Ahnenblattportal

Mathemagician here,

This thread (on Marcus' advice) will be used to report things I think may be fixable, that look like they were forgotten/overlooked in the source code for Ahnenblatt.

1. Welcome dialog - The Welcome dialog (on Help menu, etc.) functions ok, but appears to be non-modal. That is, if you click on the main Ahnenblatt window, the Welcome window disappears (to the background). I believe it is still open, but cannot be restored (for closure) without re-opening it from the Help menu. I think it should behave as the Input dialog does - can't access main window until dialog finishes. By design (per Dirk)
   Note: some other dialogs behave similarly under Windows XP - workaround is to restore main window (i.e. not maximized), drag main window to side, then close non-modal dialog. Attempting to reopen such dialogs may also restore visibility (in some cases - others may cause an error) for closing.

   Marcus hat geschrieben:With Alt+Tab you should get these dialogs back to the front if some other program stole the focus and they disappear.

2. Context-sensitive help (Options) - the Trees/Background (misnamed in Othmar's English file) and the Trees/Pictures dialogs have the "?" (Help) button disabled or non-functional. They should open file 4674. Also, neither tab responds to F1 help - disabled, linked with "? button behaviour? (added Jan 4/15). Fixed in v2.88
3. Files/Properties/Author (Creator) - if $DATE used in the Address field, it is converted to today's date (for GEDCOM export) in the HEAD/DATE record, but not in the SUBM/ADDR record. By design (per Dirk)
4. Input dialog/Pictures & Files - adding a new image of media file brings up an Open dialog. Two words are still in German (Grafik and Keine - Eng: Image and Empty). These words are - I think - in the EXE stringtable area and possibly cannot be dealt with. But if possible, they should be in the LNG files.
   
   (added Jan 10/15) In the same dialog, the Preview icon (top right corner) opens the image in a separate window, with title "Vorschau" (Eng: Preview). This should be translated as well, if possible. Cannot be done - compiler restriction.

Added December 21, 2014

5. Context-sensitive help topics - The Input dialog Navigator (corrected Jan 4/15) has several context menus, but they are all comprised of 8 basic functions; different menus are generated, depending on where you right-click, and who the selected person is (i.e. is he/she the initial/root person?). All 8 items respond to F1 key help, but 3 of them are not directed to their specific page:

• "Edit person" - opens default page (ID = 0?), but should direct to Help ID = 320 (Input dialog). NOT fixed in v2.88
• "Choose as root person" - opens default page, but should direct to Help ID = 417 (File/Properties). There is a tab with help for this topic on page 417. Fixed in v2.88
• "Go to root person" - opens default page, but should direct to Help ID = 432 (View/Go to root person). Fixed in v2.88

I suspect that this was by design; the help file evolved, and possibly did not have a specific help page at the time that feature was implemented.

Added January 1, 2015

6. Context-sensitive help topics - The Find (i.e. Search) dialog has 3 active tabs - Find, Search list and Replace. Clicking the context-sensitive help button ("?") for Find and Search list opens Help ID = 451 (Find/search), but for Replace, it also opens Help ID = 451. If possible, it should open Help ID = 453 (Replace). F1 help from the Replace tab is correct. (added Jan 4/15) Fixed in v2.88

7. CSV generation - Currently, Ahnenblatt has the semicolon (;) hard-wired as a separator/delimiter for CSV files. This is a bit of a problem for English users. The file cannot be loaded into Excel, or viewed (by clicking Ahnenblatt dialog presented following file generation). English users have the separator/delimiter set (in Regional and Language Options) as the comma (,). There is a work-around (by tweaking Regional Options), but it would be better if Ahnenblatt used the Regional setting for a delimiter, rather than the hard-wired semicolon. The delimiter is located in the Registry at: and will change with the language/region for the user's Windows (semicolon for German, comma for English). MS Excel (at least Office XP) obeys this setting. Fixed in v2.88

Added January 27, 2015

8. Manage Places - A subset of the Manage Places (formerly "Adminstration of Places") dialog can be opened by a small icon seen in the Input dialog (multiple locations). This subset is intended to only allow editing of details for that single place, so the left pane of the dialog (list of places) is truncated. However, a small remnant of the "New Place" button is still visible (1 pixel wide?) and is still active; clicking it commences the "New Place" activity. A new place can be entered and saved. This is a very minor issue, but can be easily remedied by reducing the width of the "New Place button by a few pixels (and re-centering). Fixed in v2.88

Added January 31, 2015 (deutsche Übersetzung von Marcus / German translation included - should be easier to work with for Dirk, no change of of language needed)

9. Person Search - "Identical with whole data field" option appears to do nothing. Testing by me and by Marcus fails to turn up any change in behaviour. Deprecated?
("Suchen" und dort die Option:"Übereinstimmung im kompletten Datenfeld") Fixed in v2.88

