Auto-Creation of Timeline Files

The following article was originally written for the newsletter of TMG News, Volume 2, Number 2, Autumn 1995.  At the time it would apply to TMG/DOS v1.x.  While TMG has had numerous changes over the past eleven years, the essentials of the article remain the same.  Some of the details have changed and I have updated the article for TMG v4.x to that extent.   Note: The principles in the updated article below is still valid although some details may be different for TMG v5.x and TMG v6.x.  For a version of the article written for TMG v5.x, v6.x and v7.x, click here.

Creating a Timeline File

A timeline can be instrumental in helping your genealogy research. TMG allows you to create new timeline files as you wish using your own data. However, you must create the file and enter each timeline date and event one at a time. This may be alright for information such as county and state formations; but for data that you have already entered in your dataset, you hate to enter it through your keyboard all over again.

Take heart, a custom timeline can be created from your own dataset and used to see who else in your ancestry (both direct and indirect) was doing what at the same time. The custom timeline can be as simple or as complex and can include or exclude as much or as little as you wish. Naturally, the more you include in the timeline, the more work it will involve. On the other hand, it may provide that extra research tool that may help you find that elusive piece of information you need.

There are three major parts to the procedure. The first part requires the creation of a List of Events (LOE) file based on the criteria you select from TMG. Part two uses an editor to re-arrange the report file. Part three creates the actual timeline files (there are three files for each timeline).  The following process combines part one and a portion of part two and also combines the remainder of part two and part three.

1. Generating the List of Events (LOE) report is the easiest part. You may already have done many this times; but with output going to your printer and/or in a different sequence. I wanted a timeline of all Hoffman births, so I created one this way:

• Select Reports=>List of...=>Events from the Main Menu.
• Click the [Add] button to create a new Report Definition, enter the File name (say 'LOE - Timeline'), and click on the [Save] button choosing the [No] option..
• Select the Filtered group option and click on the [Add] button.
• Enter Timeline in the Save Filter As field at the top of the window.
• Enter the following as the filter:
• Principal1...    Surname    =Equals    [?]    END
• In the General tab, ensure that no footnotes, endnotes, bibliography, exhibits, indexes, or table of contents are selected.
• For selection criteria, define the individuals you want included based on surname, years, or whatever. I selected a filter of:
              Tagtype Labels                   Equals     Birth        AND
               Prin1-Surname-Soundex    Equals    H155       END.
• Define the format and sequencing of the report using at least the following criteria:
           Year
            Month
            Day
  and select any other data you wish to include. I included the following:
            Tagtype Label
            Prin1-Given-Surname.
  Depending on whether you want to include marriage or other tags that normally contain two principals, you can omit the
  Prin2 data. The Memo field also may or may not be desired -- remember it is where occupations, employers, etc. are
  located. If you want to include more data you can use Date(thin) in place of the separate Year, Month, and Day items,
  but you will have to remember to adjust the file later for the date and split the Date(thin) field into its sub-fields.
• Generate the report to an ASCII file using commas (ASCII Delimited with Commas).   The intent is to have a basic report file with no formatting.

2. After the file has been generated, it must be edited to convert it to the proper format for use as input to your favorite xBase language. You can use any editor for this step. The TMG editor, and the Windows NOTEPAD editor are two possibilities. You may use your favorite word processor if it will not embed 'print formatting' codes in the file (e.g., you must save the file as text only).  Be sure that your editor will work with the size file that you have.  Some older versions of NOTEPAD will not handle large files.

The input to your database manager will need to be a file with four "columns" of data:
        Data                    Data           Data      Decimal
     Column    Data     Type           Length    Places
        ----     --------   -------       -------   ---------
        1.          Year     Numeric           4              0
        2.          Month  Numeric           2              0
        3.          Day      Numeric           2              0
        4.          Event   Character      160              -
The data length in column four should be adjusted to the length of the longest amount of data in the event field that you will have.

