Importing to Legacy (Access) with problems...

[Paul Blair]

Out here in the vast Australian continent, we have some states and
territories. We usually abbreviate these when we write - well, I do. New
South Wales becomes NSW, South Australia becomes SA, Western Australia
WA, Victoria becomes Vic and so on.

As long as we are working on the original file, things are fine. But
when we export them from, say, another program, then import them, things
go awry. At the moment, I'm converting a large file to Legacy.

After import, NSW become Nsw, SA becomes Sa...and New Zealand, normally
NZ, becomes Nz. WA stays as WA - and, as there is no preset place table
in Legacy, I wonder why it remains the same. Its not getting mixed up
with Washington State, USA is it?

Looking at the GEDCOM file, it gives NSW (not Nsw) and so on, so the
change is being wrought upon import.

The sensible thing to do would be to spell everything in full, but as
this is not the norm for pretty much anything, most of us don't do that.
So the only way I can see to fix this is to open the tables in Access
and do find/replace - as the present problem runs to about 30,000
changes, I'm not going to wade through a Legacy edit screen.

Does anyone else from Oz....or another country...have this problem? Has
anyone found a good way of filtering this problem out (Legacy gives you
some import filters, but nothing that will deal with this one!)

Paul

[Steve Hayes]

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 13:57:52 +1000, Paul Blair <[email protected]> wrote:

The sensible thing to do would be to spell everything in full, but as
this is not the norm for pretty much anything, most of us don't do that.
So the only way I can see to fix this is to open the tables in Access
and do find/replace - as the present problem runs to about 30,000
changes, I'm not going to wade through a Legacy edit screen.

Does anyone else from Oz....or another country...have this problem? Has
anyone found a good way of filtering this problem out (Legacy gives you
some import filters, but nothing that will deal with this one!)

Yes, I've come across that problem, and a few others when importing GEDCOMs
into Legacy.

I overcome them by importing them first into PAF 4 (free), and then into
Legacy.

I also do the names in full, and Legacy provides an abbreviated version (for
where they won't fit into reports.

I still come across occasional misspellings of surnames.


--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

[Peter J Seymour]

Steve Hayes wrote:

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 13:57:52 +1000, Paul Blair <[email protected]> wrote:


The sensible thing to do would be to spell everything in full, but as
this is not the norm for pretty much anything, most of us don't do that.
So the only way I can see to fix this is to open the tables in Access
and do find/replace - as the present problem runs to about 30,000
changes, I'm not going to wade through a Legacy edit screen.

Does anyone else from Oz....or another country...have this problem? Has
anyone found a good way of filtering this problem out (Legacy gives you
some import filters, but nothing that will deal with this one!)


Yes, I've come across that problem, and a few others when importing GEDCOMs
into Legacy.

I overcome them by importing them first into PAF 4 (free), and then into
Legacy.

The previous poster offers a workaround. What interests me is why this

problem is happening. I'm not familiar with Legacy but an old User Guide
mentions a General Setting of 'Show SURNAMES in Uppercase Letters'.
This suggests that the default is mixed case and that Legacy will
mix-case anything that is all uppercase on input (except the
abbreviations for US States apparently). If that is true, the problem is
that Legacy is being over zealous about what data it interferes with.
Personally, as a software developer I would be rather cautious about
automatically applying such a transform to even a field I knew for
certain was a surname - there are too many uncertainties.
Regards
Peter
http://www.gendatam.com/

[Max Munro]

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 13:57:52 +1000, Paul Blair <[email protected]>
wrote:

Out here in the vast Australian continent, we have some states and
territories. We usually abbreviate these when we write - well, I do. New
South Wales becomes NSW, South Australia becomes SA, Western Australia
WA, Victoria becomes Vic and so on.

As long as we are working on the original file, things are fine. But
when we export them from, say, another program, then import them, things
go awry. At the moment, I'm converting a large file to Legacy.

After import, NSW become Nsw, SA becomes Sa...and New Zealand, normally
NZ, becomes Nz. WA stays as WA - and, as there is no preset place table
in Legacy, I wonder why it remains the same. Its not getting mixed up
with Washington State, USA is it?

Looking at the GEDCOM file, it gives NSW (not Nsw) and so on, so the
change is being wrought upon import.

The sensible thing to do would be to spell everything in full, but as
this is not the norm for pretty much anything, most of us don't do that.
So the only way I can see to fix this is to open the tables in Access
and do find/replace - as the present problem runs to about 30,000
changes, I'm not going to wade through a Legacy edit screen.

Does anyone else from Oz....or another country...have this problem? Has
anyone found a good way of filtering this problem out (Legacy gives you
some import filters, but nothing that will deal with this one!)

Paul
Hi Paul. Yes I have struck this problem in Legacy. Solved it by using

search and replace from the Search menu. Worked OK for me. Max M

[Paul Blair]

Max Munro wrote:

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 13:57:52 +1000, Paul Blair <[email protected]
wrote:

Out here in the vast Australian continent, we have some states and
territories. We usually abbreviate these when we write - well, I do. New
South Wales becomes NSW, South Australia becomes SA, Western Australia
WA, Victoria becomes Vic and so on.

As long as we are working on the original file, things are fine. But
when we export them from, say, another program, then import them, things
go awry. At the moment, I'm converting a large file to Legacy.

