Re: [PAF] FTW makes broken GEDCOM -- how to import cleanly into PAF 5?

[Cheryl Singhal <csinghal@CapAccess.org>]

In the FTW EXPORT menu, choose to export to GED4.0 or PAF2.31, whichever 
option it gives you.  If Export to LDS is there, try that too.

If neither/none of those work, then create whatever GED comes closest to 
working (i.e., creates the smallest listing file -g-), open it in a 
text-editor (MS-DOSEdit, by preference) and manually CHANGE what has to be 
changed.  Then save the file, under a slightly different name, as plain 
text (NOT!! RTF).

Since you're a programmer, you may find it challenging to write a program 
to do this for you.  But, it's probably not worth the effort for just one 
import session.

But, 95% of the problems disappear when you pick a much lower GED target.
FTM at one point used the GED5.0 _proposed_ standard which had new tags 
which were eliminated from the now-standard 5.5.  So, when using FTM, you 
have to aim before that 5.0 to 4.0.

HTH

Cheryl


On Fri, 16 Mar 2001, John Reynolds wrote:

> 
> Hello all, I'm hoping that one of you guys/gals can help with a big problem
> I'm having. It seems that the fine folks at Broderbund don't understand how to
> produce correct GEDCOM files. Here's a little history.
> 
> I've got LOTS of genealogy information which I started creating/editing with
> FTW 3.x. Then I upgraded to 4.x. Then to 5.0a. Years passed doing nothing with
> it. Now I've got the genealogy bug again and have decided to do it "for real"
> in PAF (so that I can eventually submit the names, etc. with less hassle). So,
> I'm trying to import all this information in GEDCOM format into PAF. I've
> ALMOST got it working with one snag.
> 
> FTW 5.0a *eliminated* the ability to map "fact" fields onto particular GEDCOM
> identifiers. Instead it exports ordinance information as "other events." When I
> import this into PAF I see the data such as endowments, baptisms, etc. but
> they're not in the "native" fields--they're under the "other events" section
> for individuals. This is not good.
> 
> So, I save the FTW file in 4.x format and load it with a copy of 4.4 I had
> installed. This version DOES let you map "fact" fields onto GEDCOM idents. Once
> I figure out how FTW mangled things when saving from 5->4 and get the "correct"
> mapping for all of the LDS ordinance info, the export itself works fine; but I
> get billions of errors related to the SLGP tag (sealing to parents) when I
> import it. The errors in the .lst file are something like:
> 
>  ERROR N: filename, etc.: RIN N: Unexpected tag 'SLGP' in Individual Record.
> 
> Being a computer science nerd I check the grammar for GEDCOM 5.5 and sure
> enough SLGP *is* illegal to have in an individual record. To follow that up, I
> downloaded the "gedchk" program from ftp.gedcom.org and ran it on the GEDCOM
> file and sure enough it told me that there were these and other problems with
> the file. I've been able to find the 5.5 standard on the web several places and
> it doesn't even mention the 'SLGP' tag--but instead talks about how "seal to
> parents" now falls under the INDI-FAMC structure using the 'SLGC' tag.
> 
> Soooooo ... has anybody seen this particular problem before? Is it fixed in
> later versions of FTW (I *refuse* to buy another copy of the bug-ridden piece
> of garbage unless they've fixed this)? Does anybody have utilities, scripts, or
> other techniques that might fix this particular conversion problem? This whole
> situation is extremely frustrating as GEDCOM is supposed to be a "standard."
> Sigh.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> -Jr
> 
> -- 
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
> John Reynolds         Chandler Capabilities Engineering, CDS, Intel Corporation
> jreynold@sedona.ch.intel.com  My opinions are mine, not Intel's. Running
> jjreynold@home.com        FreeBSD 4.2-STABLE. FreeBSD: The Power to Serve.
> http://www.reynoldsnet.org/  Come join us!!! @ http://www.FreeBSD.org/
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
> ============================================================================
> For assistance and help for the PAF Mailing List please contact
> ed.rogers@innernet.org or http://www.innernet.org/paf/
> Searchable list archives at http://www.innernet.org/paf/archives/
> Want to unsubscribe? Try this link:
> mailto:majordomo@innernet.org?subject=unsubscribe&body=unsubscribe%paf
> ============================================================================
> 



============================================================================
For assistance and help for the PAF Mailing List please contact
ed.rogers@innernet.org or http://www.innernet.org/paf/
Searchable list archives at http://www.innernet.org/paf/archives/
Want to unsubscribe? Try this link:
mailto:majordomo@innernet.org?subject=unsubscribe&body=unsubscribe%paf
============================================================================