Names List will present the data entered for
the NAME, Computer ID Number, Soundex Code, Birth Date and Location,
Marriages and Locations, Death Date and Location, Cemetery Name,
Occupation, Child Order, NAMES and ID Numbers of the Parents, and
personal Note. This information is printed in a reverse indented format
for clarity, 12 characters per inch.
If the <CTRL> Index Toggle is set to ON, the Names List to Printer will
print Name, ID, and Birth and Death information only.
______________________________________________________________________________
F-3 COMBINATIONS - PEDIGREE CHARTS
The PEDIGREE CHART allows you to display in a structured tree format
information on several generations of ancestors for an individual. The
physical location of a Person on this chart is used to determine his
relationship to the other Persons on the chart.
F-3 - PEDIGREE CHART TO SCREEN
The PEDIGREE CHART to screen allows the production of a quick 4
generation outline of a Persons's ancestry. Screen size allows for 26
characters of space for names as well as compressed birth/death date
information. The on-screen Pedigree Chart is a very useful way to get a
quick sense of where a Person fits into a family lineage. Birth and Death
Dates are separated by the caret symbol (^) so that Date Formats using
dashes will not be confusing.
With the F-3 PEDIGREE CHART TO SCREEN, you can work your way through the
generations, using the Up Arrow to move a Person's Father to the head of
the Chart, the Down Arrow to move a Person's Mother to the head of the
Chart, the Left Arrow to return one generation at a time, or the Home key
to return to the Person for whom the Chart was originally created. This
nagivation path remains intact, even when you leave the screen.
THE FAMILY EDGE will append a "+" to Persons in the oldest generation on
screen if additional generations are on file for that line.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.37
SHIFT F-3 - PEDIGREE CHART TO PRINTER
The PEDIGREE CHART to printer produces a complete 5 generation ancestry
for an individual with all vital data including the Burial location even
for the fifth generation. The first and second generations in this
standard chart format are "folded" into the third generation to provide
the maximum size for each of the fields. This chart prints Name and
Computer ID Number, Birth Date and Location, Marriage Date and Location
(for the male), Death Date and Location, and Cemetery Name. If there is
no Birth Date available for an individual, THE FAMILY EDGE will check for
a Christening Record and if one is stored, print its information instead.
Besides the Computer ID Number, each position on the Pedigree Chart is
also identified with an Ahnentafel Number (SEE : Ahnentafel Numbering).
The PEDIGREE CHART prints in compressed print - 17 characters per inch.
THE FAMILY EDGE will append a "+" to Persons in the fifth generation if
additional generations are on file for that line.
______________________________________________________________________________
F-4 COMBINATIONS - FAMILY GROUPS
A FAMILY GROUP SHEET consolidates the information about one central
family group into a semi-structured form. The Screen chart will focus
more on the first individual heading the chart, while the two Printer
charts will focus equally on BOTH individuals heading the chart.
F-4 - FAMILY GROUP SHEET TO SCREEN
On the screen, the FAMILY GROUP SHEET displays all marriage and spouse
records and all children for the individual selected, including for the
children their Computer ID Numbers, Birth and Death Dates, Computer ID
Numbers of the children's primary spouses, and the Computer ID Numbers of
the children's other parent. If the individual selected had multiple
families, the children are grouped into those families.
An additional choice that appears after displaying a FAMILY GROUP SHEET
is the REORDER CHILDREN option. You can make changes in the Child Order
information for any of the children while viewing the entire family. The
result is identical to what would occur if you entered the Child Order
for any of those Persons on their Main Data Entry Screen.
At any point after displaying a FAMILY GROUP SHEET, you have the option
of moving through an complete ancestral tree of FAMILY GROUP SHEETS. The
Left, Right, and Down Arrows, and the <END> Key provide the navigation
tools. As an example, if your own FAMILY GROUP SHEET is displayed, the
Left Arrow takes you to the FAMILY GROUP SHEET for your Father, while the
Right Arrow takes you to the FAMILY GROUP SHEET for your Mother. And YOU
will be highlighted in the list of children.
Are the charts for your Father and Mother the same chart? Not quite. Even
if your parents only had the one marriage to each other, the next level
of navigation will depend on whose chart you selected. If you selected
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.38
your Father, you will be able to move to HIS Father or Mother with HIM as
the highlighted child. If, on the other hand, you had selected your
Mother, you would be able to move to HER Father or Mother with HER as the
highlighted child.
Up to 23 generations of FAMILY GROUP SHEETS can be navigated in this
fashion. Want to climb back down the tree? The Down Arrow brings you down
one branch at a time along the same path. The <END> Key brings you back
immediately to the bottom of the list.
SHIFT F-4 - FAMILY GROUP SHEET TO PRINTER
The FAMILY GROUP SHEET to printer compiles into one chart the full data
on one family unit of Parents and Children, plus the names and vital data
for all four Grandparents, plus the names of all eight Great
Grandparents. Since this chart has some structural freedom, full data is
printed with no shortening of any Names or Locations. The FAMILY GROUP
SHEET is a chart central to the organization of data in any Genealogy
Program. THE FAMILY EDGE is unusually complete, listing all marriages for
both the Parents and the Children, even the Birth Date and Death Date for
the primary spouses of the Children. The inclusion of the extra vital
data on the Grandparents and the names of all eight Great Grandparents is
a feature unique to THE FAMILY EDGE, and further enhances this chart's
ability to trace a family.
<ALT> F-4 - EXTENDED FAMILY REPORT TO PRINTER:
One of the most valuable charts produced by THE FAMILY EDGE is also a
chart produced ONLY by THE FAMILY EDGE and is a completely new
genealogical form - the EXTENDED FAMILY REPORT. This extensive five
generation overview of a family bridges the gap between a PEDIGREE CHART
and a FAMILY GROUP SHEET by including, along with the full information on
the children, COMPLETE INFORMATION ON ALL GRANDCHILDREN OF THAT HUSBAND
AND WIFE. Finally, there is an easy way to follow the movement and flow
of a family across several generations - the new EXTENDED FAMILY REPORT.
Using the EXTENDED FAMILY REPORT, it is possible to readily grasp the
overall family position of a couple, even when there is a double
descendency from that couple into later generations. Since movement into
new areas by family units and extended family units was the norm in
migration patterns, the mapping of these extended family movements is
greatly clarified.
SHIFT & <ALT> F-4 - FAMILY GROUPS TO PRINTER:
For both the Shift F-4 and the <ALT> F-4, some special uses of the DITTO
are available. After selecting the Person to head a FAMILY GROUP, you are
prompted to select a Spouse for that Person. Entering the DITTO key will
insert the FIRST Spouse displayed in the list of Spouses on the screen.
You can manually enter any Spouse for this chart - but the DITTO key will
automatically select the first Spouse on the list. NOTE: It is not
necessary to head a FAMILY GROUP with the Husband. THE FAMILY EDGE is
perfectly content to print the Wife first, if she is the first Person
selected.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.39
With both the FAMILY GROUP SHEET and the EXTENDED FAMILY REPORT, you have
the option, using <CTRL> Family Forms, to select these FAMILY CHARTS to
be printed with:
1) No History or Source Notes;
2) History and Source Notes for only the Husband and Wife (printed
at the end of the chart);
3) Source Notes only for ALL family members (printed WITH that
individual's data before continuing to the next individual);
4) Source Notes for ALL family members (printed WITH that
individual's data before continuing to the next individual) plus
History Notes for the Husband and Wife;
You may also opt to print a blank Family Group Sheet - a blank first page
or a blank second (or continuation) page. Like all Printer Output in THE
FAMILY EDGE, these blank charts can be directed to disk for further
customizing.
Both the FAMILY GROUP SHEET and the EXTENDED FAMILY REPORT print in 12
characters per inch. At any point the printing of these charts can be
temporarily interrupted by pressing any key, and then either resumed or
cancelled with the touch of a key.
______________________________________________________________________________
F-5 COMBINATIONS - AHNENTAFEL CHARTS:
The AHNENTAFEL CHART is in essence a free form multi-generational
compressed PEDIGREE CHART. What that simply means is that the complete
ancestry of an individual is presented as a modified chart, and each
ancestor for an individual is numbered in a unique way to pinpoint
his/her position in the ancestry of that individual. SEE : AHNENTAFEL
NUMBERING for further details on this numbering system.
AHNENTAFEL CHARTS in THE FAMILY EDGE can link and display a maximum of 23
generations. The beauty of an AHNENTAFEL CHART is its ability, unlike the
PEDIGREE CHART, to use print space ONLY for those individuals whose data
is actually in the database. Hence, it is actually possible to have a 23
generation chart with only 23 individuals, printed on a single page. The
AHNENTAFEL NUMBERING system allows this flexibility without losing track
of where the individuals fit into the chart.
The Generations Toggle can be used to limit the maximum number of
Generations printed or displayed for any given AHNENTAFEL CHART.
F-5 - AHNENTAFEL CHART TO SCREEN:
On the screen, the Ahnentafel Chart displays on one line the Ahnentafel
Number, Computer ID Number, Name, Birth Date, and Death Date for an
individual. An extra line with the Generation Number separates
generations from each other. THE FAMILY EDGE displays one full screen at
a time of the Ahnentafel Chart, pausing until another key is pressed. The
display of the Ahnentafel Chart can be halted at any point to leave that
current information displayed on the Ahnentafel Chart for further review.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.40
SHIFT F-5 - AHNENTAFEL CHART TO PRINTER:
The AHNENTAFEL CHART really comes into its own when sent to the printer.
The AHNENTAFEL CHART to printer includes all of the screen data, plus
Birth and Death Locations, Occupation, and Cemetery. Since, like the
Family Charts, this chart is semi-structured, no shortening of data is
required, and all information is printed in full. As with the screen
AHNENTAFEL CHART, generations are separated by a line carrying the
Generation Number.
While an AHNENTAFEL CHART is being sent to the printer, each Person is
simultaneously displayed on screen to keep track of the progress. At any
point the production of the chart can be temporarily interrupted, and
then either resumed or cancelled with the touch of a key. Since THE
FAMILY EDGE itself has no limits to the number of generations that can
actually be linked, in cases where a family has more than 23 generations
of data entered, additional charts may be generated for individuals in
the 24th (or any other) generation to complete the charting. The
AHNENTAFEL CHART prints in 12 characters per inch for maximum legibility.
To keep track of the individual relationships on an AHNENTAFEL CHART, a
system of AHNENTAFEL NUMBERS is used.
<ALT> F-5 SINGLE SURNAME AHNENTAFEL TO PRINTER
Another chart in the growing list of FAMILY EDGE Charts is the SINGLE
SURNAME AHNENTAFEL. Starting with any Person, you can trace the male
ancestral line, normally a SINGLE SURNAME, to a maximum of 23
Generations. This maximum number of Generations can be CONTROLLED with
the GENERATION TOGGLE. Sorry ladies - no offense intended - names just
work that way.
AHNENTAFEL NUMBERING:
The key element determining where an individual fits into the ancestry on
an AHNENTAFEL CHART is the AHNENTAFEL NUMBERING SYSTEM. In this system,
there are exactly three rules:
1) The Person for whom the chart is created has an AHNENTAFEL
NUMBER of 1.
2) The AHNENTAFEL NUMBER for any Person's Father is double his/her
own number.
3) The AHNENTAFEL NUMBER for any Person's Mother is double his/her
own number, plus one.
Before that gets complicated, let's do a simple example with your own
chart. On your own AHNENTAFEL CHART, you would be #1, since anyone at the
head of an AHNENTAFEL CHART has the AHNENTAFEL NUMBER of #1. Your Father
would have double your number, in other words #2. Your Mother would have
double your number plus 1, in other words #3.
To carry this example one step further, since your Father was #2, HIS
Father (your Paternal Grandfather) would be double him, or #4. Likewise
for your Father (#2), his MOTHER (your Paternal Grandmother) would be
double him plus 1, in other words #5. Then since your Mother was #3, her
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.41
Father would be double her, or #6, and her Mother would be double her
plus 1, or #7. Each subsequent generation would use exactly the same
pattern, over and over again. You will notice as a result of this system,
all individuals in all generations are logically and sequentially
numbered from 1 to Adam.
By using this type of numbering, the AHNENTAFEL CHART can list much more
information in a smaller amount of space than a series of PEDIGREE
CHARTS. As noted previously, with THE FAMILY EDGE, AHNENTAFEL CHARTS may
be produced running to 23 generations, or approximately 700 to 900 years
of an ancestry.
Sooner or later, you will want to examine the flip side of the coin - how
to tell WHO'S WHO on a chart from their AHNENTAFEL NUMBER. That is just
as easy (or just as HARD, depending on how you found the previous
discussion). I'll assume you can figure all of this out if the main
number is actually 1 (if not, SEE: Brooklyn Bridge, jumping off the -
page 1783). Let's look at all other cases. Remember, we are talking about
AHNENTAFEL NUMBERS, not the unique Computer ID Numbers that the computer
uses to keep track of its pages.
