Gramps

[DeVaultSetter]

Genealogical Research and Analysis Management Programming System

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Gramps is a free software project and community. We strive to produce a genealogy program that is both intuitive for hobbyists and feature-complete for professional genealogists. It is a community project, created, developed and governed by genealogists.

G.R.A.M.P.S. is a well tried and useful tool for the digital encapsulation of real life family trees!

It was the idea in 2017 when this was posted at the now defunct Assimilation lab, that it could be fun to compile for families in Bethesda games as well. However, it won’t all be plain sailing, for example consider the task of including all the NPCs in the Skyrim factions in an image like On Ice at NexusMods. Further reading at UESP: TES Genealogy.

The Gramps home page contains links to downloads, contacts, and bug trackers, the very handy one is the doc wiki, which hosts, for version 5.1 a very detailed and well explained manual, version 3.3 was the last version where one could convert the wiki content to pdf format.

This post was originally intended as a test/discussion/reference for basic testing of Gramps beta 5.11, hence it will undergo progressive editing. Gramps provide a forum, to complement the mailing lists at Sourceforge, and experienced users can post confirmed issues directly to the bug tracker, which, fortunately has ironed out some issues with Chrome, at least. The tracker is not equipped with a keyword search facility, and issue meta/text does not get a high relevance in results from major search engines, so there is a risk of duplication when submitting new issues.

Installed- and then uninstalled to test.

Notes on installation:

The advice back in 2017 was to avoid installing the 64 bit for just me user option which seemed to slow the load of the folder dialogs in the gui. The All Users installation was, and still is preferred as the Gramps program files are actually installed to Program Files rather than in Appdata\Local.
Explained in here:
Enhancement Request/Enquiry: Thought Gramps on Windows platform might be helped with something else like InnoSetup, but NSIS is just as good.

If using the for just me option in the installer, ensure the Appdata folder is not hidden, see Enhancement Request/Enquiry.

Fontcache issue with “.local” and “.font” directories:
Enhancement Request
There may be .local or .fonts folders in Linux- not in Windows, issue resolved

Gramps version updates install to a new directory in Appdata\Local by default, so it’s best to uninstall before updating, user files and settings are not affected.

Uninstallation:

Initiate this from Apps & Features. Do not uninstall while Gramps is still running as it doesn’t check id active. Leaves the Gramps directories in the installation directories and a Gramps folder in C:\Users\<~username>\AppData\Roaming containing files that were skipped because they were in use, hence: Enhancement Request

Running Gramps & Issues:

Starting Gramps For the first time after an update brings up a console window, which should be left open as explained here.

Current default backup path is \Users\<~username>. This is better defaulting to a newly created backup folder like \Users\<~username>\AppData\\gramps\Backup
See Enhancement Request.

The “base path for relative media paths” pathname text is removed from the preferences dialog if the current DB is deselected or deleted. When creating a new DB, it would be convenient to select from a list of candidates used by other DBs. If creating a DB for the first time, the default name will be \Users\<~username>\AppData\gramps\DB name.

Enhancement Request: Dropdown selection box of all listed DBs linked to corresponding media path.
Bug Report: Default of highest_in_the_tree folder string name should correspond with the DB name.

Minor niggle: The base path for relative media paths is: c:\users\<~username>\AppData\gramps\example {lower Case for c:\users}. Cf. the case of the actual paths: C:\Users\<~username>\AppData\gramps\example
Ensure consistency in path names in the remote eventuality of case changes in naming conventions.

Enhancement Request: The Gramps: Backup folder selection dialog buttons at the base are hidden in 768p. Can the form height be shortened a little?
“Select Media Directory” Dialog to large for 768P. The button bit with the buttons hides behind the taskbar (if the taskbar is at the base of screen) so that moving the taskbar in a multi-monitor display may trigger driver anomalies in Windows: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-start-win_desk/show-desktop-not-working/9b31f12d-5427-4cbb-a1c1-5dd4c8496f2f
Not an issue after reselecting monitor in multi-monitor display (assimilationlab link gone: poss. related to the desktop monitor not the default primary at setup).