Below are some sample data lines as they might appear in the LOE file as generated by TMG using the criteria shown above in step 1:
T,"1821","06","25","Birth","(Judge) John Stringer HOFFMAN"
T,"1758","00","00","Birth","James HOFFMAN"
T,"1712","09","22","Birth","Hans Henrich HUFFMAN"

Note that this data appears to have six fields or columns and must be edited for input to your database management program so that it would appear something like:
1821,06,25,"Birth of (Judge) John Stringer HOFFMAN"
1758,00,00,"Birth of James HOFFMAN"
1712,09,22,"Birth of Hans Henrich HUFFMAN"

Thus the data now appears as four fields or columns for each record.  The "T," at the beginning of each line has been removed as well as the quotation marks around the date information.  The "T" is not needed and the removal of the quotation marks helps your database manager to recognize that the date information is numerical and not alphabetic.

Because the information in the Event field of a timeline is often in a sentence format or partial sentence format, you need to edit the text information into a single "field" or "column" into a clause or sentence of sorts to better explain the event. Note that I removed all quotation marks except for those at the beginning and end of the sentence or clause. Insofar as the sentence is concerned, you may or may not wish to take the pains to create sentences that are grammatically correct. This all depends of your intended use of the timeline. If the timeline is one that you might wish to share with others, you might want to take more time and create grammatically correct sentences or phrases. On the other hand, if you just want something quick and dirty just for your own use, you might just remove the extra quotation marks leaving only the ones at the beginning and end of the Event field.

Remember at this point that you must have three fields for your date information, and in the order specified. So if you generated the date with Date(thin), you must edit the data accordingly. You may also need to remove other commas within the sentence depending on your database management program and the information that appears in your LOE file.

3. After editing the file, go into your favorite xBase database manager, create the final files, and import the edited file into it. While each XBase database management is slightly different, many will produce a dBase III compatible file. I used FoxPro v2.6 to create the files as follows:

• Create a database file structure using the information shown in the table in step 2 above. Be sure to name the fields year, month, day, and event or your resultant files will not match TMG and will be ignored.
• Give the created database file structure a temporary name, and save it.
• Respond with NO to Input data records now?.
• Use Append from and ASCII file delimited by commas to add the data from your edited LOE file to your new database file.
• Browse the resultant database to see if all your data came across correctly. If not, you may need to re-start this step making sure your data structure is correct. 
• If the data came across okay, select Database Setup and modify the structure to change the Event field from Character type to Memo type. Select <OK> and answer Yes to Make changes permanent?. This step creates a separate file for the Event sentences and may take a few moments depending on how many records you have. After the conversion, select <OK> on the setup screen.
• Browse the database again to be sure that the only thing in the event field is the word Memo. Also, be sure the first "m" of the word Memo is capitalized. If the First "m" is not capitalized, the information sentence/data did not convert properly and you will need to start this step.
• In the command window, enter the following command substituting the final name that you wish to use as your timeline filename:
     COPY TO filename TYPE FOXPLUS
  This creates the final files in dBase format and you may exit from the FoxPro program.

At this point you will have created four files - a .DBF file and an .FPT file with your temporary filename, and a .DBF file and a .DBT file with your final filename. You may now delete the two files with the temporary filename as they are no longer needed.

Copy or move the .DBF and .DBT files named with your final filenames to your TMG directory/folder where the rest of your Timelines are located.   This may be the TMGW directory/folder depending on the entry for Timelines in the Advanced tab of the System Configuration Screen in TMG.

Now enter TMG as usual and select your new timeline file. TMG will create the third file (the index [*.CDX] file) as needed. If you are on the Person view, you will see entries from the new timeline appear based on the rules of TMG as you have selected them. You now have a new timeline file that you can use.

Many Timelines have a fourth file while is text of your choice describing the Timeline, discussing the origin of the data, giving the author's name and address, etc.  You may create this file within TMG by editing the Timeline.  Select the menu item Tools=>Timeline=>Edit.  Highlight the timeline, and click on the Select button. Then in the Edit a Timeline window, click on the Memo button to display the text editing window.  Enter the information that you wish and save it by selecting File=>Save (or pressing F10) when finished.  This will create the fourth file as a *.DOC file.

Congratulations and have fun!

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