392 lines
13 KiB
XML
392 lines
13 KiB
XML
<preface id="gramps-preface">
|
|
|
|
<!--
|
|
User Manual for Gramps - a GTK+/GNOME based genealogy program
|
|
|
|
Copyright (C) 2003-2005 Alexander Roitman
|
|
|
|
This document is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
|
|
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
|
|
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
|
|
(at your option) any later version.
|
|
|
|
This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
|
|
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
|
|
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
|
|
GNU General Public License for more details.
|
|
|
|
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
|
|
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
|
|
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
|
|
-->
|
|
|
|
<!-- $Id$ -->
|
|
|
|
<title>Preface</title>
|
|
<para>
|
|
|
|
&app; is a software package designed to help you with
|
|
genealogical resarch. It allows you to store, edit, and research
|
|
genealogical data using your computer. Although similar to other
|
|
genealogical programs, it offers some unique and powerful
|
|
features. GRAMPS is an open source software package, which means
|
|
it's distributed for free. It's developed and maintained by a
|
|
worldwide team of volunteers.
|
|
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<sect1 id="why-gramps">
|
|
<title>Why use GRAMPS?</title>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
|
|
Most genealogy programs allow the researcher to input
|
|
information related to a family tree. They can usually display
|
|
descendant or ancestral relationships through graphical
|
|
displays, charts, or reports. Some allow pictures or other media
|
|
to be inserted to enhance the raw data. Most provide a means to
|
|
include data on individuals or familys that may or may not be
|
|
related to the primary family being researched. And they may
|
|
include other features such as exporting or importing to and
|
|
from other programs and printing data contained in various
|
|
reports.
|
|
|
|
</para><para>
|
|
|
|
&app; has all these capabilities and more. Notably, it allows
|
|
you to integrate bits and pieces of stray data as the arise from
|
|
your research and put all this information in one place - your
|
|
computer. You can then use the speed, power, and accuracy of
|
|
your computer to store, manipulate, correlate, and analyze your
|
|
data, rather than messing with reams of paper.
|
|
|
|
</para><para>
|
|
|
|
&app; has the power to let you rearrage your data in any order
|
|
or sequence and to help you fill gaps in genealogical
|
|
relationships.
|
|
|
|
</para>
|
|
</sect1>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<sect1 id="whats-new">
|
|
<title>What's new since 1.0.X</title>
|
|
<para>
|
|
|
|
This section lists most notable changes from the previous
|
|
stable branch of &app;, the 1.0.X.
|
|
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<variablelist>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>Berkeley database backend</term>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
|
|
The default format for &app; is now the BSDDB database.
|
|
This change allowed us to overcome performance issues and
|
|
memory requirements of the 1.0.X branch. With the database
|
|
backend, the database sizes of up to a hundred thousand
|
|
people do not present a major obstacle any longer.
|
|
|
|
</para><para>
|
|
|
|
The default extension for &app; BSDDB database files is
|
|
grdb. The new format is open and fully documented in the
|
|
developer's API reference distributed with the source of
|
|
&app;.
|
|
|
|
</para><para>
|
|
|
|
A consequence of the new database backend is that the
|
|
changes, once approved by the user, are applied
|
|
immediately. In short, once you click
|
|
<guibutton>OK</guibutton> in the Person, Family, Source,
|
|
Place, Media object, or Event editor, all the changes made
|
|
to this object are recorded in the database. No saving is
|
|
necessary (or even possible). The analog of quitting
|
|
without saving would be abandoning all changes and
|
|
quitting. Also, it is possible to undo recent actions.
|
|
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>Interface improvements</term>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
|
|
There were numerous changes in the interface. Most of them
|
|
are subtle and incremental improvements, and all of them
|
|
cannot be listed here. The most noticeable changes are:
|
|
|
|
<itemizedlist>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Removal of alphabetical tabs
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Ability to add/remove/rearrange columns in list views
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Removal of Save function and addition of Undo
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Proper window management and removal of most modal windows
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Support for Tip of the Day
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Person-dependent context menus (right-click) in Pedigree View
|
|
listing parents, children, spouses, and siblings
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Export wizard
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Built-in Find function in list views
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Date selector dialog
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Name editor enhancements: patronymic names and non-default
|
|
grouping
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Recent file support (both gramps-specific and gnome-wide)
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</itemizedlist>
|
|
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry>
|
|
<term>
|
|
Other database backends
|
|
</term>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Along with the BSDDB backend, the in-memory database handling
|
|
for &app; XML and GEDCOM formats has been added. Simply put, it
|
|
is now possible to natively open data in those two formats
|
|
(although the preferred and default format is grdb) and work with
|
|
that data, without necessarily setting up an empty database and
|
|
then importing into it. This approach requires holding all data in
|
|
memory, so it is only useful for small databases (depending on the
|
|
available memory size). In such mode, the data is automatically
|
|
saved upon exit, to mimic the functionality of the real database.
