gramps/gramps2/doc/gramps-manual/C/gramps-manual-C.txt

<Introduction

<	<What is GRAMPS?

GRAMPS is an acronym for the Genealogical Research and Analysis Management 
Programming System. To put it shortly, it allows you to store, edit, and research 
genealogical data using your computer. Its functionality is somewhat common to 
other genealogical programs. However, it has some unique features. 

<	<Why GRAMPS?

GRAMPS was conceived under the concept that most genealogy programs 
were designed to provide the researcher the capability to input information 
related to a particular family tree.  Most of these programs have allowed for 
the arranging and storing of information consistent with the GEDCOM standards.  
They usually provide means for displaying descendant or ancestral relationships 
by means of graphical displays, charts, or reports.  These may be augmented 
with pictures or other media to enhance the data.  Most provide for inputting 
data on unconnected individuals/families that may or may not have a relationship 
to the primary surname being researched.  Various other enhancements may 
also be provided in the genealogical program that allows for different degrees of 
importing and exporting data from other programs and printing the data contained 
in the various reports.  

GRAMPS, on the other hand, attempts to provide all of the common capabilities 
of these programs, but, more importantly, to provide an additional capability of 
integration not common to these programs.  This is the ability to input any bits 
and pieces of information directly into GRAMPS and rearrange/manipulate 
any/all data events in the entire data base (in any order or sequence) to 
assist the user in doing research, analysis and correlation with the potential 
of filling relationship gaps.  In short, a tool that provides a way to input 
all your research into one place and do your analysis and correlation using 
the speed, power, and accuracy of your computer instead of pencils and 
unmanageable reams of paper.


<Getting Started
	<Starting GRAMPS

You can start GRAMPS either from Application menu or from Command line.

<	<	<Applications Menu
Choose Other->GRAMPS.

<	<	<Command line
Type gramps and press Return.

<	Running GRAMPS for the first time.

[ RE-WORK THIS WITH SCREENSHOTS BEGIN ]
The first time you run the program, GRAMPS will display its Getting Started
screens. GRAMPS will guide you through a few pages that prompt you for 
some setup information. The information it requests includes information about 
yourself and your preferences.

Although GRAMPS requests information about your, this information is used 
only so that it can create valid GEDCOM output files. A valid GEDCOM file 
requires information about the file's creator. If you chose, you may leave the 
information empty.
[ RE-WORK THIS WITH SCREENSHOTS END ]

<Main Window

When you open a database (either existing or brand new), the following window is displayed:
Figure 1, gramps - GRAMPS (example file loaded). 

<	<Menubar

The Menubar provides access to all features of GRAMPS through its menus. 

<	<Toolbar

The Toolbar provides access to the most frequently used functions of GRAMPS. 
The appearance of the Toolbar can be adjusted in the Preferences dialog.

<	<Progress bar

The Progress bar is located in the lower left corner of the GRAMPS window. It shows the 
progress of time consuming operations, such as opening and saving large data bases, 
importing and exporting to other formats, generating web-sites, etc. 

<	<Status line

The Status line is located to the right of the Progress bar, on the very bottom of the GRAMPS
window. The behavior of the Status line can be adjusted in the Preferences dialog.

<	<Display area

The Display area of the GRAMPS window shows certain aspects of genealogical information, 
depending on the currently selected View. There are six Views available in GRAMPS: 
People, Family, Pedigree, Sources, Places, and Media. 

<	<Views

Views are the various ways to display various aspects of genealogical information, as described below. 
Since the relevant information is very broad and non-uniform in both context and modality, it is best
to split it's display into smaller categories, uniform in context and modality. Each View represents
such a split and displays a certain portion of overall available information. Before the detailed
description of available Views, let us  guide you through the ways of switching between the Views.

<	<	<Viewing Modes
<	<	<	<Sidebar vs Tabbed Interface

Depending on the state of the View->Sidebar menu item, the Views could be changed either in
the Sidebar (Figure 2. Sidebar, no filter) or in the Notebook Tabs in the top part of the window
(Figure 3. no sidebar, no filter). To switch the View, click on the desired Sidebar icon or the Notebook 
tab. To Switch between Sidebar and Notebook interfaces, choose View->Sidebar from the 
GRAMPS menu.

<	<	<People View

When GRAMPS opens a database, the View is set to the People View. 
People View lists individuals whose data is stored in the database.  People View displays people's 
Names, GRAMPS ID numbers, Gender, and their Birth and Death dates. 
The list can be ordered by any field. Example: to order list by the Birth date, click on the Birth date 
column heading. To order list in reverse (descending) order, click one more time on the desired 
column heading. 

<	<	<	<Filters

Genealogical databases may contain huge numbers of people. Since the long lists are hard 
for humans to handle, GRAMPS provides a convenient way to limit the scope of browsing
by using the Filter. To save screen space, Filter controls may be either displayed or not, depending
on the state of View->Filter menu item. 

When GRAMPS opens a database, the Filter is set to the trivial filter called "All people", i.e. no 
filtering is in effect. To choose a filter, use a pop-up Filter menu above the people's 
list (Figure 4, sidebar, filter). Once the Filter is chosen, press apply button in the upper right corner
of the window. The filtering will take effect upon pressing Apply. To invert the filtering rule, check
the Invert check-box on the left of Apply button. Example: To show people without children, 
choose "People with children" Filter, then check Invert check-box, and then press Apply button. 
To cancel any filtering, set the Filter to "All People" and then press Apply button. 

Note: even if the Filter controls are not displayed (View->Edit menu item is unchecked), the filtering
might still be in place. In other words, the visibility of the Filter controls is not related to the actual 
filtering imposed on the list. This may be a cause of confusion, when you enable the filtering and 
then remove the controls from the display. If in doubt, enable the display of Filter controls 
(by checking View->Edit menu item) and check what kind of filtering is currently set.

