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<!--
User Manual for Gramps - a GTK+/GNOME based genealogy program
Copyright (C) 2003 Alexander Roitman
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation
License (GFDL), Version 1.1 or any later version published
by the Free Software Foundation with no Invariant Sections,
no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
A copy of the license is included in the file COPYING-DOCS
distributed with this manual.
-->
<!-- $Id$ -->
<!-- =========== Getting Started ============================== -->
<sect1 id="gramps-getting-started">
<title>Getting Started</title>
<!-- ================ Getting Started Subsection ====== -->
<sect2 id="gramps-start">
<title>To Start GRAMPS</title>
<para>You can start &app; in the following ways:</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><guimenu>Applications</guimenu> menu</term>
<listitem><para>Choose <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Other</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>Gramps</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Command line</term>
<listitem><para>To start &app; from a command line, type
<command>gramps</command>, then press <keycap>Return</keycap>.</para>
<para>If you would like &app; to open a specific database or to
import a specific file on startup, you can supply the filename
as a command line argument:</para>
<para>
<command>gramps -i</command> <replaceable>filename.ged</replaceable>
</para>
<para>where <replaceable>filename.ged</replaceable> is the name
of the file you want to open/import. The detailed reference to the
command line options is found in the <xref linkend="append-cmdline"/>.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect2>
<!-- ================ Getting Started Subsection ==== -->
<sect2 id="run-1st-time">
<title>Running GRAMPS for the first time</title>
<para>
The first time you run the program, GRAMPS will display its
Getting Started dialogs. Follow the directions guiding you through
<guilabel>Researcher information</guilabel>, <guilabel>Numerical date
formats</guilabel>, <guilabel>Alternate calendar support</guilabel>,
and <guilabel>LDS extensions</guilabel> sections. Most of the dialogs
are self-explanatory and will not be covered here.
</para>
<!-- ==== Figure: Getting Started Druid Window ==== -->
<figure id="druid-fig">
<title>GRAMPS Getting Started Window: Researcher Information</title>
<screenshot><mediaobject><imageobject><imagedata
fileref="figures/researcher.png" format="PNG"/></imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>Shows Researcher Information Window. </phrase>
</textobject></mediaobject></screenshot></figure>
<!-- ==== End of Figure ==== -->
<para>Enter your personal information in the corresponding
text entry fields. Although &app; requests information about you,
this information is used only so that &app; can create valid GEDCOM
output files. A valid GEDCOM file requires information about the file's
creator. If you choose, you may leave the information empty, however
all the GEDCOM files you export will not be valid.
</para>
<para>This information can be entered at any time in the
<guilabel>Preferences</guilabel> dialog, under the
<guilabel>Usage</guilabel> category.
</para>
</sect2>
<!-- ================ Getting Started Subsection -->
<sect2 id="choose-db-start">
<title>Choosing a database on startup</title>
<para>If &app; is started without any
database to open, the following window will appear prompting you to
choose what database to open. </para>
<!-- ==== Figure: Open existing/new database window ==== -->
<figure id="first-open">
<title>Open Database Window</title>
<screenshot><mediaobject><imageobject><imagedata
fileref="figures/first-open.png" format="PNG"/></imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>Shows Open Database Window. </phrase>
</textobject></mediaobject></screenshot></figure>
<!-- ==== End of Figure ==== -->
<para>If you would like to open an existing database, check the top radio
button and click the <guibutton>OK</guibutton> button. You will then be asked to
specify the name of your existing database. If you would like to start
creating your brand new database from scratch right away, choose new XML
database. </para>
<para>NOTE: when starting new database, you should
select an empty <replaceable>DIRECTORY</replaceable>
and <replaceable>NOT a FILE</replaceable>. Create empty directory if
needed. The directory you specify will be used by &app; to store
database file <replaceable>data.gramps</replaceable> as well as any
possible copies of media objects. This directory will be updated by &app;
each time the database is saved. </para>
<para>NOTE: when opening an existing database, you should
open a <replaceable>DIRECTORY</replaceable> and
<replaceable>NOT a FILE</replaceable>. The directory you need to open
should contain the database file <replaceable>data.gramps</replaceable>
as well as any possible copies of media objects. Such a directory is
created by &app; when you start a new database and is updated each time
the database is saved. </para>
</sect2>
<!-- ================ Getting Started Sub-subsection
<sect3 id="zodb-support">
<title>Optional ZODB support</title>
<para>If either StandaloneZODB or Zope is installed on your system,
&app; will give you the third option of
creating a new ZODB database. You can choose to start your new database
in either XML or ZODB format. Both formats have their strong and weak
points.</para>
<para>XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language, and is a human readable
structured description of data. It could be easily parsed by other
programs should the need occur. It stores only the data itself. Its weak
point is the relatively low speed of processing large data files. </para>
<para>ZODB stands for Zope Object Database and provides the full-fledged
database support. ZODB files are not human readable. They contain a
certain overhead to assist working with large data structures. However,
ZODB provides a significant speed-up when the database size is large (over
a few thousand people). </para>
<para>Its is hard to tell which format is better, since this is a typical
trade-off situation. If you are starting your research then you are likely
to be fine with the regular XML database. If you have tons of data to
import describing thousands upon thousands of people, then you are
probably better off with ZODB. </para>
</sect3>
-->
<!-- ================ Getting Started Subsection ==== -->
<sect2 id="get-help">
<title>Obtaining Help</title>
<para> At any time, the following items are available for immediate aid
from the <menuchoice><guimenu>Help</guimenu></menuchoice> menu: </para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry><term>User manual</term>
<listitem><para> Choose this item to read the text of this manual
in the help browser. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>FAQ</term>
<listitem><para> Use this item to read Frequently Asked Questions
about &app; in the browser. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>GRAMPS home page</term>
<listitem><para> Select this item to open home page of &app; in your
default web browser. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>GRAMPS mailing lists</term>
<listitem><para> Choose this item to direct your web browser
to the &app; mailing list archives. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>Report a bug</term>
<listitem><para> Use this item to file a bug report against &app;
with the bug tracking system. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>Show plugin status</term>
<listitem><para> Use this item to display the status of loaded
plugins. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>Open example database</term>
<listitem><para> Select this item to load the example database shipped
with &app;. This database is composed of fictitious people and serves as
a useful example for learning how to work with &app;. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect2>
</sect1> <!-- ================ End Getting Started ======================== -->