RootsMagic 4 Unwrapped – A Brief Note About Reports

Bruce Buzbee 33 Comments

After my last article on the new report engine in RootsMagic 4, I noticed we were getting a lot of questions and comments regarding individual reports, mainly whether we have enhanced or added a particular report.  Let me clarify a couple of things about RootsMagic 4 and reports.

As I have previously mentioned (and as you have seen from all the new features we have shown), RootsMagic 4 is a complete rewrite.  Many, many hours have gone into its design and development.  Beyond the enhancements in the report engine, it has also been in our plans to add new reports, and enhance existing reports.  While you will see some of these enhancements in version 4, there are many new unfinished reports and enhancements that we are having to temporarily remove in order to get this version out.  These new reports and options will be released in future updates.  We would be happy to put them in before version 4, if you are willing to wait another 6 months for us to release this new version 😉

RootsMagic 4 Unwrapped – The New Report Engine

Bruce Buzbee 19 Comments

Sorry about the delay since the last blog entry.  I’ve been swamped with programming and presentations so I’ll try to get these last few features out a bit quicker.

As with the rest of RootsMagic 4, the report engine has received an overhaul to not only add new functionality, but to make it easier to share your reports as well.

Choosing A Report

Here’s where you select the report you want to print.  Select a category and choose the report you want (the little report icons will actually have images of the report on them in the final release… not just a bunch of white papers).  The categories are also subject to a few changes before release as well.

When you highlight a report RootsMagic will display a brief description of that report.  You can also type in search terms to find a report if you aren’t sure what it is called.  For example, if you type “ancestor” into the search box you will see all the ancestor reports, regardless of which category they are in.

Report Viewer

The Report Viewer (or “Print Preview”) has been significantly beefed up.  Rather than individual pages which require you to click Next or Previous, the report viewer lets you easily scroll up and down the preview.  And if you need to change one of the options for the report, just click the Settings button (1), make the change and RootsMagic will regenerate the report right there.

You no longer have to choose the destination up front (screen, PDF, RTF, etc).  Just click the Save button (2) from the Report Viewer, choose the format you want to use, and save your report directly from the viewer.

And it is now easier than ever to share a report with your family and friends.  Just click the Email button (3) and RootsMagic will let you choose what format you want to send the report as.

Select one and RootsMagic will create the report file, attach it to an email, and all you have to do is type in the email address (and a message to the person if you want).

Publisher

And of course the Publisher has been enhanced and simplified to make it easier to combine those multiple reports into a single book.

Other Enhancements

Most the of “graphical” reports (like pedigree chart, group sheet, box charts, etc) are not limited to just PDF anymore.  You can now save them as Rich Text (RTF) files as well (including in the publisher).

And on reports which provide an index, you can now have both a name index *and* a place index.  The place index can be printed with the places either as-is, or reversed to group them together geographically.

And here’s a cool new feature.  When you print a report or book with an index or table of contents, the page numbers in the index will hot-link to the page in the report.  Just click on a page number in the index and RootsMagic will jump to that page.  This works both in the print preview and when exporting your reports to PDF.

Well, we’re almost there.  Just a couple more features to go.  Next up is sources.  And oh what we’ve done with sources.  I may not be able to fit all the amazing new source stuff into a single blog entry, but I’m sure you won’t be disappointed if I have to stretch it out into a couple.

Join us at the Family History Expo in Mesa, Arizona

Michael Booth 7 Comments

Just wanted to get the word out about the Mesa Arizona Family History Expo to be held Friday, November 14 through Saturday, November 15, 2008.  This event is being produced by Family History Expos (formerly My Ancestors Found).  If you’ve ever been to one of their events before, you know what a good value they are.  But you don’t have to take my word for it, Dick Eastman and The Chart Chick both have great things to say about the expos.

At the conference, you can choose from over 100 classes on a wide-variety of subjects taught by presenters from all over the world.  You can even attend classes on RootsMagic, Personal Historian, and Family Atlas taught by the foremost experts on the software in the world (cough, “us”).

