FTAnalyzer questions.

Hi Bee,

I have the same issue as you, wanting to see the events in a chronological order. As Alexander has mentioned, you can add the specific date for the census fact, and then add a BEF or AFT for your other facts.

In your case, it might be that this is a census year but you don't have a census fact added? But you have a residence fact of Jan 1901? The warning is just letting you know that this Jan 1901 fact doesn't align with a census date.

On your red blocks point, if you have added Jan 1901 format as the census date, then FTA will assume its not a census fact and therefore show this as missing a census record.

Could you take a screenshot from FTM? You can do this by pressing ALT+PrtScn and then pasting into a program like IrfanView. And then upload the file here.

 

Good idea Tim. Bee you can also paste the screenshot into Paint a simple graphics program that comes with windows so saves you having to install anything new.

 

It didn't come with my windows, I had to find it and install it.

 

Paint has been part of windows since at least Windows 3. Granted you may not have had a shortcut to it or if the original install didn't tick the box for paint under windows components then you might not have it but its on the original DvDs.

 

DVD's? lol

(company laptop) wasn't on the standard image. Soon fixed it.

 

Sorry I forgot you are using a 12 year old operating system. Was that floppies? Na it was actually CDs it came on. I've still got some original install CDs in the boxes with the holographic keys, in a dusty cupboard.

Note to self, clean out the cupboard!!

 

Maybe 12 years old, but still the best one so far .

 

Yes, you need to enter a census fact and date for each census, makes life easier all round

 

Hi Bee, the point is that each census will have different references and different sources that you would tag. The people living at the address may be different and will definitely have different ages etc. The program also treats them as discreet events as otherwise it gets confused with facts where you have accidentally covered off numerous years vs where you meant to cover various years. I ended up plumping for the scenario where it expects each census to be a discreet event as this avoided "false positives" ie: thinking it had got a census when it hadn't.

 

Hmmm I guess you haven't really tried Windows 7 it takes all the best bits of XP and adds so much more "smoothness" and functionality. It just flows better and is easy to use.

 

Anyhow, before we have to create a new topic on Windows, I've seen this new fandangled Windows 7 but not really used it.
I just remember Win 3.1 and ME, and the old blue screen of death....

So, back on topic.

Hi Bee. As you can start to appreciate, everyone starts to record information about their ancestors in a manner that makes sense to themselves at the time. This is often because when new researchers start out, there is very little guidance on what to record AND how to record it. Date formats is a very good example. Its very easy to create something meaningful to oneself, and Family History Software will allow it, but when you want to share your tree, or move it to different FH Software or start to use FTAnalyzer on your gedcom, you'll start to realise that you need to use the standard that has already been defined.

Here's a typical example from my tree. On the overview screen shown, you don't see the BEFore's or BETween's, but they will be there. Recording the source is very important and is done automatically in FTM.

Once you have recorded an entry for each event that you find, like for every census or when you enter someone on the Lost Cousins website, FTAnalyzer really starts to work for you.

 

Hmm David. It sounds like your .Net Framework is broken or something is preventing FTAnalyzer from saving settings. On the install side of things if you unzip and run a .exe program you aren't installing anything so it is not at all a surprise that there is no uninstall option. You only get an uninstall option if you actually install something, by using the .exe version you are specifically choosing not to install the program.

It is far far more likely from what you describe that the problem is with the .Net Framework. Without a lot more info on how your system is working I cannot help further. For instance you don't say how much memory your machine has, what version of XP Pro you are running. What sort of Domain network you are connected to (I assume this is a networked computer on a domain as there is no benefit to use XP Pro if you aren't on a domain network). Are there any group policies setup that permit or deny certain actions? Is there some "protection" software that prevents programs loading and savings settings?

The problem is very likely to be either something that is preventing access to the program settings part of the registry where FTAnalyzer stores it's options, or there is a problem with your .Net Framework install.

There is a tool you can download to check your .Net environment again this is just an exe in a zip it doesn't install. Once run you want to verify .Net Framework 4 Client. If there is a problem you can download the Microsoft Framework Repair tool from here.

The other question is have you done a windows update lately, that is a FULL update including using Microsoft update to update Microsoft products as the basic windows update won't pickup the fixes you need.

 

Thanks for that David, good to hear that your .Net stuff is working and you regularly run Microsoft Update, you'd be amazed at how many people have issues and haven't even heard of windows update. I had one person who reported that her machine needed 132 Windows updates!!! The only things FTAnalyzer uses the registry for is storing the options eg: Use Baptism/Christening fact if no birth fact.

One other potential issue might be permissions. What directory have you unzipped the program into?

What I could do is release a special version for you with LOTS of debugging info turned on. This would create a diagnostics file that would help identify what it is trying to do at the point it hangs. If you wish me to try this approach let me know and I'll knock up something for you.

 

Ah now that's interesting. Can you provide the exact text of the Event log entries. Especially any error numbers. Or you should be able to select the entry and save the log to a file. Armed with that info I can have a delve around in the Microsoft technical databases or on some of the professional sites I subscribe to, to see if there's a known problem and what the fix is.

 

David,

You might get a fix after all, even when Microsoft couldn't.