FHS - GEDCOM Support in New Update

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The GEDCOM Export/Import program (F3-D-1) is now available. It combines the functions of the previous PAFGEDCM and FAMGEDCM programs of earlier versions of FHS and adds to those functions in some important ways.

GEDCOM Styles

To begin with, it supports the three versions of GEDCOM that were used in the two previous programs. (Click on the Name of the GEDCOM "Style" to see a sample listing of that type.)

• FHS v1 (May 1986) - this version used a very early GEDCOM description which employed two character labels (or "tags") for data items. It (eventually) allowed transferring all types of information between FHS family files; relationships were represented by data items in Name records (as in the FHS family file) and did not require a marriage record for the parents; it has previously been available only to registered users of FHS.
• PAF v2.0 (Sept 88) - this followed the GEDCOM implementation of the Personal Ancestor File software introduced in April 1986 which used 4 character data tags, linking children through the family record of the parents (this required creation of "dummy" marriage records when children were born to unmarried parents) and linking siblings from youngest to oldest. The FHS program was limited to transferring data elements that were common to the FHS and PAF family files;
• PAF v2.1 (1990) - in 1988, Personal Ancestor File 2.1 used a new version of GEDCOM which differed in significant ways from the previous version. In particular, it changed the way dates were represented, changed the way sibling relationships were recorded and changed the way multiple marriages were linked; the FHS program was still limited to the same fields as the previous GEDCOM style and it was still necessary to create a dummy marriage record for unmarried parents. (Subsequent implementations of GEDCOM in PAF did not introduce any changes that affected the types of information which were being exported from FHS family files.)

Now, the export/Import program also supports:

• LDS 5.5 (1997) - which uses a recent (Dec 1995) draft of GEDCOM specifications to allow support for additional data items in the FHS family file format. In particular addresses appear to be supported under Name and Family records in this latest definition, and comments are now allowed under marriage records. A new EVENT structure seems to allow more complete treatment of FHS family record information as well as the new FHS Event record.

  I don't know at this time whether any other software's GEDCOM implementation is compatible with the way that I have interpreted the v5.5 draft of the GEDCOM specification. I will eventually seek approval of FHS created GEDCOM files in this format for submission to the LDS Ancestral File in Salt Lake City and will make any necessary adjustments to my implementation of the draft proposal to get that approval, so there may be some changes to this GEDCOM style before this update is finalised.

CUSTOMIZED GEDCOM

All of the data "tags" used in the various styles of GEDCOM supported by the new FHS update come from the GEDCOM system table. (System tables are viewed and maintained through Main Menu option F3-B-F4-1.) The GEDCOM table actually provides 5 sets of GEDCOM tags, one for each of the basic "styles": FHS, PAFv20, PAFv21, and LDSv55. It also has a fifth set of tags which is a "superset" of the others and may be customized by users.

The set of customizable GEDCOM tags has a dual purpose:

1. to allow the non-English speaking user to create data tags which may be more meaningful to them
2. to provide for exporting types of information that may not be formally permitted in one of the basic GEDCOM styles.

Of course care should be taken in the use of customized tags. GEDCOM files created using them are likely not to be fully acceptable to any software other than FHS. Even when using the new FHS update, the person Importing one of these customized GEDCOM files must have the same set of customized tags for the Import operation to be successful.

Some other things to note about customized GEDCOM files:

• If you are sending a GEDCOM file containing non-standard data tags to someone who is not using FHS, be aware that it has become standard to use an underscore as the first character of non-standard tags in a standard GEDCOM file. If you follow that convention then the receiving software may be able to handle the exceptions more gracefully.
• When using customized GEDCOM tags, the FHS export/import program may ask you to identify the "GEDCOM Rules" to be used during the operation, where the "GEDCOM Rules" correspond to the previously mentioned styles: v2.0, v2.1, v5.5, and FHS. If you choose FHS as the "GEDCOM rule" for an export operation then the program will generate parent/child and sibling linkages independent of the marriage record, and multiple marriage records will be linked as with "FHS v1". However, in other ways it will conform to "standard GEDCOM"..for example in the representation of dates. This might be considered then as a 5th style of GEDCOM. To distinguish these two styles of FHS GEDCOM, I denote them as FHSv1 and FHSv2.
• All GEDCOM files created by the new FHS update include a non-standard data item, "_RUL", in the header record. This item identifies the GEDCOM Rules used for the creation of the file using one of the literals: FHSv1, FHSv2, PAFv20, PAFv21 or LDSv55. During an import operation, if this item is found in the header record, you will not be asked to identify the GEDCOM Rule that will be used by the program.
• For a type of information to be exported (or imported), two things must happen:
  1. It must be identified as one of the "types of information to process" among the options for the operation. Program option F4 allows you to change the options for each operation (Import, Export, List).
  2. The "tags" used for processing the information must be in the set of tags chosen for the operation.
  Because of this, even though you may choose to export "comments" using standard PAFv20 tags, the comments under marriage records will not be exported because the standard set of PAFv20 tags do not include the ones for marriage comments. However if you use the Customized tags with PAFv20 rules, marriage comments would be exported.
• During an Export/Import option that uses customized tags, you can optionally use the Month Abbreviation Table in the Report Definition File for formating/interpreting dates.