But for devoted readers of this blog, perhaps the best part of the expo will be a chance to see and play with RootsMagic 4.  You can attend one of the classes about RM4 or stop by our booth for a live demo.

Because we are sponsors of the expo, we’ve been allowed to extend the pre-registration discount price of $75 through Friday, November 7th at 10 a.m.  You can learn more at http://www.fhexpos.com/events/upcoming.php?event_id=43.

So if you’re in the neighborhood or just want bragging rights on the RootsMagic Message Board, be sure to preregister for the Family History Expo today.  See you there!

RootsMagic 4 Unwrapped – Evolution

Bruce Buzbee 49 Comments

Way back when I first started previewing RootsMagic 4, several eagle-eyed readers noticed that the file extension of the RootsMagic database had changed from .RMG to .RMGC.  There was some speculation (quite accurate speculation I might add) about what that simple change actually means.

One thing that it means is that RootsMagic 4 has been rewritten from the ground up (now you know why it has taken so long).  After the release of version 3 several years ago, we realized that it was time to take RootsMagic to the next level.  And we weren’t content with just cobbling a few new features onto old code like is done so often in the software world.  But we also wanted to make sure we didn’t leave out any of the existing features that have made RootsMagic so popular all these years.  We’ve shown you a lot of the new stuff we’ve written, but here are just a few of the non-visual reasons we have spent so many long hours rewriting RootsMagic.

Unicode Support

So what is Unicode?  Basically Unicode support means that RootsMagic isn’t limited to just “western European” languages anymore.  RootsMagic 4 can now handle Polish, Cyrillic, Kanji, and most any other language you can throw at it.

And while many of us don’t use these other languages every day, there are times where we may want to enter the name of an ancestor in their native language, or keep a transcription of an old document in its original language.

If you would like to learn more than you could ever possibly want to know about Unicode, check out this Wikipedia article.

Localization

Shortly after the release of version 4.0, we will be releasing tools to allow the translation of RootsMagic into other languages.  We will provide more information about this then, and will be looking for volunteers interested in helping out with this important project.

Single File Database

And after 18+ years of Family Origins and RootsMagic using over 30 files for each and every database, one of my favorite features in RM4 (and our tech support people concur) is the new single file RootsMagic database.  I know most people probably don’t even care about this, but for those of us who have ever had to copy or move a database, it’s nice to know I won’t accidentally leave a piece of my database behind.

There are still 3 more features I want to tell you about before we light this candle.  There are actually a lot of things I haven’t had time to show, but I figure I’ll just leave a few things for you to find out about by experimenting.

RootsMagic 4 Unwrapped – Sharing Events

Bruce Buzbee 38 Comments

Can I get a witness?

Here is that new edit screen from the last preview, and I’ve unblurred the new magic button.

“Share”.  This feature (sometimes called “witnesses”) lets you share a person’s fact or event with other people in your database.  Click the Share button for a fact and RootsMagic 4 lets you select any group of people in your database who will share that fact.  You can even say what each person’s “role” in that event is.

So what happens when you look at the edit screen of one of those people sharing that fact?  Here’s what:

The fact or event will show just like it does in the event owner’s screen, except that you will see a pair of binoculars to indicate this person is sharing the event rather than owning it.  If you don’t want to see the shared events, click the Options button and tell RootsMagic to hide those shared events.

So how might you use this Share button?  Here are a couple of examples…

  1. Witnesses to an event – You’ve entered a marriage event for a couple, but would like to link other family members who were in attendance.  Just click the Share button for the marriage event and you can select those family members and even enter any specific roles they may have played (“best man”, “maid of honor”, “witness”, or anything else).
  2. People sharing a fact – One great example of this is a census fact.  Let’s say you find a family in the census.  Just add that census fact to the head of the household, then click the Share button for the census fact and add the other family members found in the census.  Not only can you add the people to that fact, but you can also enter a role (like “Spouse”, “Child”, “Boarder”, etc) of the person in that census record.  You can also use Shared facts for family members in a residence fact also.

