Re: [PAF] PAF 4.0

[Richard L Halliday <rlhgen@juno.com>]

Tony;
   I know that this is a very late response so I ask your indulgence. 
The following caught my eye.  I have been teaching classes in every
version of PAF since 2.0.  I have found that one of the most intimidating
features is focus.  As an ex-programmer, I liked the way that the focus
feature of PAF 2.31 worked in setting up the report, possibly because it
was so similar to the way that the programming language RPG worked (Hah!,
I'll bet that no one out there remembers that language; and if you do you
are almost as old as Methusila (sp?)).

   For version 4.x, I avoided the Custom Report section.  Last month I
was asked to prepare a lesson on how to make those reports.  Now I prefer
version 4.x to 2.31for everything except temple submissions.  I have
added to the end of this message part of the handout that I prepared for
the classes.  I found that as soon as I followed the four steps, I no
longer had trouble making a report.

   I strongly recommend that you use PAF version 4.0.4 as it has the
capability to send a Custom Report (as well as other reports) either
directly to the printer OR to a disk file.  The disk file produced this
way is in the Rich Text Format (*.rtf).  This format can be read by all
of the recent word processors (I've used WordPerfect to read it).  This
way you can customise the final report.

   The only other problem that I found with the current Custom Report
Generator is that it uses the Boolean operators AND, OR,  NOT, GREATER
THAN, and LESS THAN.  For those of us who were born before WWII, this can
also seem intimidating.  Although I majored in mathematics at BYU, I did
not receive any format training in Boolean algebra and was hardly aware
of its existance.  It is very easy to pick up, much more so than the
logic that philosophers use, as it means precisely what it says.  I found
the help files (use <F1> to access them) to be helpful and easy to
understand.  I was especially concerned about this when I taught the
classes and found that once the students overcame their dread of it, they
understood it very well.

                     
****************************************************************

On Fri, 10 Mar 2000 23:21:34 -0700 Tony Griffin <tonygriffn@uswest.net>
writes:
> Diane,
> 
> I still use 2.31 ( I prefer it to all others for the focus features)but
> with all the added features of 3.0 and 4.0 they are worth having 
> also.
> Especially when doing Temple Ready.

> Tony 
> (tonygriffn@uswest.net)
                 
*************************************************************************
*******
                Custom Reports using PAF 4.x
	Richard L. Halliday

	PAF 4.0 has one of the most powerful report generators of all the
genealogical data base programs.  A custom report is prepared in four
steps: select the pool of individuals by their relationships to the
principal, select the fields, prepare the report layout, and print the
report.

	First, the relationship to the primary individual must be selected.  It
can be All (the entire database), Individuals, Couple, Family, All
Related, Ancestors, All Ancestors, Related, Descendants, or All
Descendants Related.

	Second, the fields to be used in the selection and their relationship
must be specified.  There are 63 fields (e.g., Surname, Christening Date,
Birth Place, Death Place, Marriage Date, etc.)  to select from.  The
relationships can be And, Or, Greater Than, Less Than, Range, Before,
After, etc.  Parenthesis can be used to group fields to determine the
order of filtering (i.e., First select the surname xxxxx then select
those who were born in yyyyy AND died before zzzz).

	Third, the report layout must be selected.  There are 73 fields which
can be printed such as surname and given name, sex, date of birth,
father, birth or christening place (or date), number of marriages, has
source citations, LDS live baptism, contact name (and/or address and/or
date), spouse, father's relationship type, and cause of death.  After a
list is created, it can be saved and retrieved.

	Forth, the printer setup and destination must be specified.  The
sequence in which fields are displayed across the page is the same as the
sequence in which the fields are selected.  For some fields, after they
are selected, additional selections must be made.  For example, after the
font option is chosen, there are three choices; Title, Header and Body. 
The list layout can be saved and retrieved.  The sort order (ascending or
descending) can be specified for some fields.  After the report is ready
for the printer, it can be sent to the printer, saved as a comma
delimited file or saved as a Rich Text Format (*.rtf).  Since rtf files
can be opened by most word processors, this allows the incorporation of
items such as pictures, graphics, and indices.

   I hereby formally give permission to use the above to anyone who wants
to do so.  Further, IF YOU WILL CORRESPOND WITH ME AT rhaldy@juno.com AND
NOT JUST RESPOND TO ME VIA THIS E-MAIL ADDRESS, that I will send a copy
of the complete handout, in the WordPerfect format, to anyone who
requests it.

   PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO ME AT THIS E-MAIL ADDRESS AS I CANNOT USE IT
TO SEND ATTACHMENTS.  Only my other juno account has that capability.

(capitals are used above for emphasis and do NOT imply shouting) <g>

              Thank you
		
                           Richard L. Halliday                 
rlhgen@juno.com

p.s. To those who have responded with requests for information that I
have not sent.  I have tried at least twice and had the messages
"bounced" claiming that the addresses were incorrect.  That is the reason
that I want people to use my "rhaldy@juno.com" e-mail address when
responding to my offers.  That way I can "Respond" to their message and
do not have to re-type their addresses.

   "Education is what you get when you read the fine print.
     Experience is what you get when you don't."

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