gramps/gramps2/doc/gramps-manual/C/getstart.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!--
	  User Manual for Gramps - a GTK+/GNOME based genealogy program

	  Copyright (C) 2003  Alexander Roitman

	  Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
	  document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation
	  License (GFDL), Version 1.1 or any later version published
	  by the Free Software Foundation with no Invariant Sections,
	  no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. 
          A copy of the license is included in the file COPYING-DOCS 
          distributed with this manual.
-->

<!-- =========== Getting Started ============================== -->

  <sect1 id="gramps-getting-started"> 
    <title>Getting Started</title> 

    <!-- ================ Getting Started Subsection ====== -->
    <sect2 id="gramps-start">
    <title>To Start &app;</title>
    <para>You can start &app; in the following ways:</para> 
    <variablelist>
    <varlistentry>
	<term><guimenu>Applications</guimenu> menu</term>
	<listitem><para>Choose <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Other</guisubmenu>
	<guimenuitem>Gramps</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. </para></listitem>
    </varlistentry>
    <varlistentry>
	<term>Command line</term>
    	<listitem><para>To start &app; from a command line, type 
        <command>gramps</command>, then press <keycap>Return</keycap>.</para>
	
	<para>If you would like &app; to open a specific database or to 
        import a specific file on startup, you can supply the filename 
        as a command line argument:</para>

	<para>
	<command>gramps -i</command> <replaceable>filename.ged</replaceable>
    	</para> 

    	<para>where <replaceable>filename.ged</replaceable> is the name 
	of the file you	want to open/import. The detailed reference to the 
        command line options is found in the <xref linkend="append-cmdline"/>. 
        </para></listitem>
    </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
    </sect2>

    <!-- ================ Getting Started Subsection ==== -->
    <sect2 id="run-1st-time">
      <title>Running &app; for the first time</title>
    <para> 
    The first time you run the program, GRAMPS will display its 
    Getting Started dialogs. Follow the directions guiding you through
    <guilabel>Researcher information</guilabel>, <guilabel>Numerical date 
    formats</guilabel>, <guilabel>Alternate calendar support</guilabel>,
    and <guilabel>LDS extensions</guilabel> sections. Most of the dialogs
    are self-explanatory and will not be covered here.
    </para>
    
	<!-- ==== Figure: Getting Started Druid Window ==== -->
	<figure id="druid-fig"> 
	<title>&app; Getting Started Window: Researcher Information</title> 
	<screenshot><mediaobject><imageobject><imagedata 
		fileref="figures/researcher.png" format="PNG"/></imageobject>
	<textobject> 
	<phrase>Shows Researcher Information Window. </phrase>
	</textobject></mediaobject></screenshot></figure>
	<!-- ==== End of Figure ==== -->

	<para>Enter your personal information in the corresponding
	text entry fields. Although &app; requests information about you, 
	this information is used only so that &app; can create valid GEDCOM 
	output files. A valid GEDCOM file requires information about the file's 
	creator. If you choose, you may leave the information empty, however
	all the GEDCOM files you export will not be valid. 
	</para>
	
	<para>This information can be entered at any time in the 
	<guilabel>Preferences</guilabel> dialog, under the 
	<guilabel>Usage</guilabel> category. 
	</para>


    <!-- ================ Getting Started Sub-subsection  -->
      <sect3 id="choose-db-start">
      <title>Choosing a database on startup</title> 
      <para>If &app; is started without any
      database  to open, the following window will appear prompting you to 
      choose what database to open. </para>
      
	<!-- ==== Figure: Open existing/new database window ==== -->
	<figure id="first-open"> 
	<title>Open Database Window</title> 
	<screenshot><mediaobject><imageobject><imagedata 
		fileref="figures/first-open.png" format="PNG"/></imageobject>
	<textobject> 
	<phrase>Shows Open Database Window.  </phrase>
	</textobject></mediaobject></screenshot></figure>
	<!-- ==== End of Figure ==== -->
      
      <para>If you would like to open an existing database, check the top radio
      button and click the <guibutton>OK</guibutton> button. You will then be asked to 
      specify the name of your existing database. If you would like to start
      creating your brand new database from scratch right away, choose new XML
      database. </para> 
      </sect3>
      
    <!-- ================ Getting Started Sub-subsection  -->
      <sect3 id="zodb-support">
        <title>Optional ZODB support</title> 

      <para>If either StandaloneZODB or Zope is installed on your system, 
      &app; will give you the third option of 
      creating a new ZODB database. You can choose to start your new database 
      in either XML or ZODB format. Both formats have their strong and weak 
      points.</para>

      <para>XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language, and is a human readable
      structured description of data. It could be easily parsed by other 
      programs should the need occur. It stores only the data itself. Its weak 
      point is the relatively low speed of processing large data files. </para>

      <para>ZODB stands for Zope Object Database and provides the full-fledged
      database support. ZODB files are not human readable. They contain a
      certain overhead to assist working with large data structures. However,
      ZODB provides a significant speed-up when the database size is large (over
      a few thousand people). </para>

      <para>Its is hard to tell which format is better, since this is a typical
      trade-off situation. If you are starting your research then you are likely
      to be fine with the regular XML database. If you have tons of data to
      import describing thousands upon thousands of people, then you are
      probably better off with ZODB. </para>

      </sect3>
    </sect2>
    <!-- ================ Getting Started Subsection ==== -->
    <sect2 id="get-help">
      <title>Obtaining Help</title>
    <para> At any time, the following items are available for immediate aid
    from the <menuchoice><guimenu>Help</guimenu></menuchoice> menu: </para>
    
	<variablelist>

	<varlistentry><term>User manual</term>
	<listitem><para> Choose this item to read the text of this manual 
	in the help browser.  </para></listitem>
	</varlistentry>

	<varlistentry><term>GRAMPS home page</term>
	<listitem><para> Select this item to open home page of &app; in your
	default web browser. </para></listitem>
	</varlistentry>
    
	<varlistentry><term>GRAMPS mailing lists</term>
	<listitem><para> Choose this item to direct your web browser 
	to the &app; mailing list archives. </para></listitem>
	</varlistentry>
    
	<varlistentry><term>Report a bug</term>
	<listitem><para> Use this item to file a bug report against &app; 
	with the bug tracking system.  </para></listitem>
	</varlistentry>
    
	<varlistentry><term>Show plugin status</term>
	<listitem><para> Use this item to display the status of loaded 
	plugins. </para></listitem>
	</varlistentry>
    
	<varlistentry><term>Open example database</term>
	<listitem><para> Select this item to load the example database shipped
	with &app;. This database is composed of fictitious people and serves as
	a useful example for learning how to work with &app;. </para></listitem>
	</varlistentry>
    
	</variablelist>
    </sect2>

  </sect1> <!-- ================ End Getting Started ======================== -->