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Archiver > GENBOX > 2004-02 > 1077546835


From: Don Zochert <>
Subject: Re: [GENBOX] Witness export
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 08:33:56 -0600
References: <FFEBLNNBNENFDKOPJEBPAEIPEJAA.paulharris@nc.rr.com>
In-Reply-To: <FFEBLNNBNENFDKOPJEBPAEIPEJAA.paulharris@nc.rr.com>


Hi, Paul,

In Genbox, if you're a witness to my death, your name will appear on the
witness list of my death event record. But if you go to *your* records,
and step through the events in *your* life on the events tab, the fact
that you were a witness to my death will not appear. That's what I meant
when I said that the act of witnessing an event, in Genbox, does not
show up as an event in the witness's life.

The fact that you were a witness to my death *will* appear as a line
item on your individual summary tab. But that line item will not tell
you whose death you witnessed. To find that out, you'll have to
double-click on the "(W) Death" tag name. This will take you away from
your records to my records, where your name will appear as a witness on
my death record.

The bottom line is, you can't step through the events in your own life
and see the events you witnessed, since the events tab only shows you
some of the events, not all. And if you limit yourself to viewing your
individual summary tab, Genbox will not tell you the most important
thing about the event you witnessed--whose death it was. (If I'm missing
something about witnesses in Genbox, I respectfully submit the "where's
the user's manual?" defense, followed by the "not enough coffee" defense
<g>.)

If these observations are correct, it speaks to the way information is
presented. So does Misty Bogle's post last night about customizing the
individual view.

To take TMG as an example, its so-called detail view displays much the
same information that Genbox does on the individual summary tab--the
event tag name, the date, the place, the age of the subject individual,
etc. There's one big difference. In TMG, the beginning of the event tag
memo will appear in the name/place field on the detail view if you
suppress the place information (now we're getting technical). You can
easily get a view of an individual's life containing line items such as:

Event-Misc Performed baptism of Johann Blüdorn
Tax List Owns land in R15, T17, Sec. 2
Probate Estate administrators appointed

The individual summary in this case really gives you some useful
information about the nature of the events that are listed. To get the
equivalent information in Genbox, it seems to me, you need to go to the
events tab and physically step through the event records of an
individual's life. Then, thanks to the general or research note field on
each record, you'll be able to access the same kind of information you
can get up-front and easily on the summary view in TMG. Unfortunately,
in GB, any events that you witnessed will not be present as you step
through the events on the events tab.

Don


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