|
|
|
|
<warning id="gedcom-inmem1-warn">
|
|
<title>GEDCOM Editing</title>
|
|
<para>
|
|
|
|
Please keep in mind that some information in GEDCOM
|
|
file may be lost during import into &app;. Simply
|
|
opening and viewing the file will not change it.
|
|
However, if any changes were made and they were not
|
|
abandoned upon exit, exiting &app; will save the data,
|
|
with the possible data loss.
|
|
|
|
</para>
|
|
</warning>
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry>
|
|
<term>Import and Export</term>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
New import and export filters available for the GeneWeb format.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry>
|
|
<term>Reports</term>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
A new report -- Statistics Chart -- has been added to &app;.
|
|
</para><para>
|
|
An overall change of the whole report framework has been
|
|
accomplished. All reports now remember their options. It
|
|
is possible to generate reports from the command line,
|
|
without launching the interactive &app; session. The
|
|
report API is much simpler now, making it easy to write a
|
|
custom report. A single code instance may be used for a
|
|
standalone report, a book item, and a command-line
|
|
report.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry>
|
|
<term>Command line</term>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
The new command line functionality includes opening the
|
|
filename argument given without any flags, as well as new
|
|
flags and options for report generation. Also, the
|
|
addition of new formats leads to additional available
|
|
format options.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry>
|
|
<term>Internationalization</term>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
The approach for entering and displaying dates has been
|
|
completely re-worked. In particular, the new framework
|
|
allows for a deeper localization of displayed dates than
|
|
was ever possible using the translatable strings.
|
|
</para><para>
|
|
The internationalization of names have also been improved.
|
|
Names can be grouped under a non-default
|
|
string. Patronymic names are supported, and it is easy to
|
|
program new ways of displaying names, as may be required
|
|
by various cultures and languages.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry>
|
|
<term>Desktop integration</term>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
All formats known to &app; are now registered as mime
|
|
types, each with its icon and &app; as a default
|
|
handler. Double-clicking on a file with any of these
|
|
formats will launch &app; and open that file. &app; also
|
|
added support for the recent documents
|
|
functionality. This is on both the GNOME-wide level
|
|
and within the &app;.
|
|
</para><para>
|
|
The preferences are now properly stored using GConf, with
|
|
schemas, partitioning of keys into smaller directories,
|
|
error checking, and notification.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
</variablelist>
|
|
</sect1>
|
|
|
|
<sect1 id="typography">
|
|
<title>Typographical conventions</title>
|
|
<para>
|
|
|
|
In this book, some words are marked with special typography:
|
|
|
|
<itemizedlist>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<simpara>
|
|
<application>Applications</application>
|
|
</simpara>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<simpara>
|
|
<command>Commands</command> you type at the command line
|
|
</simpara>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<simpara>
|
|
<filename>Filenames</filename>
|
|
</simpara>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<simpara>
|
|
<replaceable>Replaceable text</replaceable>
|
|
</simpara>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<simpara>
|
|
<guilabel>Labels</guilabel> for buttons and other
|
|
portions of the graphical interface
|
|
</simpara>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<simpara>
|
|
Menu selections look like this:
|
|
<menuchoice>
|
|
<guimenu>Menu</guimenu>
|
|
<guisubmenu>Submenu</guisubmenu>
|
|
<guimenuitem>Menu Item</guimenuitem>
|
|
</menuchoice>
|
|
</simpara>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<simpara>
|
|
<guibutton>Buttons</guibutton> you can click
|
|
</simpara>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<simpara>
|
|
<userinput>Anything you type in</userinput>
|
|
</simpara>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</itemizedlist>
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
|
|
The manual also provides assorted bits of additional information in
|
|
tips and notes, as follows.
|
|
|
|
<tip id="example-tip">
|
|
<title>Tip</title>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Tips and bits of extra information will look like
|
|
this.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</tip>
|
|
|
|
<note id="example-note">
|
|
<title>Note</title>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Notes will look like this.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</note>
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
Finally, there are warnings, notifiying you where you should be careful:
|
|
|
|
<warning id="example-warning">
|
|
<title>Example Warning</title>
|
|
<para>
|
|
This is what a warning looks like. If there's a chance
|
|
you'll run into trouble, you will be warned beforehand.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</warning>
|
|
</para>
|
|
</sect1>
|
|
|
|
</preface>
|