FTM compatibility for gedcom files

[James Loveluck]

I have an old version of FTM (4.0) and I find that not only is it unable
to read .ftw files produced by recent versions, but it can't even import
all the data in gedcom files produced by them. The offending bit of
gedcom code concerns baptisms, and the files I've been trying to read
have the following sequence of gedcom tags to describe them:

1 EVEN
2 TYPE Baptisd
2 DATE <date>
2 PLAC <place name>
2 SOUR @Sxxxxx@

instead of the usual

1 BAPM
2 DATE <date>
2 PLAC <place name>
2 SOUR @Sxxxxx@

My old version of FTM doesn't seem to recognise the EVEN tag and just
ignores it (it does produce an error message).

Is there an option in new versions of FTM which will get it to output
the second sequence fro baptisms instead of the first?

James

[Robert Heiling]

James Loveluck wrote:

I have an old version of FTM (4.0) and I find that not only is it unable
to read .ftw files produced by recent versions, but it can't even import
all the data in gedcom files produced by them.

That's really an ancient version and was distributed as a free download
called FAV for the Family Archive Viewer. Each subsequent version of FTM/FTW
has been able to read files created by previous versions, but the reverse is
not the case.

The offending bit of
gedcom code concerns baptisms, and the files I've been trying to read
have the following sequence of gedcom tags to describe them:

1 EVEN
2 TYPE Baptisd
2 DATE <date
2 PLAC <place name
2 SOUR @Sxxxxx@

instead of the usual

1 BAPM
2 DATE <date
2 PLAC <place name
2 SOUR @Sxxxxx@

My old version of FTM doesn't seem to recognise the EVEN tag and just
ignores it (it does produce an error message).

Is there an option in new versions of FTM which will get it to output
the second sequence fro baptisms instead of the first?

James

I'm not positive about the timing of this, but it was probably between
FTM4.0 and the next version that FTM & most programs started using the new
version 5.0 and then 5.5 of Gedcom. That's the second one there that you
refer to. FTM has gone step by step up to version 11 and then to FTW 2005
which is the current version. There are some free programs that you could be
using instead such as PAF & Legacy that handle the latest Gedcom.

HTH
Bob

[Paul Blair]

James Loveluck wrote:

I have an old version of FTM (4.0) and I find that not only is it unable
to read .ftw files produced by recent versions, but it can't even import
all the data in gedcom files produced by them. The offending bit of
gedcom code concerns baptisms, and the files I've been trying to read
have the following sequence of gedcom tags to describe them:

1 EVEN
2 TYPE Baptisd
2 DATE <date
2 PLAC <place name
2 SOUR @Sxxxxx@

instead of the usual

1 BAPM
2 DATE <date
2 PLAC <place name
2 SOUR @Sxxxxx@

My old version of FTM doesn't seem to recognise the EVEN tag and just
ignores it (it does produce an error message).

Is there an option in new versions of FTM which will get it to output
the second sequence fro baptisms instead of the first?

James

For a backward movement of your file, I don't think you need to use a
GEDCOM. I have FTM v.8, and it contains a way to save in all native
formats back to FTM v.3. Perhaps yours does, too. If not, do it in
steps. Save it as far back as your newer version allows, then ask
someone with an older version (eg, me) to do the next step for you.

Paul Blair

[Doug Gordon]

<RANT>
As someone who is currently working on a GEDCOM parser, at least FTM now
generates GEDCOM files that are substantially correct. Or are they still
doing things like using PLAC to hold whatever tag information they want to
convey that should have been on the parent tag line, e.g.:

1 OCCU
2 PLAC Schoolteacher

And then there's the well-known misimplementation of CONC, or things like
putting CONC & CONT at the same level as the tag they're continuing, and on
and on. GEDCOM would be easy to support if there didn't have to be so many
kludges to support specific genealogy programs. But then, if it were easy,
everybody would be able to do it
</RANT>

Doug G

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Heiling" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2005 1:44 PM
Subject: Re: FTM compatibility for gedcom files

I'm not positive about the timing of this, but it was probably between
FTM4.0 and the next version that FTM & most programs started using the new
version 5.0 and then 5.5 of Gedcom. That's the second one there that you
refer to. FTM has gone step by step up to version 11 and then to FTW 2005
which is the current version. There are some free programs that you could
be
using instead such as PAF & Legacy that handle the latest Gedcom.