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OTHER REMARKS ABOUT FHS GEDCOM SUPPORT

1. There are several "non-standard" fields that are placed in the header record of any style GEDCOM file created by the new update. They are:
   • _IIC - the number of name records (Individual Information records) in the file
   • _FIC - the number of family records (Family Information records) in the file
   • _RUL - the GEDCOM rules used while creating the file
   The presence of these fields is not required for an import operation, but the efficiency of the operation can be improved if they are there. (The "_IIC" tag is called "HCNT" in PAF2.0 and PAF2.1 styles of GEDCOM datasets created by earlier versions of FHS. )
2. The standard tag for the family information record was changed after PAF 2.0 (originally FAMI, changed to FAM). The default set of customized tags uses the same tag as the later GEDCOM specifications. As a result, if you use customized tags to create a v2.0 GEDCOM file for transferring information to software other than the new update to FHS, you should modify the customized tag table so that it will conform to the standard v2.0 table.
3. You can export records in "relationship" sequence, determined by a previously created relationship work file.
4. During an export operation, you may optionally choose to have text fields converted from "ALL CAPS" to "Mixed Case".
5. During an export/import operation, the progress of the operation's creation/reading of the GEDCOM file is shown in the middle portion of the screen. In particular, it shows how many lines of the file have been processed, the number of name records created/found and the number of family records created/found.
6. Transfer datasets are normally located in the TRANSFER directory as identified in the Family File SETUP Table. However, at the beginning of each export/import operation you will be prompted for the name of the GEDCOM dataset. If you include a drive identifier in the entered dataset name (e.g. A:TRANSFER.GED instead of TRANSFER.GED), then the TRANSFER dataset directory name in the File SETUP table will NOT be used.
7. If you are exporting information to a diskette (by using a drive identifier of A: or B: when entering the GEDCOM dataset name) and the diskette becomes full, the program will allow you to change diskettes and continue the export operation on a new (blank, formatted) diskette. The suffix for dataset names for successive diskettes (after the first) will be .G00, .G01, .G02, etc. (The suffix for the first dataset should be .GED.) This may continue for up to 100 diskettes.
8. During an import operation from a diskette (by using a drive identifier of A: or B: when entering the GEDCOM dataset name), if the program reaches the end of the dataset without finding a standard TRAILER Record, it will ask if there are additional diskettes. In this way you can import a multi-diskette GEDOM file. The suffix for the dataset names on successive diskettes must follow the convention: .GED for the first, and .G00, .G01, .G02, etc, for the others.
9. During an import operation, the GEDCOM file will be read two times. The first time to read the Header record and create two "Pointer Work Files" and the second time to import the other information. If you are importing a multi-diskette GEDCOM file, then following the first pass through the diskettes, you will be prompted to put the first diskette of the set back into the drive to begin the second reading of the file.
10. During an import operation an error report of GEDCOM tags not processed can be produced. Each line of the report will show the (numeric portion of the) last cross-reference identifier for each of the name and family information records processed along with the GEDCOM line that was not processed;
11. During an import operation for which an error report is not being sent to the screen, each GEDCOM line that is not processed will be shown on the bottom line of the screen. On the left side of the line the most recent name/family record cross reference identifier will be shown (in reverse video) and the total number of error lines will be shown on the right side of the line (in reverse video); If an error report is not being printed, the program will pause after showing an error line (with an ellipsis "..." showing on the right side of the bottom line). It will terminate the process if you press the ESCape key or it will continue processing if you press any other key. If you continue processing by pressing the PGDN key, then the program will no longer pause after each error line is displayed (unless you press a key on the keyboard...which will tell the program that you wish to pause again after the next displayed error line).
12. During an export or import operation (for which the error report is not being sent to the screen), the count of records processed of different information types is shown in the viewing area in the lower right corner of the screen;
13. As with earlier versions of the FHS GEDCOM Import programs, when you import records into an existing (non-empty) family file, the new records are simply added to the end of the file with no attempt to "merge" records or determine if there are duplicates between old and new records. There is a new validation option for registered users (Main Menu selection F3-E-F6-3) which can be used to find old and new records which are "similar".
14. The Import routine requires that all "cross reference identifiers" for Name and Family records be of the form: xx...xnn....n where xx...x is 0 or more Alphabetic characters (which will be ignored) and nn...n is a number from 1-32767. As a result, the import routine is not able to process GEDCOM files which use esoteric cross reference identifiers. This includes files created from the LDS Ancestral File. For those who wish to import information from the LDS Ancestral File, I still recommend using the LDS Personal Ancestor File (PAF) software as an "intermediate utility". That is, the information can be imported into a PAF family file and then exported into a GEDCOM file that can be imported into FHS. PAF created GEDCOM files use cross-reference identifiers that conform to the style that can be processed by FHS.