10. Options/General - "Upper and lower case in person search fields" appears to do nothing. This might have control over case, in person searches such as when re-connecting a deleted link (e.g. parent). Deprecated?
("Extras" - "Optionen" - "Allgemein" - "Groß-/Kleinschreibung in Personen-Suchfeldern")

11. Options/General - "Erase all connections when a person is deleted" appears to do nothing. Marcus thought this might affect names (left after deletion) in other records, but appears to do nothing. Deprecated?
("Extras" - "Optionen" - "Allgemein" - "beim Löschen von Personen auch die kompletten Verweise entfernen") Removed in v2.88

12. Options/General - "Apply change of name to all references" appears to do nothing. Changing a name appears to always affect all links/records, regardless; option appears non-functional. Deprecated?
("Extras" - "Optionen" - "Allgemein" - "Namensänderung auch bei Personenverweise(n) anpassen") Removed in v2.88


Alle Optionen haben scheinbar keinen Effekt mehr auf das Ergebnis.

Thanks for your hints, Allen!
You are analyzing in very deep details - something that only a programmer, like you, would do.

1. Welcome Dialog
Yes, it's the only dialog which is not modal, but I did it by intention.
I never had, that the Welcome dialog goes into background. What Windows version are you using ...?

3. $DATE
Yes, that is correct. $DATE is only intended for lists, when printing also the 'creator'. If you save as GEDCOM and reopen, $DATE stays 'alive'.

4. Picture open/save dialogs
Sorry, no chance to translate theses two words. It is a standard component which allows no changing of these phrases.

11./12. Options / General
These two options make no sense since 2.80 (because of new internal data model), so I will delete them in next release.

Every other point will be fixed in next 2.88.

- Dirk

Dirk,

Re: Oversight #1 (non-modal Welcome window), I am using Windows XP (SP3); I don't have anything newer to test it on. It doesn't seem to 'hurt' anything to be left open, but when I click on main Ahnenblatt window - with Welcome open - it is gone. I cannot see it in the Task Manager, etc., but I know it is there.

I guess I wasn't clear in my initial post - when I say "gone" (or "disappears"), I mean that it is covered by the main Ahnenblattt window (Navigator) when Ahnenblatt is maximized. It is possible to reduce the main window, then drag it out of the way to expose the Welcome window, or click on Help/Welcome again to activate it, but with the main window maximized, that is the only way to bring back on top.

It's not a big deal - I've run into this in other apps, but sometimes such a window appears on the Taskbar.

Re: "analyzing in very deep details", I usually have to work with tools, etc. a bit to learn how they work - often if I spot a bug, it is just through 'heavy use'. In this case, I think I noticed the behaviour when flipping back and forth between applications (probably my text editor).

Incidentally, I was wondering why the the Help menu is "?" (not in language files) and not "Help"?

Hi Allen,

Mathemagician hat geschrieben: I guess I wasn't clear in my initial post - when I say "gone" (or "disappears"), I mean that it is covered by the main Ahnenblattt window (Navigator) when Ahnenblatt is maximized. ...

You were clear enought. In Win7 you normally can't force such a behaviour. I got it sometimes while debugging Ahnenblatt. That's why I know what you mean.
I have to check out with XP to see if it could make more troubles ...

Mathemagician hat geschrieben: Incidentally, I was wondering why the the Help menu is "?" (not in language files) and not "Help"?

It's quite common in German programs to have a question mark instead of the word "Hilfe". Even the Windows Explorer has a "?".

- Dirk

Dirk,

If this behaviour is only in XP, I wouldn't do too much here (if I were you!). Wouldn't it just be easier to make the Welcome window topmost? That way, as long as it is open, it can't be 'hidden' from view. Or you could disable the main window until Welcome is closed, or another (Welcome) option is chosen.

I only continue to use XP because

1. I still find it very stable and useful
2. I don't want to mess with UAC (User Account Control), and
3. I'm a dinosaur!

Mathemagician hat geschrieben:

1. Welcome dialog - The Welcome dialog (on Help menu, etc.) functions ok, but appears to be non-modal. That is, if you click on the main Ahnenblatt window, the Welcome window disappears (to the background). I believe it is still open, but cannot be restored (for closure) without re-opening it from the Help menu. I think it should behave as the Input dialog does - can't access main window until dialog finishes. By design (per Dirk)
   Note: some other dialogs behave similarly under Windows XP - workaround is to restore main window (i.e. not maximized), drag main window to side, then close non-modal dialog. Attempting to reopen such dialogs may also restore visibility (in some cases - others may cause an error) for closing.

With [Alt] + [Tab] you should get these dialogs back to the front if some other program stole the focus and they disappear.
Marcus