For this discussion, let's try Person number 5283.
The number is odd. Thus this Person is a female. With the sole exception
of #1, all odd numbers are females (no offense, ladies - I just use the
numbers, not make them up). This Lady Number 5283 would be the spouse of
#5282 (male). And the two of them would be parents of the Person with
number 1/2 of that #5282 - she would be #2641 (another woman). HER
spouse? Why #2640, of course, and they are the proud parents of that man
among men, Mister #1320 who incidentally had as HIS spouse the ever
lovely Miss #1321. And THIS chain just repeats itself. You can easily
work the entire line back to #1.
______________________________________________________________________________
F-6 COMBINATIONS - DESCENDANT CHARTS
The DESCENDANT CHART takes one individual for the head of the chart and
then lists in a logical order all DESCENDANTS of that Person. Also listed
are the Spouses who in each case are the other Parent of each of these
DESCENDANTS. Where the PEDIGREE and AHNENTAFEL CHARTS list all the blood
lines culminating IN one Person, a DESCENDANT CHART lists ONE blood line
emanating FROM one Person and then ties this Person in an indented chart
form to each of the DESCENDANTS. For clarity, each generation is
numbered, and each Spouse is noted as such.
You will also wish to note that, with Spouses, ONLY those Spouses who are
the other Parent of a chart Descendant will be listed on this chart.
Although these Spouses are technically NOT Descendants, their names are
included when they are the parent of a Descendant.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.42
F-6 - DESCENDANT CHART: TO SCREEN:
Because of the limited screen space available in doing an indented chart,
only the Names and Generation Numbers of the DESCENDANTS are displayed on
the screen. The DESCENDANT CHART is displayed one screen at a time,
pausing between screens until a key is pressed. The chart may be
cancelled at any point with the data left on the screen for later review.
SHIFT F-6 - DESCENDANT CHART: TO PRINTER:
The DESCENDANT CHART lists the Name, Computer ID Number, Birth, and Death
Dates of each descendant of a selected individual. The full descendency
to 23 generations is printed in an indented chart form to allow easy
tracing of the descendency line to each individual. While the chart is
printing, the screen will simultaneously list the descendant being
printed. As with the AHNENTAFEL CHART, since 65,000 individuals could
conceivably be printed, this print routine may be temporarily interrupted
by pressing a key. At that point the routine may be allowed to continue,
or the routine may be cancelled.
All descendents of each individual on the chart are printed before the
chart continues to the next individual. As the chart dips toward the 23
generation, if there is insufficient space for the Birth and Death Dates,
the entry will print only the name in the available space. Since the
DESCENDANT CHART, like the PEDIGREE CHART, is printed in 132 column
print, 17 characters per inch, even generation 23 will have 54 characters
worth of printing space to print as much data as possible.
Using the Generation Toggle, the maximum number of Generations of
Descendency printed on the DESCENDANT CHART can be adjusted to pinpoint a
particular range of Descendants.
______________________________________________________________________________
F-7 - ALTERNATE INDIVIDUAL TO SCREEN
The F-7 Function Key allows you to view the Main Data Entry Form of
anyone in the database, even while you are Editing someone else.
SHIFT F-7 - INDIVIDUAL REPORT TO PRINTER
With the INDIVIDUAL REPORT, every single item of information you have
entered for a given Person can be printed in one neat chart. This will be
VERY handy for your research trips. Every note, every inscription, every
line of data is extracted. Also remember that the LINES TOGGLE addition
will allow you, if you choose, to leave extra space on the pages for
additional notes.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.43
______________________________________________________________________________
<ALT> F-7 - BLOOD RELATIONSHIP TO SCREEN:
The BLOOD RELATIONSHIP CHART allows you determine all Blood Relationships
between any two individuals in the entire database. Since two individuals
may have multiple ancestors in common, there is frequently a number of
different relationships between two Persons, many repetitive. THE FAMILY
EDGE prints to screen a maximum listing of the first 19 of these unique
relationships.
For example, my Mother and I have the following relationships (folks, we
are SERIOUS here):
1) MOTHER
2) SECOND COUSIN TWICE REMOVED
3) THIRD COUSIN
4) FOURTH COUSIN TWICE REMOVED
5) FIFTH COUSIN
6) FIFTH COUSIN ONCE REMOVED
Aha!! That's why I'm so craaaaaazy!!!
______________________________________________________________________________
F-8 COMBINATIONS - ROOM TO GROW
All of the possible F-8 Key Combinations are reserved for features to be
added into upcoming versions of THE FAMILY EDGE. Watch this space for new
developments!!
______________________________________________________________________________
F-9 COMBINATIONS
The F-9 Function Key combos are all involved with saving and printing the
actual data on the current screen in a variety of ways. These are the
SUPER KEYS in that they have the access to do their saving and printing
no matter what other routines are active.
F-9 SCREEN SNAPSHOTS:
One of the more unusual and interesting features of THE FAMILY EDGE is
the SCREEN SNAPSHOTS. At any point in the program, you may choose to
literally take a SNAPSHOT of the current screen and store it on disk. The
number of SNAPSHOTS you can take is limited only by the amount of storage
space on the disk drive. Also at any point in the program, you can
display these SNAPSHOTS one after the other, just as you would so many
note cards. In fact, that is the purpose of the SNAPSHOT SCREENS routine -
to provide you with on-line note cards to pull out of your files. Use
them as quick references to any part of the program. SNAPSHOT the main
entry forms for an entire family, and be able to fan through them at the
push of a key. The possibilities are endless.
You will be presented with a MENU when you first press the F-9. Note the
choices on the MENU. From there on, all of the screen remains clear for
saving or viewing the data. The MENU is still in effect, but the choices
will not be listed. A flashing SNAPSHOT reminder in the upper left hand
corner of the screen reminds you that you are viewing a SNAPSHOT.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.44
One particularly attractive technique is using the Screen Snapshots in
conjunction with the History Notes. While editing History Notes, it is
very simple to split the screen in half and view the Snapshots in the
lower half while editing the History Notes in the upper half. Cut and
Paste from the Snapshots into the History Notes is fully supported (SEE:
The Alternate Data Entry Forms - History Notes).
SHIFT F-9 INTELLIGENT PRINT SCREEN:
If your printer does not print the so-called high order characters -
those that display Foreign Characters and the block graphics characters,
you will likely find that the normal Print Screen for your computer
produces a strange printout. The INTELLIGENT PRINT SCREEN converts those
graphics characters to logical standard printable characters so that you
can still have PRINT SCREEN flexibility.
<ALT> F-9 SAVE SCREEN TO DISK:
The SAVE SCREEN TO DISK sends a copy of the current screen to a current-
dated disk file with the extension .TXT (the Scratch Pad can be saved to
this same file). This saved copy can then be used directly by most word
processors in text files you may be editing. This screen will have the
Foreign Characters, and graphics characters intact on disk. If conversion
is required, you need the INTELLIGENT SAVE SCREEN TO DISK.
<CTRL> F-9 INTELLIGENT SAVE SCREEN TO DISK:
The INTELLIGENT SAVE SCREEN TO DISK sends a copy of the current screen to
the currently dated disk file as above - and simultaneously converts any
high order characters to a logical printable character. This routine is
only necessary if your word processor - printer combination cannot handle
the high order characters.
______________________________________________________________________________
F-10 COMPLETION KEY
THE FAMILY EDGE answer to ending it all - and still living through the
process - is the COMPLETION KEY. F-10 will jump to the finish of any
Edit/Display routine or if at a MENU, act just like Quit. For example, in
editing a record, if you are in the last field of the record (for
example, the Note field of Person entry), <ENTER> will complete the edit
and store the record. However, F-10 will complete and store no matter
WHICH field you are in. The COMPLETION KEY also completes any pop up
routine. In addition to the F-10 key, the )Z (hold the <CTRL> key and
press Z) provides an alternative keystroke that is available in exactly
the same way with exactly the same results.
The F-10 Function Key is the universal GET-ME-OUT-OF-HERE KEY. Nothing
stops this baby. At ANY MENU or ANY data entry field, the F-10 will
complete what you are doing and back you out, one level at a time. The
ONLY place it cannot be used is in the final exit of the program. At that
point, you have to choose Quit from the MENU to exit THE FAMILY EDGE.
And that says it all!
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.45
MOVING THROUGH THE RECORDS
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: MOVING THROUGH THE RECORDS:
Besides the OBVIOUS ways, there are a LOT of easy ways to get from here
to there - all of them require some more extensive explanation. When you
tire of the obvious ways, come on back and read about the not so obvious
ones.
EXTRA POWER FEATURES: MOVING THROUGH THE RECORDS:
A very simple to use but VERY flexible group of procedures. You may
BROWSE forward and backward smoothly from record to record, or you may
JUMP through the records. If you BROWSE smoothly, there are four ways to
go about it. If you want to JUMP around, there are a dozen.
SMOOTHLY:
If before BROWSING, you FIND your starting point in the database by
Person Number, then Next (or <PgDn>) and Previous (or <PgUp>) will give
you the next and previous Persons by Computer ID Number. If on the other
hand you FIND your starting point by Name, these same keys will give you
the next and previous Persons on the Alphabetical Index. Likewise FINDING
by a Partial Name results in BROWSING by Partial Name, FINDING by
Location results in BROWSING by Location, FINDING by Code Results in
BROWSING by Soundex Code. Your BROWSING mode is automatically set
according to how you found a Person.
However, sometimes after finding a Person by Name, you may wish to BROWSE
through Persons whose ID Numbers are close to this Person's Computer ID
Number. Or other times after finding a Person by Location, you may wish
to BROWSE about in the records of Persons with the same last name. If you
wish to change your mode of BROWSING without explicitly FINDING that
Person by another of the techniques, <CTRL> BROWSE TOGGLES your options.
<CTRL> BROWSE first displays the current mode of BROWSING and then
TOGGLES the mode with each additional press of <CTRL> B. Any other key
pressed will remove the display and leave the TOGGLE set to the last
value displayed. You will then be able to page back and forth as though
you found this Person using the active BROWSE mode.
If you try to TOGGLE to Location or Partial Name BROWSING before one of
those two user defined lists is created, the BROWSE TOGGLE will beep and
return to BROWSING by Number.
JUMPING:
Without meaning to sound corny, this is the stuff of my dreams. At any
point in the above routine, after finding directly or BROWSING to a
Person you may JUMP along a complete 7 generation ANCESTOR CHART, or JUMP
to any individuals otherwise connected to this Person, including Father,
Mother, Spouse, older or younger Sibling, and Children of this Person.
This allows the flexibility of moving through the entire web of inter-
connected records, making logical JUMPS for comparisons. Note that at
whatever point you stop JUMPING, you will be able to resume BROWSING from
that point using the same BROWSE mode that was active when you started
the JUMPS. Here is the general outline of how these routines operate.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.46
JUMPING ALONG THE ANCESTOR LINE:
After finding a Person, selecting Tree from the MENU displays a 7
generation graphical TREE of the Ancestors on file for this Person. You
may march up and down this TREE, with the Main Data Entry Form flipping
through those Ancestors as you move. You use the Numeric Keypad Cursor
keys as follows:
Left Arrow - Father
Right Arrow - Mother
Down Arrow - Child
Up Arrow - Spouse
END and <PgDn> keys bring you back to the bottom of the tree
Home (top left) runs you to the top of that male line
<PgUp> (top right) runs you to the top of that female line
At any point you may <ESC>ape (or F-10) and move directly to EDITING or
to BROWSING from that point.
┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐
│ 7 │ │ 8 │ │ 9 │
│ Home │ │ UpArr│ │ PgUp │
│ │ │SPOUSE│ │ │
└──────┘ └──────┘ └──────┘
┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐
│ 4 │ │ 5 │ │ 6 │
│ LArr │ │ │ │ RArr │
│FATHER│ │ │ │MOTHER│
└──────┘ └──────┘ └──────┘
┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐
│ 1 │ │ 2 │ │ 3 │
│ End │ │ DArr │ │ PgDn │
│ │ │CHILD │ │ │
└──────┘ └──────┘ └──────┘
JUMPING TO OTHER CONNECTED PERSONS:
Instead of triggering this TREE chart, you may operate straight from the
MAIN MENU (after Finding a Person or BROWSING to a Person) and use the
<ALT> key in combination with a Numeric Keypad Key to move as follows:
<ALT> L/ARR Father, <ALT> R/ARR Mother
<ALT> End Previous Sibling, <ALT> <PgDn> Next Sibling
<ALT> Dn/ARR First Child by the primary Spouse.