Enhancement Request: The current sort options in Import are {Name, Size, Date}- can {Folder First/Last} be included- so to show folders last or first, sorted according to {Name, Size, Date}.

Enhancement Request: Loading another database from “Manage Family Trees” automatically saves the current database. On the odd occasion, it would be convenient to discard changes of the current DB and load the new DB, without closing Gramps, – then loading the other DB on Gramps restart. The check is greyed out when the currently loaded DB in the list is selected, and active when another DB is selected.

Enhancement Request: Suggest list for titles in Add/Edit Person dialog.

Bug Report: Any images in the Media Preview are not cleared when either the current DB is closed, or a new DB is loaded.

Enhancement Request: “Expanding all Nodes” & “Collapse All to Nodes” feature request.

Bug Report: Filter fields too long causing their dropdown markers to clip in the gui.

Bug Report (Closed as dupli9cate): With more than one family of the same name, that surname is repeated in in the suggest list.

Enhancement Request: Scrollbar in people list shows different behaviour to standard Windows scrollbars. Is this intended or just “Linux like”?

Enhancement Request/Tweak: Adding a marriage date is a bit of a drama as you have to add it as an event to one participant and then share it with the other on the family’s screen. This makes all that bearable.

Enhancement Request: No dropdown or suggestion list for Titles (Mr. Mrs. etc.) in the Edit-Person dialog.

Enhancement Request: F1 keypress context jump links from Gramps screens to relevant help topics on the wiki.

The following questions refer to Example.gramps

The warning below popped up when the example was imported according to the wiki page:
https://www.gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=Example.gramps

“The opened file has media path {GRAMPS_RESOURCES}/example/gramps,
which conflicts with the media path of the Family Tree you import into.
The original media path has been retained. Copy the files to a correct
directory or change the media path in the Preferences.”

The Example.gramps DB obviously had its own media path. Perhaps this should be null?

Another attempted import into a new DB got a successful import message, but the Media Preview Pane of the items in of {GRAMPS_RESOURCES}/example/gramps didn’t show the files. The example in the Program Files folder was actually in c:\program files\grampsaio64-5.0.0\share\doc\gramps\example\gramps.

Enhancement Request/Enquiry: False alarm? All the images showed correctly.

Colours of Text:

• Jesse V. Garner’s text in the people list is green
• The colour of Lewis Anderson Garner Von Zielinski (Big Louie) is red in the people list.
• His corresponding note “This is a note showing a lot of different markup that mixes with each other” is also red.
• The note “Ask librarian for key to the microfilm closet of Great Falls church, it is closed normally” is also red in list.
• In “Media” the colour of 1897_expeditionsmannschaft_rio_a.jpg red in the list?

Enhancement Request/Enquiry: Is there a colour code explanation of such items somewhere missed? This is explained by the application of tags to the record. “Todo” tag is red, “Complete” tag is green.

Enhancement Request: Installation: Is there a case for the example file to be distributed in the Roaming (or Local) directories instead of the program folder?
Enhancement Request: Is it possible for the Example.gramps file to be made available as a separate download- even at the wiki page?
Bug Report: Relating to DB issues when the program is closed during an OS boot from hibernate issue. Closed, but linked for reference.

***End of edited 2017-2019 blurb!***

GrampsAIO64 5.1.6 is now installed!

• This topic was modified 1 year ago by DeVaultSetter.
• This topic was modified 1 year ago by DeVaultSetter.
• This topic was modified 1 year ago by DeVaultSetter.
• This topic was modified 1 year ago by DeVaultSetter.

[Spastic Hamburger]

Is this thread ready for me to reply to? Sorry, it never showed up in the stats and was listed as unread two weeks ago when it was hidden so I didn’t realize that you had made it visible

[DeVaultSetter]

Certainly! Just “zhuzhed up” the old AL lab article a little, without doing too much yet. It would be wonderful if you could try it out on the Linux build for comparison, and of course, the building of your own family tree! 🙂

[Spastic Hamburger]

Great!