<	<	<	<Alphabetical Tabs

GRAMPS offers another way of managing long lists of people -- alphabetical tabs. Upon loading 
a database, GRAMPS checks for the stored Family names and breaks the people list into sublists
based on the first letter of their name. The alphabetical tabs are displayed in the bottom part of 
the GRAMPS window. The last tab, "Other," stands for unidentified characters -- all the entries 
not assigned to any other tab end up in "Others."

<	<	<Family View

Family View displays the Family information of a currently selected (or Active) person. 
Specifically, this view shows the relationships (e.g marriages, partnerships, etc.) of the active person, 
his/her parents (or step parents, or guardians, etc), and his/her children (could be step children, 
adopted children, etc.). 

The Active person's data is in the list-box in the upper left corner of the window. Directly below it, 
another box lists the Spouse's data, for each relationship of Active person (can be more than one).
The double-arrow button to the right of the Active person list-box allows to exchange the currently selected
spouse (Current spouse) with the Active person. Double-clicking on the Active person allows to edit 
Active person's data. Double-clicking on the Current spouse allows to edit their relationship information. 
To add a spouse, press "+" button to the right of the spouse box. To remove Current spouse,
press "-" button to the right of the spouse box. 

The parents of both the Active person and the Current spouse are listed in the corresponding list-boxes
in the right-hand part of the window (Active person's parents on top, Current spouse parents on the 
bottom). Both list-boxes have a set of three buttons on their right side. The "+" and "-" buttons allow
to add and remove parents of the Active person and the Current spouse, respectively. Pressing
the right arrow "->" button makes the family in the corresponding list-box and active family. That is, 
it makes the selected Father the Active person, and the selected Mother the Current spouse. 

The bottom list-box displays children of the Active person and the Current Spouse. Children's list
can be order by the Birth date, by usual way of clicking on the Birth date column header. In addition 
to the Name, ID, Gender, and Birth date columns, the list includes Status column. The pair of status 
words reflect the relationship between the child and his Father/Mother (such as Birth, Adoption, etc.)
The three buttons are available on the right side of the children list-box. The "+" and "-" buttons allow
to add and remove children, respectively. Pressing the left arrow button "<-" makes the selected child 
the Active person.

<	<	<Pedigree View

Pedigree View helps to visualize the place of the Active person in the tree of its ancestors. 
Pedigree View shows four generations, going back in time from the Active person (1) to his/her 
parents (2), to grandparents (3), to great-grandparents (4). Each person is denoted by a white box
bearing the person's name. The two lines that converge on the box represent ties with the person's 
Father (top line) and mother (bottom line). When the mouse moves over the white box, it expands 
to display the corresponding person's dates of birth and death. When the mouse is placed over
the family line, the line changes color to indicate an active link: double-clicking on the line makes
the corresponding ancestor the Active person. The display in that case is re-adjusted to show 
four generations, starting from a newly selected Active person.

The left-hand side of the window shows the left arrow button. Upon clicking, the button expands 
to the menu listing the children of the Active person. Selecting the menu item makes 
the corresponding child the Active person. 

The right-hand side of the window shows two right arrow buttons. When the top button is clicked,
the Father of the Active person becomes Active person. Clicking the bottom button makes 
the Mother of the Active person the Active person. Again, the display is re-adjusted to show 
four generations, starting from a newly selected Active person.

[ WHAT'S UP WITH THE DASHED LINES IN PEDIGREE VIEW ? - I FORGOT :-) ]

<	<	<Sources View

Sources View lists the sources of information stored in the database. This can include various
documents (birth, death, and marriage certificates, etc.), books, films, journals, private diaries, 
i.e. virtually anything that can be classified as a source of information. The sources can be used 
as the reference for any event stored in the database. 
The Source View lists the title, ID, and the author of the source. All the columns can be used for 
sorting the list. The usual rules apply: one click for ascending order, another click for descending order.

<	<	<Places View

Places View lists the geographical places in which the events of the database took place. These could
be places of birth, death, marriages of people, as well as their home, employment, education addresses, 
or any other conceivable reference to the geographical location. 
The Places View lists places' Name, ID, Church Parish, City, County, State, and Country. All of these
can be used for sorting by the usual sorting rules. 

<	<	<Media View

Media View is a list of Media Objects used in the database. These could be images, audio files, 
animation files, etc. The list-box on the bottom lists the Name, ID, Type, and Path to the Media Object.
The top part of the GRAMPS window shows the preview (if available) and the information about the
Media Object. 

<Usage
<	<Opening database
<	<Starting new database
<	<Saving database
<	<Importing data
<	<Exporting data
<	<Editing
<	<	Edit personal data
<	<	Edit relationship data
<	<	Edit children data
<	<	Edit Sources
<	<	Edit Places
<	<	Edit Media
<	<Navigation
<	<	Setting Default Person
<	<	Bookmarking People
<	<	Using Family View
<	<	Using Pedigree View
<	<Generating Reports
<	<	Graphical Reports
<	<		...
<	<	Text Reports
<	<		...
<	<	Window-View Reports
<	<		...
<	<	Web Site
<	<Running Tools
<	<	Analysis and Exploration Tools
<	<		...
<	<	Database Processing Tools
<	<		...
<	<	Utilities
<	<		...
<Preferences
<	Usage
<		Find
<		Report Preferences
<		Researcher Information
<		Data Guessing
<	Display
<		General
<		Dates and Calendars
<		Tools and Status Bars
<	Database
<		General
<		Media Objects
<		GRAMPS Internal IDs
<		Revision Control
<Authors
<License