If there are no children by the primary Spouse, then Alt Dn/ARR
drops to the first child by the Spouse with the lowest Computer
ID Number (assuming, of course, that there are children).
<ALT> Up/ARR Spouse in Spouse field
A reminder with these <ALT> Keypad combos - REMEMBER, YOU MUST RELEASE
THE <ALT> KEY FOR THE KEYSTROKE TO BE RECORDED.
The beauty of all these routines in combination is that, even with
records spaced thousands of people apart, you could say FIND a Person by
Number, Jump to the next younger Brother, Jump to the Brother's Spouse,
TREE an Ancestor line on that Spouse, go to her maternal Grandmother,
Jump to that Grandmother's Sister, then to the Sister's Husband, HIS
Sister, and then the oldest Child of THAT Sister --- and THEN TOGGLE the
BROWSE mode to scan other people with that same last Name!!. The TOGGLING
is boggling. It dramatically enhances the ability to use the records
directly on screen to follow a family.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.47
MOVING AROUND WITHIN A RECORD - CURSOR MOVEMENT
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: MOVING AROUND WITHIN A RECORD:
When you are Adding or Editing a record, the Cursor Keypad, <ENTER>, and
<TAB> Keys allow you to move around within that record - from Field to
Field and within the Field itself.
EXTRA POWER FEATURES: MOVING AROUND WITHIN A RECORD:
With your Cursor Keypad, the Left and Right Arrow combinations and Home
and End keys are used exclusively for movement WITHIN the Field. The HOME
Key takes the cursor to the first of the Field, the END key moves it to
the end of the data in the current Field. The Left and Right Arrows move
the cursor one character at a time either left or right. Holding down the
<CTRL> Key and pressing the Left or Right Arrow moves the cursor a word
at a time.
Movement from Field to Field is accomplished with Up and Down Arrows,
<PgUp> and <PgDn> Keys, <ENTER> and <TAB> Keys. Each on screen Entry Form
can be thought of as one continuous looping circle. Pressing the Down
Arrow (or <TAB> Key) repeatedly will move the cursor down from Field to
Field until the bottom of the form is reached. Pressing the Down Arrow
(or <TAB> key) at this point moves the cursor to the head of the circle
(the top of the form) once again. The Up Arrow works similarly, moving
the cursor up one Field at a time until it reaches the top, then jumping
back to the end of the circle (bottom of the form) to start its loop once
again. This chain of connected Fields will twist sideways at times as you
move through a particular form BUT EVEN SIDEWAYS MOVEMENT TO A NEW FIELD
IS ACCOMPLISHED USING THESE SAME KEYS IN THE MANNER DESCRIBED.
The <ENTER> Key works like the Down Arrow with one major exception. When
the bottom of the form is reached, pressing the <ENTER> Key again signals
THE FAMILY EDGE that the Edit phase is finished. The record is then
stored, and the cursor returns to the appropriate MENU.
While the <ENTER> Key can signal the end of a record Edit only when the
cursor is at the last Field, the Completion Key (F-10) on the other hand
can jump straight to the end of the Edit no matter which Field holds the
cursor. Thus you can even jump from the first Field straight back to the
MENU. The <CTRL> Z key combination works exactly the same as the F-10
Completion Key.
When you are at a MENU, the <PgUp> and <PgDn> Keys allow you to move from
record to record. But once you are actually Editing a record, the <PgUp>
and <PgDn> Keys allow you to leap to the top or bottom of that record's
form. This allows you to move the cursor quickly to that part of the form
where you need to enter information. The Main Data Entry Form has a
couple of extra twists to make the <PgDn> Key even more useful. Since
most of the time you use the <PgDn> key, you will be using it to enter
Parent or Spouse Links, the <PgDn> jumps straight to those fields. If
there is no data entered as yet for a Person's Father, the <PgDn> Key
will make a stop there. However, if you have already entered data for the
Father, it is rare that you would want to make that stop again, so the
cursor bypasses that field and heads straight for the Spouse field, or if
that field is completed, the Note field.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.48
WHAT MAKES THE FAMILY EDGE WORK
THE SIMPLE EXPLANATION:
Although THE FAMILY EDGE performs some rather remarkable feats, there
really is a simple explanation - MAGIC! Oh, ha ha. Actually, what happens
is this. THE FAMILY EDGE keeps track of the information for each Person
on a separate "page" for that Person. Also on this "page" is the "page
number" for this Person's Mother, Father, and any Spouses. Let's call our
fellow John Doe. To find John's grandparents, THE FAMILY EDGE goes to
John's "page" to see what the "page numbers" are for his parents. Then
THE FAMILY EDGE goes to the "pages" for the John's parents and looks to
see what the "page numbers" are for THEIR parents. THE FAMILY EDGE
doesn't directly keep track of John's grandparents - but it knows how to
find their "page numbers" from John's parents. And so on through the
generations.
This all happens so fast that it looks like THE FAMILY EDGE is going
someplace special where it has stored the particular chart you want. But
THE FAMILY EDGE does not store ANY charts - it creates them the moment
you ask for them. And as a result, it gets the information from the
freshest data on each Person's "page", so you are always assured of
updated information. THE FAMILY EDGE doesn't keep track directly of
John's children either - it just says, "Who has put down John's page
number for their FATHER?" Each Person is linked in a one way link to
their parents. THE FAMILY EDGE knows how to take this web of links and
run with it.
DELETING RECORDS:
So what happens to this web when you DELETE a record? THE FAMILY EDGE,
since it is able to set up the web and dance around on the web, also is
able to maintain the web, adding and removing connections to the various
"pages" as the need arises. When you Delete a Person (or any other kind
of record), THE FAMILY EDGE doesn't tear that page out and waste it.
Instead it keeps a list of what "pages" have been Deleted, and when you
want to Add a new record, it erases all the slots on one of those Deleted
"pages" and reuses it for your new information.
Because of the way THE FAMILY EDGE maintains its web, you don't have to
unlink John Doe from the web first. THE FAMILY EDGE uses the web to find
out who needs to have their information changed. If John is deleted, he
can no longer be Mary's Spouse. So Mary's Spouse Number is changed to
zero. And he also can't be Billy or Susie's Father (isn't that a crying
shame - a family split asunder), so Billy and Susie have their Father
Number changed to zero. THE FAMILY EDGE does all that work for you.
So when you have a record that you want to Delete, you just select Delete
from the MENU, and THE FAMILY EDGE will scurry around, cleaning house
instead of making you be the maid. The best thing about this is that THE
FAMILY EDGE tends to be a MUCH pickier housekeeper than even the TIDIEST
of Genealogists. I just HATE to be home cleaning when I could be out
researching!
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.49
OTHER SPECIFICS OF THE FAMILY EDGE
UH-OH! IT'S TIME FOR - THE TECHNICAL EXPLANATION:
Technically speaking, THE FAMILY EDGE structure is a bit unusual in that
the routines triggered by the <ALT>, <CTRL>, and FUNCTION KEY
combinations act as though they were themselves resident in the
computer's memory. In fact these routines are in an overlay file. As a
consequence of the way the data is entered and commands are initiated, a
lot of flexibility results. Calls to subroutines can occur from many
different locations in the program. Although this structure results in
some complex code, it DOES allow quite a bit of control over the
execution speed of various areas of the program. This results in a
uniform feel to the operational speed of the various modules. These
techniques create a very comfortable user interface and additionally,
they reflect the manner in which most Genealogists work - using current
material, at any moment, to hypothesize connections and formalize
research strategies.
This is a combination MENU, FUNCTION KEY, and COMMAND KEY driven program.
The MENUS themselves are straightforward. FUNCTION KEY assignments are
literally determined by the physical locations of these keys, in a
pattern clear ONLY to the programmer. The COMMAND KEYS - <CTRL> or <ALT>
combos - are mnemonic with the first letter of the name of the feature
being the key used. The interface is based on the idea that data entry
and retrieval is the primary focus of this program. It is in the data
entry/display screens that an individual's data is most concisely
displayed.
Any data entry not on the Main Data Entry Form itself will pop up a
window on top of that form, using <ALT> KEY combos to trigger the pop
ups, and after the extra data is entered, the program will return to the
same point on the main form. Any other display likewise pops onto this
form, whether or not it is already topped by a pop up window. In effect,
the Main Data Entry Form is the real MAIN MENU.
Do notice that since all the extra ENTRY screens contain data on specific
individuals, they are available ONLY while actually editing a Person's
data, as logical extensions of the main form. However, even as you BROWSE
through your database, you will be alerted on screen for these underlying
records - Christenings, History Notes, Immigrations, Marriages, Alternate
Parents, Sources, and Wills/Estates.
THE FAMILY EDGE is able to support Advance Linking by always checking
whether a record exists before calling for it. If it does not exist,
appropriate notation of that fact is generated. All index file entries
are likewise capable of making intelligent determinations about what
actions to take. You can, for example, generate a complete on-screen
Family Group Sheet with multiple marriages and multiple families for a
Person who has not yet been entered into the database. ALthough that is
not a normal situation, each part of that situation IS normal at some
point in any Genealogist's work.
As you might expect, a number of additional features are currently in the
works and will be added from time to time.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.50
ERROR MESSAGES
Most of the events that THE FAMILY EDGE would consider to be an error are
caused by simple user mistakes, and the VAST majority of these errors are
handled very placidly by THE FAMILY EDGE - with a discrete little beep.
However, there are some errors that can occur (and RARELY due to the user)
which are so disruptive that they simply necessitate exiting the program and
returning to DOS. These errors are in two categories - system errors and file
errors.
System errors can occur from many things - bad memory chips, disk problems,
hardware incompatibilities - the list goes on. A typical user will rarely if
ever encounter system errors running a normal program. It is outside the scope
of this manual to address hardware questions of this ilk.
File errors, on the other hand typically occur in trying to write data to a
full disk (or a floppy disk that has been changed while files are open) or
trying to write data to a file that has had its underlying structure
scrambled. Database files (particularly the index files) are highly structured
and, once damaged, almost always need to be "cleaned" and rebuilt.
If you encounter a problem, one of the most basic rules about working with
database files is STOP. Try to find what the problem is and fix it before
using your files further. Your data is likely all safe - but if you continue
to work with the files without pinpointing and fixing the problem, you are
DEFINITELY in danger of losing some data.
If it seems that a Person's records and links are not responding as you would
expect them to, a pass through the EDGEUTIL option RECOVER is in order.
RECOVER first deletes all your index files - whose data is actually derived
from information in the main data files. RECOVER then logically examines every
piece of information in every data file to make sure the information is
consistent with what it expects to find. If it's not, it marks it as invalid
and won't let any other record use that same information. After carefully
checking ALL the data, it rebuilds the index files from scratch, creating them
by seeking out the data on which they are based.
There will always be a reason why a data problem has occurred. But the reason
will NOT be that you entered the wrong information. You can enter ANY
information you choose. It is the total responsibility of THE FAMILY EDGE to
handle WHATEVER data you throw its way, consistent and valid or not. If THE
FAMILY EDGE cannot handle data you hand it, then it's THE FAMILY EDGE that
needs to be fixed - not your data.
The most important thing to be emphasized is this: if your files do not seem
to be behaving normally, and there is no logical reason you can determine for
the behavior, TAKE STEPS IMMEDIATELY. Run any kind of recovery routine that
seems to be called for. Then try your files again. If the behavior is still
erratic, contact THE FAMILY EDGE for further help.
Most (if not all) of the file errors you will ever encounter will result in
one of the following messages:
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.51
ERROR 100 One of THE FAMILY EDGE data or index files has been damaged. Run the
RECOVER choice in EDGEUTIL.
ERROR 101 Either the program disk or the data disk is out of space. Check your
disks. After clearing some disk space, a pass though RECOVER is
probably in order.
ERROR 103 A necessary file was not opened by THE FAMILY EDGE. You may need to
increase the FILES=xxx statement in your CONFIG.SYS file to give
more file opening space. If you have been doing any data editing
during this session, RECOVER is a good idea.
ERROR 150 A disk in use is write-protected. Get that write-protect tab off of
there!
ERROR 202 There is not enough internal stack space. Please contact THE FAMILY
EDGE - the program should never be able to do its initial load in
this circumstance.
ERROR 203 There is not enough internal heap space. Please contact THE FAMILY
EDGE - the program should never be able to do its initial load in
this circumstance.
ERROR 208 THE FAMILY EDGE is unable to open the file F-EDGE.OVR. Is the file
in the same directory with F-EDGE.EXE? Are you trying to run THE
FAMILY EDGE from a directory other than the one where the program
files reside?
ERROR 209 THE FAMILY EDGE is unable to properly read its file F-EDGE.OVR.
Hmmmm. Sounds like a bad F-EDGE.OVR file to me. Try reinstalling
from your master disk.