Pretty cool, eh?  Still a few more to go, then we’ll start making some announcements.

Oh, and for those anonymous comments that I shouldn’t be wasting your time with blog tags or tributes to friends, just select “RootsMagic” from the Category over there in the right column and you won’t see those other articles.  As for whether it is wasting *my* time, I’m spending 16+ hours a day (including Saturdays) working on RM4, so I think I’m entitled to a little freedom as to what I post.  Just remember, I could start working a standard 40 hour week like most people 😉

Tag, I’m It

Bruce Buzbee 4 Comments

OK, so nobody told me when I started blogging that I would get to play tag.  I was tagged by Diane Haddad over at the Genealogy Insider (she’s with Family Tree Magazine).  I’m supposed to answer these questions about myself, and then tag 5 more blogs.

10 Years Ago I …
1. Moved into my current home
2. Worried about the future of Family Origins
3. Stressed as my oldest son got his driver’s license
4. Visited Hearst Castle
5. Watched my youngest son play outfield by laying down picking dandelions (aren’t scrapbooks wonderful)

Five Things on Today’s To-Do List
1. Work on RootsMagic 4
2. Eat lunch
3. Work on RootsMagic 4
4. Eat dinner
5. Work on RootsMagic 4

Five snacks I enjoy
1. Chips and salsa (everything else is a distant second)
2. Vanilla bean ice cream
3. Pizza (anything less than a full pizza is a snack)
4. Various nuts (pistachios, cashews, etc)
5. Peanut M&Ms

Five Places I’ve Lived
1. Albuquerque, New Mexico
2. Mountain View, California
3. San Jose, California
4. Sandy, Utah
5. Mapleton, Utah

Five Jobs I’ve Had
1. Newspaper boy
2. Carpet layer
3. Technical gopher at Air Force Weapons Lab at Kirtland AFB
4. Senior Engineer at Stanford Research Institute
5. Programmer of genealogy software

Five Blogs I Tag
1. Janet Hovorka at The Chart Chick
2. Kimberly Powell at About.com (I pick on her every time)
3. Dick Eastman at Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter
4. Holly Hansen at the Family History Expos Blog
5. Lisa Louise Cook over at the Genealogy Gems Podcast

RootsMagic 4 Unwrapped – The New Edit Screen

Bruce Buzbee 23 Comments

Well, I’m finally caught up from the RootsMagic cruise, and ready to wrap up the last 5 or 6 new features coming in RootsMagic 4.

Welcome to the new edit screen.  Now, before you say “It’s different so I hate it”, let’s talk a little bit.

One big problem in most genealogy programs is all the screens required to enter information.  Currently in RootsMagic (versions 1-3), there are 3 different edit screens… 1) Edit Person, 2) Edit Fact, and 3) Edit Family.  I bet there are some RootsMagic users who didn’t even know about the Edit Family screen (found by doing Edit > Family from the main menu).  And most other programs split a person’s information among even more screens.

Let’s take a look at RootsMagic 4’s new edit screen.  The left half of the edit screen is a list of every piece of information about the person: their name(s), spouses, parents, facts, events, and even DNA tests.  The right half of the screen is a “live edit” panel for the currently highlighted row.

Select the “Person” row, and the live edit panel lets you edit the person’s name and sex.  Select a different row (like the “Emigration” fact in the screen below), and the live edit panel lets you edit the details for that piece of information.

In addition to the live edit fields, RootsMagic 4 also shows whether there are any notes, sources, media, or XXXXX for that piece of information (looks like Bruce got ahold of the blurring tool again).

And if you select one of the family rows (like the parents in the screen below), you can edit details about that family (like the relationship to each parent).  And don’t worry about losing those shortcuts you have gotten used to… you can still click the little green checkmarks to directly edit notes, sources, and media.