After import, NSW become Nsw, SA becomes Sa...and New Zealand, normally
NZ, becomes Nz. WA stays as WA - and, as there is no preset place table
in Legacy, I wonder why it remains the same. Its not getting mixed up
with Washington State, USA is it?

Looking at the GEDCOM file, it gives NSW (not Nsw) and so on, so the
change is being wrought upon import.

The sensible thing to do would be to spell everything in full, but as
this is not the norm for pretty much anything, most of us don't do that.
So the only way I can see to fix this is to open the tables in Access
and do find/replace - as the present problem runs to about 30,000
changes, I'm not going to wade through a Legacy edit screen.

Does anyone else from Oz....or another country...have this problem? Has
anyone found a good way of filtering this problem out (Legacy gives you
some import filters, but nothing that will deal with this one!)

Paul
Hi Paul. Yes I have struck this problem in Legacy. Solved it by using
search and replace from the Search menu. Worked OK for me. Max M

Thank you, gentlemen.

Seems Legacy has some internal rules that are not obvious...maybe they
need to be looked at, or users given more of a chance to regulate the
import rules.

Paul

[Helen Castle]

Paul,

Somewhere in Legacy there is a thingo that tells Legacy to leave it as you
type it - I generally do a global search and replace to fix the state thing
but I know I have seen it somewhere.

Helen Castle
Narangba Qld (ex NSW) - now that will confuse the )*&^ out of any program


"Paul Blair" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

Out here in the vast Australian continent, we have some states and
territories. We usually abbreviate these when we write - well, I do. New
South Wales becomes NSW, South Australia becomes SA, Western Australia WA,
Victoria becomes Vic and so on.

As long as we are working on the original file, things are fine. But when
we export them from, say, another program, then import them, things go
awry. At the moment, I'm converting a large file to Legacy.

After import, NSW become Nsw, SA becomes Sa...and New Zealand, normally
NZ, becomes Nz. WA stays as WA - and, as there is no preset place table in
Legacy, I wonder why it remains the same. Its not getting mixed up with
Washington State, USA is it?

Looking at the GEDCOM file, it gives NSW (not Nsw) and so on, so the
change is being wrought upon import.

The sensible thing to do would be to spell everything in full, but as this
is not the norm for pretty much anything, most of us don't do that. So the
only way I can see to fix this is to open the tables in Access and do
find/replace - as the present problem runs to about 30,000 changes, I'm
not going to wade through a Legacy edit screen.

Does anyone else from Oz....or another country...have this problem? Has
anyone found a good way of filtering this problem out (Legacy gives you
some import filters, but nothing that will deal with this one!)

Paul

[Gjest]

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 13:57:52 +1000, Paul Blair <[email protected]>
wrote:

After import, NSW become Nsw,

[snip]

Does anyone else from Oz....or another country...have this problem? Has
anyone found a good way of filtering this problem out (Legacy gives you
some import filters, but nothing that will deal with this one!)

Have you tried *unchecking* the "Format Names and Places" option on the
GEDCOM Import window? I just tried this and a GEDCOM with "NSW" in a
location imported as "NSW".

P.S. The Legacy User Group mailing list might be a better place to ask
Legacy specific questions.

--

Dennis K.

[Helen Castle]

Found it - knew it was there somewhere

Importing Rules:

If you don't want to have Legacy format your names and locations when you do
an import you can uncheck the box Format Names and Places (Init. Caps, UPPER
CASE, etc) and then Legacy will leave the names exactly as they are found in
the GEDCOM file. If you checked this option then Legacy uses the current
formatting options you have set in Options, Customize.

All Rights Reserved

Helen
"Paul Blair" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

Out here in the vast Australian continent, we have some states and
territories. We usually abbreviate these when we write - well, I do. New
South Wales becomes NSW, South Australia becomes SA, Western Australia WA,
Victoria becomes Vic and so on.

As long as we are working on the original file, things are fine. But when
we export them from, say, another program, then import them, things go
awry. At the moment, I'm converting a large file to Legacy.

After import, NSW become Nsw, SA becomes Sa...and New Zealand, normally
NZ, becomes Nz. WA stays as WA - and, as there is no preset place table in
Legacy, I wonder why it remains the same. Its not getting mixed up with
Washington State, USA is it?

Looking at the GEDCOM file, it gives NSW (not Nsw) and so on, so the
change is being wrought upon import.

The sensible thing to do would be to spell everything in full, but as this
is not the norm for pretty much anything, most of us don't do that. So the
only way I can see to fix this is to open the tables in Access and do
find/replace - as the present problem runs to about 30,000 changes, I'm
not going to wade through a Legacy edit screen.

Does anyone else from Oz....or another country...have this problem? Has
anyone found a good way of filtering this problem out (Legacy gives you
some import filters, but nothing that will deal with this one!)

Paul

[J. Hugh Sullivan]

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 20:54:43 +1000, "Helen Castle"
<[email protected]> wrote:

Paul,

Somewhere in Legacy there is a thingo that tells Legacy to leave it as you
type it - I generally do a global search and replace to fix the state thing
but I know I have seen it somewhere.

That's exactly right. I have the same problem with a title - CDR came
out as Cdr until I checked the proper box which takes some looking
around.

hugh