
Preserve Record numbers missing?
#1
Posted 21 April 2011 - 06:42 PM
from help file
Check Preserve record numbers if importing a file that you passed along to a colleague or fellow researcher.
#2
Posted 21 April 2011 - 07:48 PM
---
--- "GENEALOGY, n. An account of one's descent from an ancestor who did not particularly care to trace his own." - Ambrose Bierce
--- "The trouble ain't what people don't know, it's what they know that ain't so." - Josh Billings
---Ô¿Ô---
K e V i N
#3
Posted 21 April 2011 - 11:34 PM
I don't get it even when I try to import some of my own stuff, however I am running in togo mode so will try again when I get home.If the program of your "colleague or fellow researcher" doesn't support RootsMagic (or Family Origins) record numbers ...then you'll not have that option upon attempting to re-import.
#4
Posted 22 April 2011 - 02:09 AM
#5
Posted 22 April 2011 - 11:58 AM
File >Import> Gedcom> I know where the file is> Select Gedcom - open>the next screen GEDCOM Import has the "preserve record numbers right near the bottom.
RootsMagic
#6
Posted 22 April 2011 - 02:39 PM
Thanks, i got this working, if I select new database as Alfred said rather than combine the checkbox appearsThe database has to be completely empty before you can preserve record numbers when you import a GEDCOM file.

#7
Posted 22 April 2011 - 02:59 PM
#8
Posted 23 April 2011 - 01:35 PM
FYI, it also appears that it needs to recognise the RM header information in the gedcom.This functionality makes some sense, as you could otherwise already have people in the database with the same record numbers as those you're trying to combine. In a new database, it's obviously not a possibility.
#9
Posted 24 April 2011 - 12:58 PM
For exchanging a database with others and importing back into a database wiith overlapping persons, the RootsMagic special feature of a unique ID for each person included in the export and preserved through all external processing and re-imported enables the RM ShareMerge function to combine identical persons. Record Number is irrelevant.
Tom user of RM7550 FTM2017 Ancestry.ca FamilySearch.org FindMyPast.com wiki, exploiting the database in special ways >>>
app, a bundle of RootsMagic utilities.
#10
Posted 24 April 2011 - 02:12 PM
Sorry, but it's seems like a wrongful leap to take in your mind, that Record Number is irrelevant ...especially in the context you just mention (exchanging a database with others). Preserving the Record Numbers allows for both parties to most easily find and refer to the same individuals in discussions or considerations.For exchanging a database with others and importing back into a database wiith overlapping persons, the RootsMagic special feature of a unique ID for each person included in the export and preserved through all external processing and re-imported enables the RM ShareMerge function to combine identical persons. Record Number is irrelevant.
---
--- "GENEALOGY, n. An account of one's descent from an ancestor who did not particularly care to trace his own." - Ambrose Bierce
--- "The trouble ain't what people don't know, it's what they know that ain't so." - Josh Billings
---Ô¿Ô---
K e V i N
#11
Posted 24 April 2011 - 10:02 PM
Perhaps my description was not clear enough or precise. Preserving record numbers can only work if the exchange is restricted to an import into an empty database. Importing into a non-empty database, if it were allowed, would result in a collision of imported record numbers with pre-existing record numbers. Because a record number is a row number of a table, the imported persons must be assigned a new row and record number. That's what makes the record number unreliable, if not irrelevant, and that is why Preserve Record nUmber is only permitted on importing into a new, empty database.Sorry, but it's seems like a wrongful leap to take in your mind, that Record Number is irrelevant ...especially in the context you just mention (exchanging a database with others). Preserving the Record Numbers allows for both parties to most easily find and refer to the same individuals in discussions or considerations.
With the UUID, two persons in the same database having matching UUIDs and necessarily different record numbers can be merged, using ShareMerge, and one of the two Record Numbers will be preserved.
For reliable exchange among different parties, assigning a unique Reference Number fact to each individual can serve the purpose of ensuring that all parties can find the same person in their respective databases, regardless of Record Number, which will most likely be different in each database unless they have a common Master database from which they take copies.
Tom user of RM7550 FTM2017 Ancestry.ca FamilySearch.org FindMyPast.com wiki, exploiting the database in special ways >>>
app, a bundle of RootsMagic utilities.
#12
Posted 25 April 2011 - 12:41 PM
I don't think this is necessarily true, since I recall importing a PAF gedcom into an empty database and was able to preserve record numbers.FYI, it also appears that it needs to recognise the RM header information in the gedcom.
Ken
#13
Posted 25 April 2011 - 02:00 PM
I wonder if this does not suggest that a useful enhancement could be a user-selectable option on import of assigning the source file's record numbers for individuals to Reference Number facts for these individuals in the destination database. Ideally, there would also be a user-definable text prefix so that the resulting REFN would be the concatenation of prefix + recno. The assigning of a common source to all persons imported from a GEDCOM is already supported so the use of REFN in this respect seems like a logical and useful extension.For reliable exchange among different parties, assigning a unique Reference Number fact to each individual can serve the purpose of ensuring that all parties can find the same person in their respective databases, regardless of Record Number, which will most likely be different in each database unless they have a common Master database from which they take copies.
Tom user of RM7550 FTM2017 Ancestry.ca FamilySearch.org FindMyPast.com wiki, exploiting the database in special ways >>>
app, a bundle of RootsMagic utilities.
#14
Posted 26 April 2011 - 09:54 AM
Confirming enhancement request is in our tracking system.I wonder if this does not suggest that a useful enhancement could be a user-selectable option on import of assigning the source file's record numbers for individuals to Reference Number facts for these individuals in the destination database. Ideally, there would also be a user-definable text prefix so that the resulting REFN would be the concatenation of prefix + recno. The assigning of a common source to all persons imported from a GEDCOM is already supported so the use of REFN in this respect seems like a logical and useful extension.
RootsMagic