So there you have it.  The ultimate edit screen.  The one-stop place for a person’s names (primary and alternate), families, events, facts, DNA tests, and more.  And we’ll have more fun next time when I break out the un-blurring tool.

Remembering a Good Friend

Bruce Buzbee 5 Comments

I just got back from the RootsMagic cruise late last night, and have been feeling a little melancholy.  I found out while I was gone that a good friend had passed away.  Many of you may know Art Lassagne, owner of The Gold Bug, and the publisher of AniMap.  Art passed away September 29, 2008.

If you have ever been to one of the national genealogy conferences, or even some of the smaller ones in the west, you know Art from his flowing white hair and his infectious smile.

Art is the guy who taught me (and my wife Laurie) what a good steak is supposed to taste like.  At every conference we would go to dinner together, and Art had researched where the very best steak in town could be found.

It really hit home Saturday when I received an email that booth selection for NGS had opened.  For years Art and I would immediately call each other when selection started so we could both get good spaces.  So when I got the email, my first thought was “I need to call Art”.

I’m really going to miss Art, probably most of all in Mesa Arizona in November which would have been our next conference together.

So Art, even though it was your turn to buy dinner in Mesa, this one is going to be on me.

RootsMagic 4 Unwrapped – Named Groups

Bruce Buzbee 18 Comments

If you have ever selected a group of people for a report or search and wished you could save that group of people to use again later, then your wish has been granted.  The fifth (and final) tab of the side list is the Groups tab.

Click the Groups button to add, edit, or delete groups of people.  You can select any group of people from the selection screen, and then give that group of people a name (like “People born in England” or “Ancestors of John Smith”).  You can then select from these names in the side list to show the people in that group.

You can create new groups, edit groups (change which people are in the group), or delete groups.  You can also change the name of a group.

Once you have some named groups created, the fun begins.  Any time you are asked whether you want to include all or some people (such as when printing a custom report), RootsMagic will also let you select any of the named groups as well.

Of course there is no limit to the number of groups you create, and since you can name them anything you want there is no need to remember cryptic tag or flag numbers.  Using named groups is fun and easy.

In case you are wondering how I wrote this article during the middle of the RootsMagic cruise, the secret is I didn’t.  I am sitting here Saturday night before the cruise writing this and will have the blog magically publish it during mid-week.  And then it is back to live blogging and unwrapping!

RootsMagic 4 Unwrapped – All in the Genes

Bruce Buzbee 4 Comments

DNA anyone?  By popular demand RootsMagic 4 now lets you track all those DNA tests you are spending so much money on.  And unlike some programs, RootsMagic 4 will let you track both Y-Chromosome (paternal-line) and Mitochondrial (maternal-line) tests.  Just choose to add a DNA test to a person and RootsMagic will ask you to select the test type.

Y-Chromosome DNA Tests

Y-Chromosomes are passed from father to son so they are useful for testing relationships and ancestry along paternal lines.  Just pick a testing laboratory from the list and RootsMagic 4 will display the markers used by that lab.  You can then easily record and retrieve the results.  Combine this with our searching capabilities, and RootsMagic 4 is the perfect software for your surname project.

Mitochondrial DNA Tests

Mitochondrial DNA is passed from mother to child so they are useful for testing relationships and ancestry along maternal lines.  Just pick the testing company and enter the results.

RootsMagic 4 supports more testing laboratories and testing markers than any other software currently available… so if you’re ready to dive into the world of genetic genealogy, we’ve got you covered.

Well, I’m off to sail the seven seas (or at least one of them) on the RootsMagic cruise.  If I have a chance to get a post up during the week I will do so, if not it may be a week before the next major feature is unveiled (and it’s a good one).  I have my laptop with me, and promise that the team and I will continue to work on getting RM4 ready.  My wife Laurie has already warned me not to have any fun until RM4 is released, so she continues to look out for you.  See you next week.