[James Loveluck]

Paul Blair wrote:

James Loveluck wrote:

I have an old version of FTM (4.0) and I find that not only is it
unable to read .ftw files produced by recent versions, but it can't
even import all the data in gedcom files produced by them. The
offending bit of gedcom code concerns baptisms, and the files I've
been trying to read have the following sequence of gedcom tags to
describe them:

1 EVEN
2 TYPE Baptisd
2 DATE <date
2 PLAC <place name
2 SOUR @Sxxxxx@

instead of the usual

1 BAPM
2 DATE <date
2 PLAC <place name
2 SOUR @Sxxxxx@

My old version of FTM doesn't seem to recognise the EVEN tag and just
ignores it (it does produce an error message).

Is there an option in new versions of FTM which will get it to output
the second sequence fro baptisms instead of the first?

James


For a backward movement of your file, I don't think you need to use a
GEDCOM. I have FTM v.8, and it contains a way to save in all native
formats back to FTM v.3. Perhaps yours does, too. If not, do it in
steps. Save it as far back as your newer version allows, then ask
someone with an older version (eg, me) to do the next step for you.

Paul Blair

Thanks Paul that's a useful suggestion.

In fact I didn't decribe the situation very clearly. It's a collaborator
who has the recent version of FTM and I have the old version (v.4). It's
his recent version which is producing the gedcom file with baptisms
coded as in the first snippet above, which my old version of FTM doesn't
like. I can import his gedcom file to the gene program I normally use
(Legacy) but it records the baptisms as events, whereas I would like
them to appear in the "Baptism" field. However, I can certainly ask my
collaborator to save his file in native format for FTM v.4 which I
should be able to read and export to a gedcom file with the baptisms
coded as BAPM.

James

[singhals]

James Loveluck wrote:

Paul Blair wrote:

James Loveluck wrote:

I have an old version of FTM (4.0) and I find that not only is it
unable to read .ftw files produced by recent versions, but it can't
even import all the data in gedcom files produced by them. The
offending bit of gedcom code concerns baptisms, and the files I've
been trying to read have the following sequence of gedcom tags to
describe them:

1 EVEN
2 TYPE Baptisd
2 DATE <date
2 PLAC <place name
2 SOUR @Sxxxxx@

instead of the usual

1 BAPM
2 DATE <date
2 PLAC <place name
2 SOUR @Sxxxxx@

My old version of FTM doesn't seem to recognise the EVEN tag and just
ignores it (it does produce an error message).

Is there an option in new versions of FTM which will get it to output
the second sequence fro baptisms instead of the first?

James



For a backward movement of your file, I don't think you need to use a
GEDCOM. I have FTM v.8, and it contains a way to save in all native
formats back to FTM v.3. Perhaps yours does, too. If not, do it in
steps. Save it as far back as your newer version allows, then ask
someone with an older version (eg, me) to do the next step for you.

Paul Blair


Thanks Paul that's a useful suggestion.

In fact I didn't decribe the situation very clearly. It's a collaborator
who has the recent version of FTM and I have the old version (v.4). It's
his recent version which is producing the gedcom file with baptisms
coded as in the first snippet above, which my old version of FTM doesn't
like. I can import his gedcom file to the gene program I normally use
(Legacy) but it records the baptisms as events, whereas I would like
them to appear in the "Baptism" field. However, I can certainly ask my
collaborator to save his file in native format for FTM v.4 which I
should be able to read and export to a gedcom file with the baptisms
coded as BAPM.

James
..

Whoever has the newer program should be VERY careful when generating the
GEDCOM file. One of the export options, down where he selects GED vs
ftm as the target, should be list of available GED styles. To work on
FAV/FTM4, choose the "export to GED 4.0" (or any number smaller than 4),
whatever the wording currently is.

Cheryl

[Rich]

"James Loveluck" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

Paul Blair wrote:
James Loveluck wrote:

I have an old version of FTM (4.0) and I find that not only is it
unable to read .ftw files produced by recent versions, but it can't
even import all the data in gedcom files produced by them. The
offending bit of gedcom code concerns baptisms, and the files I've
been trying to read have the following sequence of gedcom tags to
describe them:

1 EVEN
2 TYPE Baptisd
2 DATE <date
2 PLAC <place name
2 SOUR @Sxxxxx@

instead of the usual

1 BAPM
2 DATE <date
2 PLAC <place name
2 SOUR @Sxxxxx@

My old version of FTM doesn't seem to recognise the EVEN tag and just
ignores it (it does produce an error message).

Is there an option in new versions of FTM which will get it to output
the second sequence fro baptisms instead of the first?