Other messages? Please note the ERROR information and contact THE FAMILY EDGE.
COMMAND LINE OPTIONS
THE FAMILY EDGE has two options that are called COMMAND LINE OPTIONS -
additional instructions that you can type at the same time THE FAMILY EDGE is
loaded.
Typing F-EDGE /D will alert THE FAMILY EDGE to open by prompting you for
a new Drive and Directory. That way, if you wish to change to another
FAMILY EDGE database, you do not have to open and close the current
database files.
Many computers have extra memory available in the form of what is called
EMS memory. If your computer has 243K of this EMS memory available on it,
typing F-EDGE /e will signal THE FAMILY EDGE PLUS to allocate extra EMS
memory for use by its Overlay Buffer, resulting in even faster program
operation.
These two COMMAND LINE OPTIONS can also be entered at the same time by typing
F-EDGE /e /d.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.52
LINKING PERSONS
I JUST HATE THAT WE HAVE TO USE NUMBERS TO LINK PEOPLE TOGETHER
I understand. But believe me, if you just ONCE tried to link families
together by EXACTLY typing each Person's name each time for several
THOUSAND people, along with all their other data, you would be saying, "I
JUST HATE THAT WE HAVE TO USE NAMES TO LINK PEOPLE!" A Person's name is
not unique. Many people can have the same name. So a computer can not
keep track of LINKS by name. You have to say to a computer, "It's this
Person - this one right here." And "right here" is page 17, so THE FAMILY
EDGE dutifully stores that information away. Because THE FAMILY EDGE uses
internal "page" numbers to keep track of all the links, it is able to
efficiently move around in HUGE database files VERY quickly.
LINKING RECORDS:
You should note that Parent Linking (and primary Spouse Linking) is
accomplished on the main form- AND DOES NOT REQUIRE THAT THE NUMBERS
ENTERED REFER TO RECORDS ALREADY IN PLACE!!! As always, data is most
easily entered when working from ancestor to descendant, but when that is
not convenient, THE FAMILY EDGE understands and readily handles the
input. This is not intended to encourage you to work from the present
back, but rather to facilitate entry when that is necessary. How often do
you find you need to enter the parents of the spouse next and have to
twist about to get the parents in, and then come back to link? NO MORE!!
ADDING LINKED RECORDS:
Since THE FAMILY EDGE allows you to LINK RECORDS that have not as yet
been entered, there is also provision made to ensure accuracy when that
data IS actually entered. First, the Main Data Entry Form displays a
flashing LINKED RECORD alert. At the same time, if the lower display
screen area is TOGGLED to MARRIAGES, any Marriage and/or Spouse Records
will be Displayed. Or if the lower display screen area is TOGGLED to
CHILDREN, any Children LINKED will be displayed. Finally, the F-4 Family
Screen can be called to display ALL LINKS, both Spouse and Children.
These safeguards maintain the data integrity while affording the
flexibility required for real world data entry.
ACCESSING FILES IN ANOTHER DRIVE/DIRECTORY:
THE FAMILY EDGE has full subdirectory support. At the first MENU you can
select changing to another drive/directory. Use standard DOS conventions.
For example, with THE FAMILY EDGE in the recommended subdirectory F-EDGE
off the root directory, you would use the path name \F-EDGE (the starting
backslash meaning "starting the path name from the Root directory"). If
you have a subdirectory named WILSON beneath this current directory and
THE FAMILY EDGE data files are in a subdirectory JOHN below WILSON, then
the path could be WILSON\JOHN (the lack of an initial backslash meaning
"starting from the current directory"). The FULL PATH in this case would
be \F-EDGE\WILSON\JOHN. Path names can be entered either relative to the
root directory or relative to the current directory.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.53
WHAT'S WHERE
THE FAMILY EDGE has a number of Program Files, a number of Data Files, a
number of Index Files, and several Utility Files. These files are as follows:
PROGRAM FILES
F-EDGE.EXE (The Main FAMILY EDGE Program File)
F-EDGE.BIN (The Screen Default and Printer Driver FAMILY EDGE File)
F-EDGE.SCR (The Extracted FAMILY EDGE Screens, created by EDGEUTIL)
DATA FILES - Created by the program at start up.
CHRISTEN.DAT .......Christening Records and Alternate Parent Records
COUNTY.DAT .............................Free Text Dates and Counties
DEATHS.DAT ...............................Death and Cemetery Records
E?????.DGE .............History Notes (in the \HISTORY subdirectory)
LDS.DAT ..............................................LDS Ordinances
MACROS.DAT ............User Defined Text Macros plus the Scratch Pad
MARRY.DAT ..........................................Marriage Records
MIGRATE.DAT .....................................Immigration Records
PERSONS.DAT ..................................Main Individual Record
PNOTES.DAT ......................................Notes and Locations
SEARCH.DAT ..........................Partial Name and Location Lists
SOURCES.DAT ..........................................Source Records
WILLS.DAT .........................................Wills and Estates
INDEX FILES - Created by the program at start up.
DEATH.IX# ............................................Cemetery Index
LOCATION.IX# .........................................Location Index
MARRY.IXN ............................................Marriage Index
PARENT.IX# ...................................Alternate Parent Index
PERSON.IXC ...........................................Children Index
PERSON.IXN ...............................................Name Index
PNOTES.IXN ...............................................Note Index
SOUNDX.IX# ............................................Soundex Index
SPOUSE.IX# .............................................Spouse Index
UTILITY FILES
EDGEUTIL.EXE ...................................Main Utility Program
EDGEUTIL.SCR .....................................Compressed Screens
EDGEUTIL.SET ......................................Color Information
EDGEUTIL.TST ...........................Test Screens for Color Setup
Anything Ending In .DRV ..............................Printer Driver
THE SOUNDEX CODING SYSTEM
You cannot get very far into genealogy without bumping into the problems
created by microfilm copies of faded records handwritten by arthritic
officials getting information from pioneers who spoke warily with heavy
regional accents about other families with whom they were only marginally
acquainted. And so Soundex was born.
Soundex, or Miracode as it is sometimes called, is an attempt to minimize the
problems created in trying to transcribe names having non-standard spellings
and preserved in difficult to decipher original records. The basic logic is to
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.54
group together Surnames that have similar sounds and/or appearances and then
further alphabetize by Given Name.
The basic Soundex Code was to consist of the first letter of the name,
followed by a three digit additional code. A number of letters were excluded
from consideration as far as determining those three additional digits. The
first obvious decision was to toss out all vowels - vowels are often difficult
to differentiate from each other when written and almost impossible to be
certain about when spoken. Along with the vowels, including "Y", the letters
"H" and "W" were excluded, primarily because of their tendency to be silent
when internal in a word. The letters that were left were gathered into six
groups, each assigned a single number. Their groupings were determined by
their appearance when written as well as their sound when spoken.
The letters B, F, P, and V were assigned a value of 1.
The letters C, G, J, K, Q, S, X, and Z were assigned a value of 2.
The letters D and T were assigned a value of 3.
The letter L was assigned a value of 4.
The letters M and N were assigned a value of 5.
The letter R was assigned a value of 6.
The Soundex Code would start with the first letter of the name. Then each
additional letter would be examined until the Code was a total of four
characters long, or all the letters were exhausted. The discarded letters were
not Coded. Repetitions of letters in the same numeric group were likewise not
Coded. If the resulting Code was less than four characters long, zeros were
added to pad the Code. A few examples should clarify the Coding.
HECKTER. H; E not Coded; C = 2; K not Coded - a repeat of Group 2; T = 3;
R = 6. The resulting Soundex Code - H236.
ROSE. R; O not Coded; S = 2; E not Coded. The resulting Soundex Code - R200.
DILLINGHAM. D; I not Coded; L = 4; L not Coded - a repeat; N = 5; G = 2; the
remainder is ignored. The resulting Soundex Code - D452.
While many names clearly different from each other will be juxtaposed with
this Coding system, MANY times the system genuinely reduces the number of
errors introduced in handwritten records. The primary point of failure for the
system is its inability to take into account spelling variations occasioned by
the first letter - Wrinkle and Rinkle, Phelps and Felps, Osten and Austen. But
the Soundex Coding system has still proven to be a real benefit for
researchers.
The most prominent use of Soundex - and the place most researchers first bump
up against Soundex - is in the indices to the 1880, 1900, and 1910 Federal
Census records.
THE FAMILY EDGE has several features that utilize Soundex Coding. These
features include Display/Printing of the Codes as well as actual Searching,
Browsing, and Listing by the Codes. The display and printing of the Soundex
CODES is TOGGLED in the same routine with the COMPUTER ID Number TOGGLE.
THE REFERENCE MANUAL .................................................page 5.55
==============================================================================
THE UTILITY PROGRAMS .................................................page 6.1
==============================================================================
Included with THE FAMILY EDGE is a group of Utility Programs which perform
housekeeping duties not normally associated with the actual running of the
program. These duties include such things as setting THE FAMILY EDGE to run
with your printer and monitor, rebuilding data and index files that have been
inadvertently scrambled, auditing the contents of a data file group,
converting other file formats to the new FAMILY EDGE format, merging two file
groups into one, and printing Manual/Text files. These Utility Programs have
NO connection with your local Utility Company which provides the power used to
run your computer (and indeed your entire home) at such a remarkably low cost.
The Utility Programs are accessed from a main Utility Program called EDGEUTIL.
Entering the EDGEUTIL Program presents you with several MENU choices for these
Utility Programs.
SETUP - THE SCREEN, CURSOR, AND PRINTER INSTALLATION
SETUP covers three main aspects of setting up program defaults - the colors
used on the screen, the size of the cursor used by the program, and the codes
sent to activate the printer. Each of these functions are normally changed
during the first few sessions with THE FAMILY EDGE and then left alone.
After selecting the SETUP option, EDGEUTIL will ask for the location of the
program files (if it is unable to find them in the active directory). After
confirming the location of the program files, you may select the Screen,
Cursor, or Printer option.
CHANGING THE DEFAULT COLORS: SETUP:
During the initial Installation, the Screen Setup in EDGEUTIL is run
automatically to set up the screens with default colors appropriate for
your monitor. However, THE FAMILY EDGE idea of "appropriate" may be your
idea of a horror story. SETUP has a MENU driven section that allows you
to change the default colors used by THE FAMILY EDGE. Before changing any
colors, take a close look at all THE FAMILY EDGE screens. There are
twenty-six color areas available as follows:
1) Main Data Entry
2) Main Screen Field Names
3) Ditto Reminders
4) Ditto Field Names
5) Lower Main Screen Display Area
6) Main Screen Horizontal Bars
7) Highlighted Information Headers
8) Main Menu Color
9) Contrasting Menu Choice Color
10) Main Ancestor Tree Color
11) Ancestor Tree Highlight
12) Extra Window Data Entry
THE UTILITY PROGRAMS ..................................................page 6.1
13) Extra Window Field Names
14) Extra Window Surrounding Box
15) History Notes Entry Color
16) Pedigree Chart Bars
17) Pedigree Chart Names
18) Pedigree Chart Dates
19) Pedigree Chart Numbers
20) Error Messages
21) Function Key Screen Headers
22) Function Key Column Headers
23) Main Function Key Screen Color
24) Secondary Function Key Screen Color
25) TOGGLE Window Information
26) TOGGLE Window Surrounding Box
You don't have to use different colors in each of these areas, but you
may if you choose. Each of these areas affect several points in the
program. SETUP facilitates any changes by displaying all the color
possibilities and allowing you to choose between the options.
Your initial choices in the Screen Setup are to Edit the existing colors,
Switch to a new color set as starting point, View the Help Screens in the
colors you have selected, or Quit.
EDIT COLORS
If you select Edit, the screen clears, and EDGEUTIL will display
both a list of the color areas that can be changed as well as sample
screens using the colors currently selected. One of the color areas
on the list will be highlighted. Use the cursor keys to scroll
through the list - and to display the extra list choices that do not
fit on screen. If you move the highlight to a color area choice that
is not shown on the sample screen on the left, a new screen will
appear containing the highlighted color area.
If you wish to change the highlighted color choices, simply press
<ENTER> and a chart of all the color possibilities will appear. Use
the cursor keys to navigate that chart, and the smaple screen will
respond by recoloring that color area so that you can see the
changes in relation to the other colors on screen. After you have
the color for that area set the way you want it, press <ENTER> again
to redisplay the color areas list. Repeat this process for any
colors you wish to change.
SWITCH COLOR SET
If you select switch color set, you will see a list of 14 possible
color sets to use as a starting point for your customized color
setup. Four of them, Custom User Set 1 through Custom User Set 4,
can be used to store a custom setup which can later be selected from
the menu for use or further changing. A typical use for a Custom
User Color Set would be in setting up for a LCD screen laptop that
occasionally runs an external monitor. Any changes made in the
colors for the LCD screen or the external monitor could be stored in
a Custom User Color Set - and then selected directly from the MENU
when switching between the two different screens.
