gramps/gramps2/doc/gramps-manual/C/gramps-manual-C.txt
Alex Roitman ce13078128 Further cleanup and some Usage
svn: r1337
2003-03-11 04:33:36 +00:00

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<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. If you would gramps to open a specific database
or import a specific file on startup, you can give the filename as a command
line argument: gramps <filename.ged> [Return]
< <Running GRAMPS for the first time.
[ FIXME: 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.
[ FIXME: RE-WORK THIS WITH SCREENSHOTS END ]
< < <Choosing a database on startup
If the GRAMPS is started without any database to open, the following window
will appear prompting you to choose what database to open. (Figure 0:
open existing or created new). If you would like to open an existing
database, check the top radio button and click OK. 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.
< < <Optional ZODB support
If either StandaloneZODB or Zope is installed on your system, GRAMPS 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.
XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language, and is a human readable sctructured
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.
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 few thousand
people).
Its is hard to tell which format is better, since this is a typical tradeoff
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 of with ZODB.
<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 largest are in the center of the GRAMPS window is the Display area.
It 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 different 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). Solid lines
represent birth relations, while dashed lines represent non-birth relations
(such as adoption, step-parentship, guardianship, etc.). 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.
< < <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. Media Objects
are any files that relate somehow to the stored genealogical data.
Technically, any file can be stored as a Madia Object. Most frequently,
these are 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
As commonly encountered in everyday life, in GRAMPS there is usually more
than one way to accomplish something. The alternatives to some actions
will therefore be listed as appropriate.
< <Opening database
To open a database, either choose File->Open menu item or click on the
Open button on the Toolbar. You will then be prompted with the following
window (Figure X) asking to specify the name of the database.
Either type the full path into the text entry field, or press
Browse... button to get to the graphical file selector dialog.
If you previously opened files with GRAMPS, you can retreive your past
selections from the drop-down menu by pressing the down arrow button.
Finally, if the Revision Control System (RCS) is enabled in the Preferences
dialog, the check-box prompting to revert the database to an older version
from RCS will be available. Check it to revert your database to an older RCS
version.
Note: the name you type or select should be the directory (folder) which has
your data (data.gramps or data.zodb files) as well as any possible copies
of Media Objects.
< <Starting new database
To start a fresh database, choose File->New menu item. You will then be
prompted with the File Save dialog asking to specify the name under which
the new database will be stored. Choose an empty directory for your new
database (create one if necessary).
< <Saving database
To save changes made to your database, choose File->Save menu item or click
on the Save button on the Toolbar. The Status line will then
display "Saving <filename>..." message, and the Progress bar will advance as
the saving progresses.
< <Importing data
Importing data allows you to incorporate the data created in other
genealogical programs into your currently open GRAMPS database.
GRAMPS can import GEDCOM data files from a number of software packages,
as long as they comply with GEDCOM standards.
To import GEDCOM file, choose File->Import->GEDCOM menu item. You will then
be prompted with the Open File dialog asking to specify the GEDCOM file name.
Upon starting the import, GRAMPS will display the following GEDCOM import
dialog (Figure Y) with the summary of the information about the data.
The information is updated as the import progresses.
< <Exporting data
Exporting data allows you to share any portion of you GRAMPS database with
other researchers by way of standard GEDCOM files.
< <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