I know there has been plenty of discussion about various merging issues, but I've still never quite got my head around this one:
Is it possible to upload and ADD the records in one GEDCOM to another? (as opposed to downloading and editing them in)
If so, what happens to the xref numbering?
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Anonymous
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2009-12-10
Wes, the short answer is NO, there is no way to append data directly in PGV. The ONLY thing you can do in PGV is merge individual records, one at a time, if they are already in the same GEDCOM file.
The only way to append data is to do it externally, in a text editor.
Even that only works if you are 100% certain that all the Xrefs in the new GEDCOM do not conflict with any in the existing GEDCOM.
I use a simple Excel spreadsheet to renumber all the Xrefs in the new GEDCOM, starting from numbers (INDI, FAM, etc) that are higher than the ones listed in PGVs "nextid" table.
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Wes
And, as previously offered to others, I'd be happy to 'merge'/append your 2nd GEDCOM into the Master version using GEDITCOM, if you mail them to me.
-Stephen
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OK, I'll edit it in. Then I'll write an RFE, unless I feel abnormally energetic and write some code. :-)
I knew merge had to be individually, but I was hoping to not have to download/edit/upload the GEDCOM.
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Anonymous
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2009-12-20
> OK, I'll edit it in. Then I'll write an RFE, unless I feel abnormally energetic and write some code. :-)
I'd think very hard before suggesting we allow an "append" type import Wes. Just consider the mess you would have if anyone (even an experienced admin) used it WITHOUT first being absolutely sure there wasn't a single XREF conflict between the new and old files.
Not suggesting it can't be done, but a LOT of safeguards would be needed, IMHO.
Personally I think the need to do it outside of PGV is a good safeguard. It makes us think much harder about what we're doing.
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An append would **have** to renumber.. An admin should hopefully not be adding loads of unverified records. But on the opposite extreme, if we have to manually fiddle with all the IDs, then we might as well just add the records one at a time.
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No, thanks. I would not trust any non-human to make reliable identification of records that should or should not be merged.
Now, a recursive interactive semi-automated merge would be cool-merge two records, ask user which records pointed to should also be merged, etc.
Or a report of probability of match. An old DOS prgram called GIM did both of these in a way that was fairly impressive, I thought. You can still get it, but it is not 100% compatible with recent versions of Windows. (Runs, but occasionally does weird things) gimsoft.com
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I know there has been plenty of discussion about various merging issues, but I've still never quite got my head around this one:
Is it possible to upload and ADD the records in one GEDCOM to another? (as opposed to downloading and editing them in)
If so, what happens to the xref numbering?
Wes, the short answer is NO, there is no way to append data directly in PGV. The ONLY thing you can do in PGV is merge individual records, one at a time, if they are already in the same GEDCOM file.
The only way to append data is to do it externally, in a text editor.
Even that only works if you are 100% certain that all the Xrefs in the new GEDCOM do not conflict with any in the existing GEDCOM.
I use a simple Excel spreadsheet to renumber all the Xrefs in the new GEDCOM, starting from numbers (INDI, FAM, etc) that are higher than the ones listed in PGVs "nextid" table.
Wes
And, as previously offered to others, I'd be happy to 'merge'/append your 2nd GEDCOM into the Master version using GEDITCOM, if you mail them to me.
-Stephen
OK, I'll edit it in. Then I'll write an RFE, unless I feel abnormally energetic and write some code. :-)
I knew merge had to be individually, but I was hoping to not have to download/edit/upload the GEDCOM.
> OK, I'll edit it in. Then I'll write an RFE, unless I feel abnormally energetic and write some code. :-)
I'd think very hard before suggesting we allow an "append" type import Wes. Just consider the mess you would have if anyone (even an experienced admin) used it WITHOUT first being absolutely sure there wasn't a single XREF conflict between the new and old files.
Not suggesting it can't be done, but a LOT of safeguards would be needed, IMHO.
Personally I think the need to do it outside of PGV is a good safeguard. It makes us think much harder about what we're doing.
An append would **have** to renumber.. An admin should hopefully not be adding loads of unverified records. But on the opposite extreme, if we have to manually fiddle with all the IDs, then we might as well just add the records one at a time.
Once you start doing that you must as well go all the way and automatically merge records you can identify as matching existing ones. In effect you might as well take PGV's existing gedmerge patch file (https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1581206&group_id=55456&atid=477081) and get it to work on the latest version of PGV.
automatically merge records?
No, thanks. I would not trust any non-human to make reliable identification of records that should or should not be merged.
Now, a recursive interactive semi-automated merge would be cool-merge two records, ask user which records pointed to should also be merged, etc.
Or a report of probability of match. An old DOS prgram called GIM did both of these in a way that was fairly impressive, I thought. You can still get it, but it is not 100% compatible with recent versions of Windows. (Runs, but occasionally does weird things) gimsoft.com