THE UTILITY PROGRAMS ..................................................page 6.2
VIEW HELP SCREENS
At any point, you can see how the color choices are affecting the
Help Screens by making this selection. You can then page through the
Help Screens, seeing how the colors appear on those screens.
QUIT
If you have made any color changes while in the Screen Setup, you
will have two additional choices when you Quit the Screen Setup MENU
- whether to store the changes as a Custom User Color Set and
whether to use these colors in THE FAMILY EDGE. You don't have to
store the changes as a Custom User Color Set, but if you wish to use
them in THE FAMILY EDGE, all the screens will be recolored to your
new choices.
If you wish to revert to THE FAMILY EDGE default colors, simply erase the
F-EDGE.SCR file on the program disk, run EDGEUTIL, then SETUP, and let
the Utility automatically reset the screens. No one will say "I told you
so" or alert the local authorities. Each time the Main Screen file
F-EDGE.SCR is erased for automatic screen resetting, the Printer Driver
is likewise cleared to the default Generic Printer, so you will need to
do a Printer Setup as well.
CHANGING THE CURSOR SIZE: SETUP:
This handy Utility in the Setup MENU changes the default Cursor Size. On
some screens, particularly laptops with Liquid Crystal Displays, the
Cursor can be difficult to spot. Using this selection, you can alter the
Cursor all the way from a thin line to a full block, seeing on screen the
results of the changes - and then save that Cursor Size as the default
for use in THE FAMILY EDGE. The screen gives full instructions.
INSTALLING THE PRINTER CODES: SETUP:
With printers, there is only limited standardization of what signals it
takes to get a printer to print using its various typefaces, character
spacings, line spacings, and added features. Very limited. As a result,
it is necessary to load into THE FAMILY EDGE information specific to your
printer (Printer Drivers). This information allows THE FAMILY EDGE to
accurately position the print head and access the other printer features
for pleasing charts. And we KNOW how you want pleasing charts. Hence, the
SETUP Printer Driver Installation. Run the Setup option of the EDGEUTIL
program and select the Printer Installation option.
Fortunately, some of the most common (don't you hate that word - COMMON)
printers can be selected directly from the MENU choices. You just select
the Listed Printer option, select which printer applies, save your
choice, and you will be on your way.
Fortunately for everyone else, that is. You find that YOU are one of the
lucky ones whose printer is not listed. We've tried to cover that base
too, but you'll need to do a little legwork on this. First you need your
printer manual. You don't have to still have it, but if you can find it,
things will be greatly simplified.
THE UTILITY PROGRAMS ..................................................page 6.3
First TRY the EPSON driver, 9 pin if your printer is a 9 pin, or 24 pin
if your printer has a 24 pin head. On your printer itself, set your
printer defaults to 12 CPI and 6 LPI. The Test option on the MENU will
allow you to print out a page - while still in EDGEUTIL - to see if your
printer is responding properly.
If you are getting NOTHING that makes sense, try selecting the GENERIC
Driver and going at it again. The GENERIC Driver sends NO codes at all.
If that's not working, it's time to contact THE FAMILY EDGE directly.
THE FAMILY EDGE does not use all of the features available on the Custom
Set Up, but it does use the following:
1) 12 CPI and 17 CPI
2) 6 LPI and 8 LPI
3) Start and stop emphasized/enhanced printing
4) Start and stop continuous underlining
5) Print head home
6) Printing left to right only
7) Printing bidirectional
Of these, only #1 and #2 are of critical importance. The other
enhancements are not essential but desirable. If you are still having
problems, try clearing each of the non-essentials and starting again.
When you have a satisfactory Custom Driver, you can save it using one of
the Custom names and thereafter select that Custom Driver from the MENU.
Remember, each time the Main Screen file F-EDGE.SCR is erased for
automatic screen resetting, the Printer Driver is likewise cleared to the
default Generic Printer.
RECOVER
RECOVERING FROM THE BRINK OF DISASTER: RECOVER:
So you have managed to trash files that, despite the best intentions, you
have not backed up, and you hope against hope all is not lost. DON'T USE
THAT DISK UNTIL YOU TRY TO GET IT BACK. PROBABLY, all is not lost. Some
may be lost, but maybe even ALL can be recovered. The key is your utility
selection RECOVER (also known as SaveMeFromMyself.Please).
First make a copy of all *.DAT files and *.IX* files. That way you still
have the original material if you need to make additional salvage
attempts. Run EDGEUTIL and select the Recover option. Answer the
questions about where the data files are, and cross your fingers.
Database files are ornery and tricky critters so we can't promise, but we
will give it the best shot we can. If your luck absolutely runs out, HANG
ONTO THAT DISK AND THE BACKUP COPY and contact THE FAMILY EDGE. There may
still be help.
That last message needs repeating. DO NOT GIVE UP ON LOST DATA UNTIL YOU
HAVE TRIED ALL THE POSSIBILITIES. With the combination of judicious use
of the <CTRL> Verify option for Verified Write and regular backups, you
should NEVER have to lose any data stored in THE FAMILY EDGE (short of
computer disk hardware failure).
THE UTILITY PROGRAMS ..................................................page 6.4
THE AUDIT UTILITY
Now I know YOU don't make errors in data entry, but OTHER people sometimes do.
This is for them. With the Audit, EDGEUTIL will examine a data file group to
see if the data entered is reasonably logical. It will check to ensure
children are born to parents reasonably older than thme, that people die when
they're supposed to, that nobody wrote a Will before they were born - you get
the idea.
And you get to help decide what "reasonably logical" means. You get to edit
the values of a number of the defaults EGEDUTIL uses to flag that exceptional
data.
The defaults that you may edit are:
Where the results of the Audit will be sent (SCREEN, PRINTER, DISK FILE)
Maximum number of lines on a printed page
Whether or not Persons with no sex data will be noted
Maximum years between Birth and Christening
Maximum years between Birth/Christening and Will/Death
Maximum years between dates in the Will/Estate Records
Maximum years between Will/Estate dates and Death
Minimum age for a Father
Maximum age for a Father
Minimum age for a Mother
Maximum age for a Mother
Maximum age difference between two Spouses
Maximum years between the two dates in Marriage Records
When editing the defaults, keep in mind that you are trying to trap blatant
errors. EDGEUTIL will not change any data - but it will give you a list of
Persons to examine and what you should examine about them. Audit will NOT
catch all data entry errors - just the way ones that are really blatant.
You can also choose to have the results of the Audit sent to Screen, Printer,
or Disk - it's up to you - but if sending the results to Printer, be sure your
printer is on. If the Audit is sent to a disk file, the file will be named
AUDIT.TXT and stored in the same directory with the data files.
CONVERT
THE FAMILY EDGE, like most other programs, stores its data in a format unique
to itself. However, EDGEUTIL has the ability to Convert some additional file
storage formats to a format that THE FAMILY EDGE can use.
PAF FILES (PERSONAL ANCESTRAL FILE) TO THE FAMILY EDGE FORMAT: CONVERT
One of the CONVERT options allows you to directly access files from Personal
Ancestral File (or PAF, as it is known), the genealogy software published by
The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints as well as earlier FAMILY
EDGE file formats.
THE UTILITY PROGRAMS ..................................................page 6.5
THE PAF2EDGE TRANSFER UTILITY:
PAF2EDGE is a sophisticated transfer program that directly accesses the
files used by PERSONAL ANCESTRAL FILE - the popular Genealogy Program
published by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. PAF, as
it is generally known, stores its data in a significantly different
format from THE FAMILY EDGE. PAF2EDGE automates the process of data
transfer into THE FAMILY EDGE. The original PAF data files are not
altered in any way.
PAF2EDGE Requires: PAF 2.x (DATA FILES ONLY) for transfer.
THE FAMILY EDGE Commercial Version 1.10 or greater,
or THE FAMILY EDGE Shareware Version B.00 or greater.
(PAF and Personal Ancestral File are registered
trademarks of The Church of Jesus Christ of the
Latter Day Saints)
Do you want to do a QUICK TRANSFER (with highly inaccurate locations and no
notes) for sample data only? Run PAF2EDGE, selecting the down-and-dirty fast
transfer method.
Do you want to do a FINAL, COMPLETELY ACCURATE TRANSFER? Read carefully the
following information and FIRST DO A PRACTICE TRANSFER OF RECORDS 1 TO 25.
Transferring data files into THE FAMILY EDGE from Personal Ancestral File
(PAF) is a rather complicated procedure, but the PAF2EDGE Transfer Utility is
structured to minimize the complexity. Locations and Titles require some hand
"guiding" to end up in the right place.
First review how Locations are stored in THE FAMILY EDGE. Locations are
handled by THE FAMILY EDGE in three distinct FIELDS : State, County, and City.
The State and County FIELDS expect specific information, while the City is
more agreeable.
PAF, on the other hand, uses four fields for its Location data. The actual
content of any given field is not specified, although NORMAL practice in PAF
is to enter the most general designation (for example, State or Country) in
the last field while entering the most specific location (for example, a
Church or a community) in the first field, distributing the remaining data in
similar fashion.
The PAF2EDGE transfer makes note of each unique four field combination in PAF
and then allows you to specify where that data is to be stored by THE FAMILY
EDGE fields.
The Title field used in PAF names can similarly be guided into the appropriate
storage location in THE FAMILY EDGE.
RUNNING THE PAF2EDGE TRANSFER:
First select CONVERT from the EDGEUTIL MENU. The next MENU allows you to
choose older FAMILY EDGE file conversion or PAF2EDGE. After selecting
PAF2EDGE from this MENU, you are on your way.
THE UTILITY PROGRAMS ..................................................page 6.6
You first specify where the new FAMILY EDGE files will be created. The
storage location for the new data files must be empty of data and index
files for THE FAMILY EDGE. New files will be created by the Utility. You
next specify the location of the PAF files to be transferred.
You will then be asked to select either a fast hands-off transfer for
sample records or a slower hand-guided transfer for real accuracy. In
either case, you will be able to select the starting and finishing record
numbers for the transfer. With the hands-off transfer, all the rest is
automatic. Instructions for the hands-on transfer continues.
After an initial indexing pass through the records, you will be asked to
guide the PAF Title field into the appropriate location. THE FAMILY EDGE
allows the contents of the PAF Title field to be displayed and printed
before or after the Given Name or Surname. The index will select one
example of each Title you have used and allow you to designate where that
Title goes. Normally, you will indicate 1 (before the Given Name) or 4
(after the Surname). All Titles will be transferred.
The Location Transfer is next. The PAF2EDGE Utility views PAF locations
as grouped into four general categories - Standard, Standard Burial,
Foreign, and Foreign Burial. As defaults, PAF2EDGE will arrange the four
PAF place fields for storage in THE FAMILY EDGE as follows:
Standard Foreign
F-EDGE PAF F-EDGE PAF
City :Place 1, Place 2 City :Place 1, Place 2, Place 3
County :Place 3 Country :Place 4
State :Place 4 State :X (for a Foreign Country)
Standard Burial Foreign Burial
F-EDGE PAF F-EDGE PAF
Cemetery :Place 1 Cemetery :Place 1
City :Place 2 City :Place 2, Place 3
County :Place 3 Country :Place 4
State :Place 4 State :X (for a Foreign Country)
You have the opportunity to change these general defaults after selecting
the type of transfer and number of records. While running the transfer
itself, you will have the opportunity to make editing changes to the PAF
data, correcting misspellings, expanding names that had to be shortened,
just generally improving the consistency of the data entries. (Note: The
PAF data files will remain intact and unaltered through this process.)
You will also be able to specify exactly where in THE FAMILY EDGE
location fields the data will be stored. If the data refers to a Foreign
Country, the Foreign selection will make the necessary alterations to the
State and County/Country fields.
The reverse video template on the screen shows exactly how much space is
available in each field of THE FAMILY EDGE for storage and exactly what
will be stored in THE FAMILY EDGE. At any point in the editing process
Alt-A can be used to pop up a chart of State abbreviations for reference.
Alt Abbreviations is accessed by holding down the Alt key and tapping the
A. After the pass through Locations, the remainder of the transfer is
completely handled by PAF2EDGE.
THE UTILITY PROGRAMS ..................................................page 6.7
And that's it. With THE FAMILY EDGE, you learn by doing. First run a hand
guided transfer of 25 records to get a feel for the process. Then DELETE
those practice FAMILY EDGE data files and run your transfer in earnest.
WHERE DOES THE PAF DATA END UP?
Since THE FAMILY EDGE stores its data in a completely different format
from PAF, you might think that once it got to THE FAMILY EDGE, the data
would reappear in completely different places. Ah - so and not so.