James


For a backward movement of your file, I don't think you need to use a
GEDCOM. I have FTM v.8, and it contains a way to save in all native
formats back to FTM v.3. Perhaps yours does, too. If not, do it in
steps. Save it as far back as your newer version allows, then ask
someone with an older version (eg, me) to do the next step for you.

Paul Blair

Thanks Paul that's a useful suggestion.

In fact I didn't decribe the situation very clearly. It's a collaborator
who has the recent version of FTM and I have the old version (v.4). It's
his recent version which is producing the gedcom file with baptisms
coded as in the first snippet above, which my old version of FTM doesn't
like. I can import his gedcom file to the gene program I normally use
(Legacy) but it records the baptisms as events, whereas I would like
them to appear in the "Baptism" field. However, I can certainly ask my
collaborator to save his file in native format for FTM v.4 which I
should be able to read and export to a gedcom file with the baptisms
coded as BAPM.

James

One fix to make it compatible with Legacy might be to load the GEDCOM into
your word processor and use the Find and Replace as follows:

For Word that would be to find:

1 EVEN^p2 TYPE Baptised

Replace:

1 BAPM

Note: (^p = Return)

[D. Stussy]

On Wed, 2 Feb 2005, James Loveluck wrote:

I have an old version of FTM (4.0) and I find that not only is it unable to
read .ftw files produced by recent versions, but it can't even import all the
data in gedcom files produced by them. The offending bit of gedcom code
concerns baptisms, and the files I've been trying to read have the following
sequence of gedcom tags to describe them:

1 EVEN
2 TYPE Baptisd
2 DATE <date
2 PLAC <place name
2 SOUR @Sxxxxx@

instead of the usual

1 BAPM
2 DATE <date
2 PLAC <place name
2 SOUR @Sxxxxx@

My old version of FTM doesn't seem to recognise the EVEN tag and just ignores
it (it does produce an error message).

Is there an option in new versions of FTM which will get it to output the
second sequence fro baptisms instead of the first?

Output the file, then use a text editor to do a global search and replace,
changing the "2 NAME Baptisd" into "1 BAPM" - then either ignore the errors
caused by the "1 EVEN" tags that have no supplementary data or do another GS&R
to eliminate them.

To me, it seems that FTM always wants to do it's own thing.

[James Loveluck]

Rich wrote:

"James Loveluck" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

Paul Blair wrote:

James Loveluck wrote:


I have an old version of FTM (4.0) and I find that not only is it
unable to read .ftw files produced by recent versions, but it can't
even import all the data in gedcom files produced by them. The
offending bit of gedcom code concerns baptisms, and the files I've
been trying to read have the following sequence of gedcom tags to
describe them:

1 EVEN
2 TYPE Baptisd
2 DATE <date
2 PLAC <place name
2 SOUR @Sxxxxx@

instead of the usual

1 BAPM
2 DATE <date
2 PLAC <place name
2 SOUR @Sxxxxx@

My old version of FTM doesn't seem to recognise the EVEN tag and just
ignores it (it does produce an error message).

Is there an option in new versions of FTM which will get it to output
the second sequence fro baptisms instead of the first?

James


For a backward movement of your file, I don't think you need to use a
GEDCOM. I have FTM v.8, and it contains a way to save in all native
formats back to FTM v.3. Perhaps yours does, too. If not, do it in
steps. Save it as far back as your newer version allows, then ask
someone with an older version (eg, me) to do the next step for you.

Paul Blair

Thanks Paul that's a useful suggestion.

In fact I didn't decribe the situation very clearly. It's a collaborator
who has the recent version of FTM and I have the old version (v.4). It's
his recent version which is producing the gedcom file with baptisms
coded as in the first snippet above, which my old version of FTM doesn't
like. I can import his gedcom file to the gene program I normally use
(Legacy) but it records the baptisms as events, whereas I would like
them to appear in the "Baptism" field. However, I can certainly ask my
collaborator to save his file in native format for FTM v.4 which I
should be able to read and export to a gedcom file with the baptisms
coded as BAPM.

James


One fix to make it compatible with Legacy might be to load the GEDCOM into
your word processor and use the Find and Replace as follows:

For Word that would be to find:

1 EVEN^p2 TYPE Baptised

Replace:

1 BAPM

Note: (^p = Return)

This is what I ended up doing - although I did it with Emacs which has a
macro capability, so one can change all occurrences at one shot.

Nevertheless, it would be useful if I could advise my collaborator (who
uses a recent version of FTM) which options he should use to produce
acceptable gedcom code. I know it's possible because in the past I've
had gedcom files from other folks that don't pose a problem.

James