391 lines
13 KiB
XML
391 lines
13 KiB
XML
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<preface id="gramps-preface">
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<!--
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User Manual for Gramps - a GTK+/GNOME based genealogy program
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Copyright (C) 2003-2005 Alexander Roitman
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This document is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
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it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
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the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
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(at your option) any later version.
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This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
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but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
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MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
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GNU General Public License for more details.
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You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
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along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
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Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
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-->
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<!-- $Id$ -->
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<title>Preface</title>
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<para>
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&app; is a free software package designed to help you with
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genealogical research. It allows you to store, edit, and research
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genealogical data using your computer. &app; is an open source
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software package, which means you are free to run it on any number
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of computers, examine the code, make changes, and redistribute as
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many copies as you like. It is developed and maintained by a
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worldwide team of volunteers and is available at no cost from the
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project web site and from many software distributions
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</para>
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<sect1 id="why-gramps">
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<title>Why use GRAMPS?</title>
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<para>
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Most genealogy programs allow the researcher to input
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information related to a family tree. They can usually display
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descendant or ancestral relationships through graphical
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displays, charts, or reports. Some allow pictures or other media
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to be inserted to enhance the raw data. Most provide a means to
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include data on individuals or families that may or may not be
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related to the primary family being researched. And they may
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include other features such as exporting or importing to and
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from other programs and printing data contained in various
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reports.
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</para><para>
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&app; has all these capabilities and more. Notably, it allows
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you to integrate bits and pieces of stray data as the arise from
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your research and put all this information in one place - your
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computer. You can then use the speed, power, and accuracy of
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your computer to store, manipulate, correlate, and analyze your
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data, rather than messing with reams of paper.
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</para><para>
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&app; has the power to let you rearrange your data in any order
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or sequence and to help you fill gaps in genealogical
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relationships.
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</para>
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</sect1>
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<sect1 id="whats-new">
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<title>What's new since 1.0.X</title>
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<para>
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This section lists most notable changes from the previous
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stable branch of &app;, the 1.0.X.
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</para>
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<variablelist>
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<varlistentry><term>Berkeley database backend</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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The default format for &app; is now the BSDDB database.
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This change allowed us to overcome performance issues and
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memory requirements of the 1.0.X branch. With the database
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backend, the database sizes of up to a hundred thousand
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people do not present a major obstacle any longer.
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</para><para>
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The default extension for &app; BSDDB database files is
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grdb. The new format is open and fully documented in the
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developer's API reference distributed with the source of
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&app;.
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</para><para>
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A consequence of the new database backend is that the
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changes, once approved by the user, are applied
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immediately. In short, once you click
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<guibutton>OK</guibutton> in the Person, Family, Source,
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Place, Media object, or Event editor, all the changes made
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to this object are recorded in the database. No saving is
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necessary (or even possible). The analog of quitting
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without saving would be abandoning all changes and
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quitting. Also, it is possible to undo recent actions.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry><term>Interface improvements</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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There were numerous changes in the interface. Most of them
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are subtle and incremental improvements, and all of them
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cannot be listed here. The most noticeable changes are:
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Removal of alphabetical tabs
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Ability to add/remove/rearrange columns in list views
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Removal of Save function and addition of Undo
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Proper window management and removal of most modal windows
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Support for Tip of the Day
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Person-dependent context menus (right-click) in Pedigree View
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listing parents, children, spouses, and siblings
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Export wizard
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Built-in Find function in list views
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Date selector dialog
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Name editor enhancements: patronymic names and non-default
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grouping
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Recent file support (both gramps-specific and gnome-wide)
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>
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Other database backends
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</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Along with the BSDDB backend, the in-memory database handling
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for &app; XML and GEDCOM formats has been added. Simply put, it
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is now possible to natively open data in those two formats
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(although the preferred and default format is grdb) and work with
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that data, without necessarily setting up an empty database and
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then importing into it. This approach requires holding all data in
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memory, so it is only useful for small databases (depending on the
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available memory size). In such mode, the data is automatically
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saved upon exit, to mimic the functionality of the real database.
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<warning id="gedcom-inmem1-warn">
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<title>GEDCOM Editing</title>
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<para>
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Please keep in mind that some information in GEDCOM
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file may be lost during import into &app;. Simply
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opening and viewing the file will not change it.
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However, if any changes were made and they were not
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abandoned upon exit, exiting &app; will save the data,
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with the possible data loss.
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</para>
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</warning>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>Import and Export</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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New import and export filters available for the GeneWeb format.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>Reports</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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A new report -- Statistics Chart -- has been added to &app;.
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</para><para>
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An overall change of the whole report framework has been
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accomplished. All reports now remember their options. It
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is possible to generate reports from the command line,
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without launching the interactive &app; session. The
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report API is much simpler now, making it easy to write a
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custom report. A single code instance may be used for a
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standalone report, a book item, and a command-line
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report.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>Command line</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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The new command line functionality includes opening the
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filename argument given without any flags, as well as new
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flags and options for report generation. Also, the
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addition of new formats leads to additional available
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format options.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>Internationalization</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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The approach for entering and displaying dates has been
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completely re-worked. In particular, the new framework
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allows for a deeper localization of displayed dates than
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was ever possible using the translatable strings.
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</para><para>
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The internationalization of names have also been improved.
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Names can be grouped under a non-default
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string. Patronymic names are supported, and it is easy to
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program new ways of displaying names, as may be required
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by various cultures and languages.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>Desktop integration</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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All formats known to &app; are now registered as mime
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types, each with its icon and &app; as a default
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handler. Double-clicking on a file with any of these
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formats will launch &app; and open that file. &app; also
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added support for the recent documents
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functionality. This is on both the GNOME-wide level
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and within the &app;.
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</para><para>
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The preferences are now properly stored using GConf, with
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schemas, partitioning of keys into smaller directories,
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error checking, and notification.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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</sect1>
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<sect1 id="typography">
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<title>Typographical conventions</title>
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<para>
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In this book, some words are marked with special typography:
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<simpara>
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<application>Applications</application>
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</simpara>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<simpara>
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<command>Commands</command> you type at the command line
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</simpara>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<simpara>
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<filename>Filenames</filename>
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</simpara>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<simpara>
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<replaceable>Replaceable text</replaceable>
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</simpara>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<simpara>
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<guilabel>Labels</guilabel> for buttons and other
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portions of the graphical interface
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</simpara>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<simpara>
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Menu selections look like this:
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<menuchoice>
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<guimenu>Menu</guimenu>
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<guisubmenu>Submenu</guisubmenu>
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<guimenuitem>Menu Item</guimenuitem>
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</menuchoice>
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</simpara>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<simpara>
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<guibutton>Buttons</guibutton> you can click
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</simpara>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<simpara>
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<userinput>Anything you type in</userinput>
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</simpara>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</para>
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<para>
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The manual also provides assorted bits of additional information in
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tips and notes, as follows.
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<tip id="example-tip">
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<title>Tip</title>
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<para>
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Tips and bits of extra information will look like
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this.
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</para>
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</tip>
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<note id="example-note">
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<title>Note</title>
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<para>
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Notes will look like this.
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</para>
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</note>
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</para>
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<para>
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Finally, there are warnings, notifying you where you should be careful:
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<warning id="example-warning">
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<title>Example Warning</title>
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<para>
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This is what a warning looks like. If there's a chance
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you'll run into trouble, you will be warned beforehand.
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</para>
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</warning>
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</para>
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</sect1>
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</preface>
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