PAF Person names will be transferred to the Name fields in THE FAMILY
EDGE, with the PAF Title field located as specified during transfer by
user choice. Any possible excess to the name (highly unlikely) will be
noted as such in the Note field of the Person's Main Data Entry Screen.
Birth and Death information will likewise be on the Main Data Entry
Screen.
Marriage Records will be stored in the pop up Marriage Records. Any
marriage marked as ending in divorce will additionally generate a Divorce
Record in THE FAMILY EDGE to store any additional divorce information.
Christening information will be stored in the pop up Christening Records.
Burial information will be stored in the pop up Burial Records, with the
appropriate cemetery linkage automatically created, and the Burial Date,
if any, entered in the Burial Record Note field.
Child Order will be transferred intact to the Child Order index.
Parents will be entered in the Father and Mother fields.
The Spouse of record in the primary marriage record for each Person will
be entered in the Spouse field for THE FAMILY EDGE.
LDS Ordinances will be stored in the LDS records, accessible in the Main
Screen Toggle.
If possible, Notes will be stored in the Source Notes for the Person -
otherwise, they will be stored intact in the History Notes for that
Person.
User definable ID numbers will be stored in the Note field on the Main
Data Entry Screen.
PLEASE NOTE ===>>> With PAF2EDGE. if you do the fast down-and-dirty transfer,
no notes will be transferred, domestic U.S.A. locations MAY be mislabelled,
and ALL FOREIGN COUNTRY LOCATION INFORMATION WILL BE MISLABELLED. The down-and-
dirty transfer is intended ONLY to allow you to quickly create sample data
files that will allow you to play with THE FAMILY EDGE to see how its various
features operate. It is NOT intended for serious data transfer. A down-and-
dirty transfer of 500 records on a floppy disk PC compatible will take about
15 minutes. A similar transfer with a RAM disk and an 80286 chip machine will
take about 2 minutes. If you have a machine with an 80386 chip, it's already
finished.
THE UTILITY PROGRAMS ..................................................page 6.8
GEDCOM: CONVERT
GEDCOM (for GEnealogical Data COMmunication) is an attempt to provide a common
data exchange format for Lineage Linked Genealogical database programs. Whew!
In development spearheaded by the Mormon Church, GEDCOM is an evolving file
description which provides some significant advantages for the computer
genealogist.
What does that mean to you?
It simply means that, using this GEDCOM Utility written specifically for THE
FAMILY EDGE, you will be able to convert your data files to pure text files
whose contents can be read by other Genealogy programs - and conversely, you
will be able to use this GEDCOM Utility to convert pure text files created by
another program's GEDCOM Utility into data files that can be accessed by THE
FAMILY EDGE. Thus, when you want to share research with another computer
Genealogist, you can store their data in THE FAMILY EDGE without having to
type it in yourself. Doesn't that sound great? Well, it is - and isn't.
Since each individual program stores its data in a different way, GEDCOM
Utilities rarely transfer ALL the data. But they normally WILL transfer the
core data - names, places, births, deaths, marriages, and family links - and
in most cases significant additional data, such as notes, occupations,
immigrations, wills, and so on. The actual data that can be transferred will
depend on both the GEDCOM Utility OUT for the one program and the GEDCOM
Utility IN for the other program.
The format of a GEDCOM file is very specific. Each line of data in the file
begins with a number and a brief tag that specifies not only what the data on
that line IS but also how that line relates to other lines before and after
it. Happily, to use your GEDCOM Utility, you will NOT need to understand how
these numbers and tags work - just as you do not have to understand how the
files for THE FAMILY EDGE work to use THE FAMILY EDGE.
GEDCOM transfers for THE FAMILY EDGE require GEDCOM files in the PAF 2.1 (or
greater) format.
CONVERTING FAMILY EDGE FILES TO GEDCOM FORMAT - GEDCOM OUT
From your main GEDCOM MENU, select F (for FAMILY EDGE to GEDCOM). Now
comes the REAL easy part. To convert one of your FAMILY EDGE data file
groups to the GEDCOM format, all you have to do is enter the location of
THE FAMILY EDGE files and the location and name you wish to use in
storing your GEDCOM file.
After you have entered the file locations, you will have to opportunity
to enter Submitter information - name, address, and a comment. This
information will be placed at the beginning of the GEDCOM file you are
creating and will serve as a record of the source for the GEDCOM file
itself. You will also be able to specify the way three transfer options
are handled - whether or not you want to suppress the transfer of Death
information when a Death Date contains the word "Living", whether or not
you wish to add "Co." to the County names, and whether or not you wish to
output Source references as History Notes (to improve the transfer to
programs that do not store Source citations). And then you're off!
THE UTILITY PROGRAMS ..................................................page 6.9
The conversion will be completely automatic from there - and you will be
alerted at the end of the transfer. This GEDCOM file can then be used by
other programs to directly access the data you have entered into THE
FAMILY EDGE.
Simple, huh?
CONVERTING A GEDCOM FORMAT FILE TO THE FAMILY EDGE - GEDCOM IN
PLEASE NOTE THIS IMPORTANT INFORMATION: When using the GEDCOM Utility to
convert a GEDCOM file to THE FAMILY EDGE format, you can add that GEDCOM
format data directly to existing FAMILY EDGE files, or you can let
EDGEUTIL create new FAMILY EDGE files for the conversion. While not
essential, it is STRONGLY recommended that you let the Utility create NEW
files for you. That way, you can easily examine the new files for
accuracy and make any editing changes before then MERGING them into your
existing database. However, if you DO add the GEDCOM data to existing
files, you MUST have a backup of those files in case the GEDCOM file
itself produces a transfer problem or you have a computer problem during
the transfer.
Under any circumstance, the total number of Persons in the resulting
FAMILY EDGE database will not exceed 500 Persons.
From your main GEDCOM MENU, select G (for GEDCOM to THE FAMILY EDGE). You
then specify where THE FAMILY EDGE files will be stored, where the GEDCOM
file is located, and what the name of the GEDCOM file is. You will then
be given two additional options: 1) Converting incidental underscore
characters (_) to spaces, and 2) Stripping leading exclamation points (!)
from Note entries. If the GEDCOM file you are using has these extraneous
characters, they can be automatically removed during conversion.
THE FAMILY EDGE is one of the few Genealogy programs that "knows the
difference" between Foreign Countries, States, Counties, and Cities.
Since most other programs will output their GEDCOM place information as
one long name field, you will need to guide this information to the
proper storage locations in THE FAMILY EDGE. The GEDCOM Utility will help
in the conversion process, "learning" from you as you do the transfer.
This transfer process DOES require input from you to insure that the data
is accurately stored. Also, many other genealogy programs (unlike THE
FAMILY EDGE) require that Titles be entered in a separate field. When the
GEDCOM Utility encounters a Title, you will be able to specify where, in
a name, that Title is to appear. In your FAMILY EDGE file, that Title
will be surrounded by the << and >> markers that are used to control
normal indexing.
The Place information will be presented to you broken down into fields.
The GEDCOM Utility for THE FAMILY EDGE will then make an intelligent
supposition above where that data should go. But you can edit any of the
defaults as you choose. Editing functions are the same as in the main
FAMILY EDGE program, with full cursor movement, <ESC> for clearing, and
so on. Since THE FAMILY EDGE allows significantly more space to store
Place information, you can easily expand those abbreviations here as
well.
THE UTILITY PROGRAMS .................................................page 6.10
As an extra editing aid, you can insert the contents of any field at the
cursor position by holding the <ALT> key and typing the field number on
the normal number keys - NOT THE NUMERIC KEYPAD. While editing, ALT
F)oreign will TOGGLE back and forth between normal locations and Foreign
Countries. Also while editing, ALT A)bbreviations will pop up a list of
State Abbreviations for a quick reminder.
Any data that cannot be transferred normally will be written to a text
file called EDGE.LOG. This file will be stored in the same location with
THE FAMILY EDGE data files. And that's all there is to it!
VIEW GEDCOM LINE
If you need to see a specific line of a text file, EDGEUTIL allows you to
view any line number in the context of its surrounding lines. All you do
is specify the file's name and location and then you can views lines of
that file, by number, to your heart's content.
OTHER FAMILY EDGE FILE FORMATS: CONVERT
The versions of THE FAMILY EDGE other than B.5 use slightly different formats
from the current FAMILY EDGE files. If you are needing to load files created
by a version other than B.5 of the Shareware Version - or ANY of the
Professional Versions - you will need to run the automatic conversion option
of the EDGEUTIL Program. THE FAMILY EDGE detects the presence of older file
structures and Professional file structures and will load the data into the
proper format for B.5 files.
The Conversion option will prompt you for the location of your data files.
Then it will create new files and convert the old data and index files in the
new structures. All the conversion is automatic - you just get additional
flexibility of the new FAMILY EDGE features. Whistle, whistle, stomp, cheer!
THE MERGE UTILITY
MERGE is the Utility which allows you to combine two FAMILY EDGE databases
into one. Enter MERGE from the main EDGEUTIL MENU. You will first be asked to
specify where the Primary Files reside. These are the files that will remain,
the files INTO WHICH the Secondary Files will be MERGED.
You will next be asked to specify where the Secondary Files reside. You will
then be given ample opportunity to confirm you choices. From here on in, the
MERGING is handled completely by the MERGE routine. At the end of the MERGE,
all the Secondary Files will be gone, and if possible, their directory will
have been removed from the disk.
THE UTILITY PROGRAMS .................................................page 6.11
PRINT TEXT FILES
The final choice in the EDGEUTIL Utility package is a handy Text File printing
routine. With your printer set to print at 12 characters per inch, the Print
option will add a margin 12 spaces wide on the left side of the paper, giving
you plenty of space to punch or bind. Any pure ASCII text file with page
breaks imbedded will print very smoothly with this Utility.
After you have identified the location and name of the file to be printed, you
will additionally have the opportunity to send a string of set up codes to
your printer, if you so choose.
THE UTILITY PROGRAMS .................................................page 6.12
==============================================================================
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES ..................................................page 7.1
==============================================================================
ADDING RECORDS IN A LOGICAL SEQUENCE
Here is a technique that will maximize the use of the DITTO feature and hence
really speed the data entry, as well as facilitate adding several generations
at a session. We'll go through this in very careful detail to make the plan of
attack clear. Start several generations back, with the Main Data Entry Screen
TOGGLED to show MARRIAGES in the lower section.
ENTER THE PARENTS WITH ALL THEIR RECORDS:
FIRST ENTER THE HUSBAND:
Enter the normal information until you get to the linking fields,
Father, Mother, and Spouse. Leave his Father and Mother blank for
now (for clarity's sake). For his Spouse, use the <ALT> = keystroke,
inserting the next Person Number. After pressing the <ENTER> key,
THE FAMILY EDGE will dutifully chirp "PERSON NOT ENTERED YET".
Suppress your desire to scream "I KNOW that!!" at the computer. It
can't hear you anyway. Now if you have a Marriage Record, enter
that, taking advantage of the DITTO feature for both the Husband and
Spouse.
NEXT ENTER THE WIFE:
Selecting Add with the lower screen TOGGLED to MARRIAGES, you will
not only get the LINKED RECORDS alert, but you will also get a
display of the Marriage and/or Spouse Record. Before typing anything
press <CTRL> Q - this will keep the wife's Surname from updating the
Surname DITTO. If you want to do a full linkage check, press the F-4
Family Screen key, select Person, and just hit the <ENTER> key
without entering a number. THE FAMILY EDGE automatically assumes
that if you do not enter a number that you want information on the
current Person. There is a list of all Marriage/Spouse links and all
Children links.
Back to the Main Form, enter the remainder of the Wife's data. When
you get to Spouse, use the DITTO. The previous Person Number edited
is held in the SPOUSE DITTO. Now finish out the Wife. Right now,
before you continue, make a mental note of the Husband and Wife
numbers - they will be the Father and Mother numbers for the next
addition.
NEXT ENTER EACH CHILD IN ORDER:
Before entering any other data on this first child, <PgDn> to the Father
number and enter the parent links. Use <ALT> * for both the Father and
the Mother. This will pull the necessary numbers from the last Person
edited. DO IT IMMEDIATELY FOR THIS FIRST CHILD, and then you can just
forget those numbers - they will be loaded into the DITTO for you. Set
the Order of Birth to pop up automatically (if you know the Child Order),
as well as any of the other pop up windows that would apply in this
family. Enter all of each Child's records but without any of the data
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES ........................................................7.1
that refers to Spouses. Note that you can DITTO parents as well as the
locations, probably even Cemetery locations for some. After entering the
children, you are ready for the spouses of ALL the children.