For tracing the genealogies, the Imperial Library may be helpful 🙂

It should be the same! But I’ll confirm when I get the opportunity! 🙂

I think my aunt did our family tree a while ago. I may reach out to her and see if I can get a copy of it 🙂

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by Spastic Hamburger.

[Spastic Hamburger]

The biggest change to Gramps on *nix has to do with the paths. For user files, you’ll find them in ~/.gramps. Additionally, you can change the database type in settings (don’t know if it’s the same in Windows).

Everything else, as near as I can tell, should be the same as on Windows other than a few UI differences to account for differences in platform features.

Sorry that it took so long!

• This reply was modified 10 months, 3 weeks ago by Spastic Hamburger.

[DeVaultSetter]

Great to have Gramps onboard Linux! 🙂
The other week Mum handed over another wadj of family records for the DB, so plenty on tap. Meanwhile, the Gramps Mailing List continues to toss up a varied array of goodies, such as this site using an unnamed generator, and this site generated with Gramps. 🙂

[Spastic Hamburger]

Yay! How far back does your DB go so far?

Cool! Those are quite extensive! That must have taken a lot of work!

[DeVaultSetter]

Some records reach back to the muddle ages, from whence the fuzzy details of distant ancestors remain well protected by the coarse veil of time & mystery. 🙂
Not sure if there is sufficient grunt to conjure up anything quite as well constructed as those sites above, as to what it will come out as, the proof will be in the plodding. 😛
In the meantime, a couple of issues cropped up, one related to running Check & Repair, the other related to running the console.

[Spastic Hamburger]

Cool! At the cemetery that a lot of family uses, some of the graves for the oldest relations are so old (by Florida standards, at least) that it’s very hard to identify them, especially with them being around the time the Civil War was heating up. The records from that period are pretty poor so we’ve only got a general idea of who they belong to. Interestingly, the cemetery is laid out sort of like the branches of our family tree where each offshoot has its own grouping of graves so while we don’t know exactly who they belong to, we can get a good idea of the relations 🙂

To copy in the terminal, you need to select it then click the window menu in the top left, then click copy. Ctrl-C and Ctrl-Z terminate the job and send it to the background after pausing, respectively. Hope that helps 🙂

[DeVaultSetter]

Suggest you get a start on it, by the sheer size it’ll be yonks before lineage, roots, and bloodlines resolve from the blur. 😛

Thanks, it’s Windows Terminal 1.19 they use in Gramps, surprisingly no copy as such in the TL menu, but an export text function which could be handy. In Settings>Actions you can redefine the keys as well. In the meantime, the GUI turns out to be less of a user memory hog. 😛
Related is the debug logging system Nick links onto at the end of this thread. Logging doesn’t appear to be configured in the gui at all, rather through script, console commands, or command line parameters, which might be a bit awkward for some. 🙁

[Spastic Hamburger]

Yeah, it’ll be a big job for sure. I suppose I could start by checking public record and going from there. Have to start somewhere!

Are you clicking the icon in the window border that also gives you the drop down options for Minimize or maximize or the File menu? It’s usually in the former if available 🙂

Though, it looks like it’s been removed from the newer tabbed version. No idea how we’re supposed to copy now. 🙁

• This reply was modified 3 months, 4 weeks ago by Spastic Hamburger.

[DeVaultSetter]

Grampsweb is the first port of call, possible on Synology, also possible in hosting though no plugin based WP integration as such. There does happen to be Tangled Web at Github from late ’21, certainly on the cards.
For now, trying out the Narrated Website, the first blue was selecting the tar.gz in the export options, the backslashes turned borko in the tarball, e.g.:

pplb0dc824f7463f2fc525fbe14e7f0b.html

Consequently the lucky first upload of the tree showed the index beautifully, the rest of the items 404. The second was successful. 🙂

[Spastic Hamburger]

Is it possible to set it up as a tree-view using something like graphviz? Would be a fun way to browse through the history 🙂

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