NOW ENTER ALL ADDITIONAL DATA FOR THE CHILDREN:
ENTER THE FIRST CHILD'S SPOUSE LINK:
Flip back to the first Child who has a Spouse by pressing <ALT> Left
Arrow to move to the Father, then <ALT> Down Arrow to move to the
first child. Edit the Child, PgDn, and enter the Alt = keystroke for
that Child's Spouse (the next Person Number will thus be entered).
When you hit the <ENTER> key, "PERSON NOT ENTERED YET" will once
again appear.
ENTER THE FIRST CHILD'S MARRIAGE RECORDS:
Now add any marriage records. The first marriage added will pull up
the appropriate numbers for both Spouses while any other marriages
will wait for you to input a new Spouse number each time. Pick for
subsequent Spouses the numbers following the first Spouse. Don't
worry if you fear making an error, since incorrect records are just
as easily corrected or deleted.
START THE FIRST CHILD'S SPOUSE/SPOUSES:
Now select Add. Note that if any editing is done between adding
records, THE FAMILY EDGE requires confirming that you wish to Add by
dropping you into a second MENU to choose Add again. This is to keep
you from inadvertently adding records. However, immediately after
adding a record, THE FAMILY EDGE assumes you meant it if you
selected Add again. You will now be alerted that you are adding a
LINKED RECORD. If you have the screen toggled to show marriages,
then if this is a Spouse link, you will see the note of that below.
Under any circumstance, you can hit the F-4 (Family Screen), select
Person, hit the return key without entering a number, and get a full
list of ALL links. These features allow you to maximize the use of
advance linking while minimizing the chance of error.
COMPLETE THE FIRST CHILD'S SPOUSE/SPOUSES:
OK, now finish the data for this Spouse. Do you have Parent data? If
the first Child had more Spouses than this one we are working on,
hold off on the Spouse Parents. Too many advance links muddy the
water. However, if this is the only Spouse and you want to enter the
Parent Links, do so. This time use the next number for the Father,
the second number afterward for the Mother. For her Spouse slot, the
DITTO will once again pull the number of that Child you previously
edited. F-10. Finished with this Spouse, go ahead and add her
Parents, using the DITTO values generated by her. The first Spouse
addition is now finished.
If there are other Spouses for that first Child, add them now, since
you have tied their records to that first Child. When you are
finished with these extra Spouses you are ready to continue.
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES ........................................................7.2
REPEAT THE PROCESS FOR EACH OF THE OTHER CHILDREN IN THE FIRST FAMILY:
If you not on a record for a Spouse of that first child, <PgUp>
until you get to the record for one of Spouses for that Child. <ALT>
Up Arrow (Keypad 8), the Spouse Jump, puts you back to that first
Child again. Now <ALT> <PgDn> (the Next Sibling Jump) moves you to
the next Child, and you can repeat this same process. If the Spouse
and her parents just entered have changed DITTO values that you need
to use, when you edit this next Child, just hold the Down Arrow to
flip through the fields and reload the DITTO values and then move
on. In this example, the Children have been consecutive. As you work
with your database however, you will find yourself entering full
families where one or more of the Children were entered much
earlier. In those cases, the Sibling Jumps will be used to great
advantage.
FINALLY SCAN THIS GENERATION:
Now flip back through what you have entered for this generation, and see
if there are any other Persons you need to add - FOR THIS ONE GENERATION.
After you are sure you have what you want on file, THEN continue using
the same procedures into the following generations. Double check your
work after each generation. You are much more likely to spot errors while
the data is fresh in your mind.
Remember, this is only ONE way of entering data to maximize the DITTO use.
Each genealogist will find an entry pattern that is most efficient for their
own research. Use this example only as guide for further ideas.
BACKING UP FILES
At several places in this manual, we have stressed the importance of
performing regular backups on your files. So which do you back up? Well, that
depends.
The actual DATA FILES that you use to store your data can be described as:
*.DAT
that is, files whose names start with anything and end with ".DAT".
The actual INDEX FILES can be described as:
*.IX?
that is, files whose names start with anything and end with at least ".IX".
And the HISTORY NOTES FILES can likewise be described as:
HISTORY\E*.DGE
which means all files in the HISTORY subdirectory whose names start with "E"
followed by anything and end with ".DGE".
The INDEX FILES, while important to running THE FAMILY EDGE, are actually
created from information stored in the DATA FILES. And the RECOVER option in
EDGEUTIL can reconstruct them completely. So if you back up the DATA FILES and
the HISTORY NOTES FILES on a regular basis, you will have provided for
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES ........................................................7.3
yourself the necessary safety net. The INDEX FILES can be backed up more as
aconvenience feature. If you have INDEX FILES in back up, in the case of any
problem, you will be able to directly use all of the back up files without
first performing a RECOVER on those backed up files.
FINDING ALL BURIALS IN A CEMETERY
Want to find everyone who is buried in a particular Cemetery? Find one Person
with a Burial Record in that Cemetery. Edit the Person. Then <ALT> Burial.
Then Edit the Burial data by changing the State field to QQ. F-10 out of the
Burial. F-10 out of the Person Edit. Now FIND by Location for the State QQ.
Only those Persons buried in that Cemetery will have QQ for a Location. Edit
the first Person's Burial record, changing the State back to its proper value.
This Location List remains intact until you do a new FIND by Location - and
you can BROWSE the records, print Name Lists, sort the Persons, all the while
using just the group of Person burried in that Cemetery!
CHILDLESS SPOUSES ON DESCENDANT CHARTS
Need to include a particular Spouse on a Descendant Chart, even though that
Spouse is not the parent of a Descendant (the criteria for inclusion)? Give
that childless couple a child whose Given Name is **NO and whose Surname is
ISSUE** - and quite handily, that Descendant Chart will print the Spouse with
**NO ISSUE** immediately underneath.
Want to use that child more than once? Add alternate parents for the same
Person, using other childless couples you wish to include. You not only get
the Spouse name included, but you clearly indicate that there were no children
to research further.
QUICK CHARTS
Need a quick chart but, you don't want to go through a full printout? Do a
Print Screen or Intelligent Print Screen of an on-screen chart. Get a quick
name index from the Names List, or a full Children list from the Family Screen
- even print a Main Data Entry Form while tracing ancestors to show various
records on the tree.
SPEEDING THE PROGRAM
THE FAMILY EDGE is in the category of programs called database programs. As a
result of how they handle and store data, database programs use the Disk
Drives a LOT. Back and forth. The speed of your Disk Drives actually is a main
determining factor in how fast THE FAMILY EDGE will run. You can help. There
is a technique called DISK CACHING. Basically what happens is that part of the
computer's memory is used as very fast temporary storage space for some of the
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES ........................................................7.4
data the program will use. Unlike a RAM DISK, all of your data is written
promptly to disk when THE FAMILY EDGE calls for it to be written. The key is
that when THE FAMILY EDGE asks for more data FROM the disk, the DISK CACHING
PROGRAM will often already have that info in memory and will accomplish a very
fast data transfer to THE FAMILY EDGE.
DOS makes some rudimentary attempts at this DISK CACHING. That's what the
BUFFERS=32 statement in a CONFIG.SYS file is all about - a group of memory
"buffers" to temporarily store frequently called for data. There are both
Shareware and Commercial Programs that perform much more sophisticated DISK
CACHING and can speed the operation of THE FAMILY EDGE even further. Since THE
FAMILY EDGE only needs 256K of memory (actually 180K-200K outside of DOS), the
rest of your computer memory can be used for other purposes, including DISK
CACHING.
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES ........................................................7.5
==============================================================================
THE I-DON'T-EVEN-KNOW-WHAT-A-COMPUTER-IS-SO-HOW-CAN-YOU-POSSIBLY-
EXPECT-ME-TO-USE-ONE SECTION .....................................page 8.1
==============================================================================
Not only novices may apply. Good news again. You may not know how your heating
furnace works, or how to install a new one if the old one breaks down, but you
do know how to set the thermostat to get heat. There it is. We will rename
this the HOW-TO-SET-THE-THERMOSTAT SECTION. Note: it can be very useful to
know how your heating system works, so when you have the time, expend a bit of
effort towards acquiring that knowledge. But don't let a lack of knowledge of
its innards keep you from adjusting the thermostat when cold weather rolls
around.
THE MYSTERIOUS HARDWARE TERMS LIST:
COMPUTER ---- A creature, quite unlike a Husband or Wife, that will follow
your instructions promptly and without significant complaint -
not remotely comparable to a teenager. If you will think of a
COMPUTER as being a desk, a lot of its parts have parallel
parts on a desk.
HARDWARE ---- The basic underlying electronic parts of a COMPUTER (not
considered mysterious enough to make it to the actual
mysterious list) including its keyboard, its television screen
(called the MONITOR), and the actual computer box (containing
parts considered TOO mysterious for this list).
PROGRAM ----- NOT a weekly favorite on the television, but a YOU-DO-THIS-WHEN-
I-DO-THIS list of instructions for your COMPUTER to follow.
SOFTWARE ---- The various PROGRAMS that make your COMPUTER HARDWARE such a
joy and a pleasure to use (notice how this list neatly slips in
formerly mysterious words and uses them in casual conversation,
thereby reinforcing their meaning).
DOS --------- D)isk O)perating S)ystem. Just a shorthand for a number of
small PROGRAMS (SOFTWARE) that tend to get used over and over
again in operating your COMPUTER and hence are provided with
your COMPUTER.
COMPUTER DISK Small (5 1/4 inch) or smaller (3 1/2 inch) DISKS that are
inserted into your computer and that hold the actual PROGRAMS
and stored information. The familiar term "slipped disk" means
that someone has actually placed a disk into a computer. A
COMPUTER DISK would be considered HARDWARE, not SOFTWARE.
DISK DRIVE -- The catchy name some computer manufacturers give to the short
stub of a street in the local industrial park leading to their
main warehouse. ALSO: those parts of a COMPUTER that, like a
desk drawer, hold the DISKS with stored information that you
have so carefully entered. Unlike a desk drawer, the disk drive
reads information off of its disks and sends that information
to the computer. This is known as the "desk drawer - disk drive
difference".
THE I-DON'T-EVEN-KNOW-WHAT-A-COMPUTER-IS-SO-HOW-CAN-YOU-POSSIBLY-
EXPECT-ME-TO-USE-ONE SECTION ......................................page 8.1
THE MYSTERIOUS HARDWARE TERMS LIST (CONTINUED):
FLOPPY DRIVE - A DISK DRIVE that uses COMPUTER DISKS that can be inserted and
removed, much like records with a record player, and hence give
the computer different information to work with. If you are
comfortable with the Computer-As-A-Desk analogy, changing disks
in a floppy drive would be similar to going to another file
cabinet in an office, and bringing back a group of file folders
to put into one of your desk drawers. A typical COMPUTER DISK
in a FLOPPY DRIVE can hold from 100 to 400 typewritten pages.
Not to be confused with a SLOPPY DRIVE which you get from
placing a FLOPPY DISK covered with chocolate syrup into a
FLOPPY DRIVE.
HARD DRIVE --- The road from Boise, Idaho to Honolulu. ALSO: A DISK DRIVE
whose "Disk" is not normally removable but which holds
dramatically more information (in one "drawer") than a FLOPPY
DRIVE. A typical HARD DRIVE would hold 25 to 200 times as much
information as each FLOPPY DISK (from a few thousand pages to
MANY thousands of pages). A HARD DRIVE also has the advantage
of feeding the information it holds to a COMPUTER much faster
than a FLOPPY DRIVE, and hence with many types of PROGRAMS, the
COMPUTER effectively works faster. Just one HARD DRIVE on a
COMPUTER could hold the entire list of the times you asked your
son to mow the lawn - and he didn't.
BOOTING ----- Loading into your COMPUTER the necessary group of DOS PROGRAMS
to make your COMPUTER clever enough to work. The COMPUTER has
enough smarts already inside its box to know where to go
looking for these extra essential programs. First it will check
your primary FLOPPY DRIVE, then if it does not find what it
wants, it will check for a HARD DRIVE. If it THEN does not find
what it wants, it will write on your MONITOR rude messages from
the COMPUTER manufacturer, and simply refuse to do any work.
Throwing away a COMPUTER you are angry with is NOT the same as
BOOTING a COMPUTER.
RAM --------- More shorthand, this time for R)andom A)ccess M)emory. Back to
our desk analogy. A computer normally has to get things onto
the top of its desk to work with them. The RAM is its desk top.
When the desk top is full and other information is needed,
first some of the papers on the desk top (in RAM) have to be
put away in the drawers (DISK DRIVES) before the new
information can be taken from the drawers (DISK DRIVES) and put
into use on the desk top (RAM). RAM is part of the COMPUTER
HARDWARE. The amount of RAM inside a computer can be increased
or decreased giving you in effect a larger or smaller desk top
on which to work. ALL PROGRAMS have a minimum amount of RAM
that they need to be able to operate. Many but not all can use
some additional desk top space beyond the minimum to increase
the efficiency of the PROGRAM.
ROM --------- R)ead O)nly M)emory. The instructions that a COMPUTER keeps
stored inside its box that tells it how to get information to
and from the outside world. ALSO: A word that is useful to
chant for its calming effect when the COMPUTER seems to be
doing very strange things.
THE I-DON'T-EVEN-KNOW-WHAT-A-COMPUTER-IS-SO-HOW-CAN-YOU-POSSIBLY-
EXPECT-ME-TO-USE-ONE SECTION ......................................page 8.2
THE MYSTERIOUS SOFTWARE TERMS LIST:
DATA -------- Oh noooooooo. If I have to explain that DATA is just another
term for information, I will just march off a cliff.
DATABASE ---- A general name given to a type of PROGRAM that, like a personal
telephone book, stores and retrieves information. What makes a
DATABASE PROGRAM different from a telephone book is that you
can also "look up" someone's phone number by remembering the
street where they live, or the city, or even by their postal
zip code. A DATABASE PROGRAM for Genealogy will allow you to
store information on individuals and their records, find that
information easily when you need it, and if you choose, print
out that information in clear and logical formats that will aid
you in your continuing research. A Genealogy PROGRAM will not
do your research for you, but it will give you a way to
organize your information and improve your efficiency.
Unfortunately, it will not help your daughter clean her room.
FIELD ------- The name for the blanks you fill in on a COMPUTER DATABASE
form. I can't explain why "filling in the blanks" is called
"entering DATA in the FIELDS", but just between you and me,
they mean exactly the same thing. So when I slip and say,
"Carefully check the FIELD to ensure the DATA has been entered
correctly," I really mean, "Make sure you got the right stuff
in the right blank."
RECORD ------ All the FIELDS of information logically connected with a Person
or event. An entry in a telephone book would be a RECORD. A
Will with all its information would be a RECORD, as would a
Person's information with the accompanying vital statistics.
ALSO: Climbing Mount Everest three times in a 24 hour period is
a RECORD.
ROUTINE ----- The name for any small section of a PROGRAM that does a
specific task. Printing a Pedigree Chart would be a ROUTINE.
Adding a RECORD would be a ROUTINE. Dancing the Samba while
eating fried chicken and drinking champagne would be considered
more bizarre than ROUTINE.
SPREADSHEET - Instructions to the cleaning lady. SEE ALSO: MOPFLOORS.
WORD PROCESSOR A better typewriter. It can move words around, and underline
things you forgot to underline, and lots and lots of other
goodies, but what it really boils down to is that a WORD
PROCESSOR is just a better typewriter.
THE I-DON'T-EVEN-KNOW-WHAT-A-COMPUTER-IS-SO-HOW-CAN-YOU-POSSIBLY-
EXPECT-ME-TO-USE-ONE SECTION ......................................page 8.3
==============================================================================
INDEX ................................................................page 9.1
==============================================================================
Abbreviations, State ............5.32 CONTROL TOGGLES (cont.)
Access TOGGLE ...................5.11 Control Echo ................ 5.13
Adding Records ...................7.1 Control Family Forms ........ 5.14
Adoptions .......................5.30 Control Generations ......... 5.14
Advance Linking ............4.2, 5.50 Control Index ............... 5.15
Ahnentafel Charts ...............5.40 Control Lines ............... 5.15
Ahnentafel Numbering ............5.41 Control Macros .............. 5.15
<ALT> "=" .......................5.21 Control Names ............... 5.16
<ALT> "*" .......................5.21 Control Order ............... 5.16
<ALT> Data Entry Forms ..........5.23 Control Printer ............. 5.17
Alternate Parent Screen .........5.30 Control Quit ................ 5.17
Alternate Person Screen .........5.43 Control Screen .............. 5.18
Ancestor tracing ................5.47 Control Temper .............. 5.18
Approximate dates ................5.3 Control Verify .............. 5.18
AUDIT Utility ....................6.5 Control X-it to DOS ......... 5.19
Background printing .............5.17 Control Z ................... 5.20
Backup ......................1.2, 7.3 Conversion of earlier formats .. 6.11
Birth Order .....................5.29 Counties ........................ 5.4
Blocking DITTO ..................5.17 Countries ....................... 5.5
Blood Relationship ..............5.44 Creating files .................. 3.1
Bootable program disk ............2.3 Cursor Movement ........... 3.3, 5.48
Browsing the files ...5.5, 5.11, 5.46 Cursor Size ..................... 6.3
Burial Records ..................5.23 CUT and PASTE .................. 5.25
Capacity .........................2.1 Data loss ....................... 1.2
Cemeteries .................5.23, 7.4 Date TOGGLE .................... 5.13
Changes to History Notes ........5.26 Date Alert ..................... 5.13
Changing drive/directory ..5.52, 5.53 Dates ........................... 5.2
Charts, quick ....................7.4 Deleting records ............... 5.49
Charts, Internal storage of .....5.49 Descendant Chart .......... 5.42, 7.4
Christening Records .............5.24 Direct access to <ALT> data .... 5.31
Cities ...........................5.4 Directory support .............. 5.53
CLEARING a field ...........3.4, 5.21 Disk .......
Codes TOGGLE ....................5.12 Caching ...................... 7.4
Colors ...........................6.1 Formatting ................... 2.3
Completion Key ..................5.45 Storage of printer output ... 5.17
Command line options ............5.52 DITTO ..................... 3.4, 5.20
Computer ID TOGGLE ..............5.12 DITTO blocking ................. 5.17
CONFIG.SYS ..................1.3, 2.1 Divorce records ................ 5.28
CONTROL TOGGLES .................5.10 DOS Shell ...................... 5.19
Control All ..................5.10 DOUBLE DATES .................... 5.4
Control Access ...............5.11 Drives, Data files on other .... 5.53
Control Browsing .............5.11 ECHO to Printer ................ 5.13
Control Computer ID Numbers ..5.12 EDGEUTIL ........................ 6.1
Control Dates ................5.13 EMS Memory ................ 2.1, 5.52
INDEX .................................................................page 9.1
ERROR MESSAGES ..................5.51 Generations, limiting .......... 5.14
Estates .........................5.31 Grandparents ................... 5.18
Exit to DOS .....................5.19 Hardware ........................ 1.3
Extended Family Report ..........5.39 Hard Disk Installation .......... 2.4
Extra Data Entry Forms ..........5.23 HELP KEY ....................... 5.35
Extra Records Status Line ........3.2 History Notes .................. 5.25
Family Forms TOGGLE .............5.14 Files ....................... 5.27
Family Group Sheet ..............5.38 Printout .............. 5.14, 5.25
Family Reports DITTO ............5.39 Immigration Records ............ 5.27
Field-to-field movement .........5.48 Index TOGGLE ................... 5.15
Files ........ Indexing names .................. 5.1
Data .........................5.54 Individual Report .............. 5.43
History Notes ..........5.27, 5.54 Insert .......................... 3.2
Index ........................5.54 Installation .................... 2.3
Program ......................5.54 Jumping through the database ... 5.46
Utility ......................5.54 Last Edited Person for Parent .. 5.21
Finding ..........................5.5 LDS Ordinances ........... 5.18, 5.32
Floppy disk Installation .........2.4 Lines per page ................. 5.15
Foreign characters ..............5.32 Linking Records ........... 5.53, 7.1
Foreign Countries ................5.5 Living entry in date fields ..... 5.3
Formatting disks .................2.3 Loading the program ............. 3.1
Forms storage ...................5.49 Location List .............. 5.6, 5.8
Forms TOGGLE ....................5.14 Locations, Entering ............. 5.4
Function Keys ...................5.34 Locations, Find ................. 5.8
F-1 - HELP KEY .........5.35 MACROS ................... 5.15, 5.26
SHIFT F-1 - Type to Printer ..5.35 Main Data Entry Form ............ 3.2
<ALT> F-1 - Scratch Pad ......5.36 Marriage Records ............... 5.28
F-2 - Names.............5.37 Memory, EMS ............... 2.1, 5.52
SHIFT F-2 - Names ............5.37 MENUS ........................... 3.3
F-3 - Pedigree .........5.37 MERGE .......................... 6.11
SHIFT F-3 - Pedigree .........5.38 Mormon Ordinances ........ 5.18, 5.32
F-4 - Family Group .....5.38 Moving in the database .... 5.5, 5.46
SHIFT F-4 - Family Group .....5.39 Names ........................... 5.1
<ALT> F-4 - Extended Family ..5.39 Finding by .................... 5.5
F-5 - Ahnentafel .......5.40 Name Indexing ................... 5.1
SHIFT F-5 - Ahnentafel .......5.41 Names List ..................... 5.36
<ALT> F-5 - Ahnentafel .......5.41 Index TOGGLE ................. 5.15
F-6 - Descendants ......5.43 Name Order ..................... 5.16
SHIFT F-6 - Descendants ......5.43 Names TOGGLE ................... 5.16
F-7 - Alternate Person .5.43 Next ID Number ................. 5.21
SHIFT F-7 - Individual Chart .5.43 Numbers, printing .............. 5.12
<ALT> F-7 - Relationship .....5.44 Numeric Keypad ................. 5.47
F-9 - Screen Snapshots .5.44 Order of Birth ................. 5.29
SHIFT F-9 - Print Screen .....5.45 Order of Birth DITTO ........... 5.29
<ALT> F-9 - Screen to Disk ...5.45 Order of Name TOGGLE ........... 5.16
<CTRL> F-9 - Screen to Disk ...5.45 Ordinances of LDS Church . 5.18, 5.32
F-10 - COMPLETION KEY ...5.45 Overwrite ....................... 3.2
GEDCOM ...........................6.9 Page Length .................... 5.15
INDEX .................................................................page 9.2
Paging through the files ...5.5, 5.46 Searching ....................... 5.5
Parent linking...................5.21 Setup ........................... 6.1
Parents, Alternate ..............5.30 Snapshots ...................... 5.44
Partial Name, Find by ............5.7 Soundex CODE .............. 5.6, 5.54
Partial Name List ................5.6 Source Notes ................... 5.30
PASTE ...........................5.25 DITTO ....................... 5.30
Pedigree Chart ..................5.37 Printing .............. 5.14, 5.30
Power supply problems ...........5.19 Special Keys ................... 5.20
Practice session .................3.1 Split screen ................... 5.26
Print ...........................5.17 Spouse DITTO ................... 5.21
Background ...................5.17 States .......................... 5.4
Codes .........................6.3 Abbreviations ............... 5.32
Drivers .......................6.3 Status Screen ................... 3.1
History Paste Buffer .........5.26 Stepchildren ................... 5.30
Output to disk ...............5.17 Structure, program ....... 5.49, 5.50
Setup .........................6.3 Structured Dates ................ 5.2
Screen .......................5.45 TABS ........................... 5.25
Text Files ...................6.12 Tags ........................... 5.31
TOGGLE .......................5.17 Temper TOGGLE .................. 5.18
Probate records .................5.31 Tombstones ..................... 5.23
Program structure .........5.49, 5.50 Tutorial ........................ 3.1
Program Disk .....................2.4 Uncertainty Tags ............... 5.31
Quick Charts .....................7.4 UNDO ...................... 3.4, 5.21
Quick Instructions ...............1.3 Unstructured Dates .............. 5.3
RECOVER ..........................6.4 Upgrading ....................... 2.4
Redirecting printer output ......5.17 User Tags ...................... 5.31
REDO .......................3.4, 5.21 UTILITIES .......
Relationship ....................5.44 Audit ......................... 6.5
RENUMBER Person .................5.15 Convert ....................... 6.5
Reorder Children ................5.38 FAMILY EDGE ................ 6.11
Researcher ......................5.33 GEDCOM ...................... 6.8
Restore data to a field .........5.21 PAF2Edge .................... 6.5
Reverse Video, meaning ...........5.5 Merge ........................ 6.11
Save Screen .....................5.45 Recover ....................... 6.4
Saving records ...................5.9 Print Text Files ............. 6.12
Saving problems .................5.18 Setup ......................... 6.1
Scratch pad .....................5.36 Cursor ...................... 6.3
Screen ....... Printer ..................... 6.3
Attributes/Colors .............6.1 Screens/Colors .............. 6.1
Printing .....................5.45 Verified Write ................. 5.18
Saving .......................5.45 Wills .......................... 5.31
Setup .........................6.1 Windows ........................ 5.23
Snapshots ....................5.44 Word processor ................. 5.25
Splitting ....................5.26 Write Verification ............. 5.18
Switching ....................5.18 X-it to DOS TOGGLE ............. 5.19
TOGGLE .......................5.18
THE FAMILY EDGE (C) 1989-1991 by Carl J. York ........... all rights reserved
