RootsChat.Com

General => Technical Help => Reference Library => Topic started by: Berlin-Bob on Thursday 12 March 15 15:52 GMT (UK)

Title: DBSIG - Database for Special Interest Groups: Enhancements
Post by: Berlin-Bob on Thursday 12 March 15 15:52 GMT (UK)

The DBSIG is having the weekend off ....  for maintenance and enhancements.

regards,
Bob

Title: Re: DBSIG: Database for Special Interest Groups off-line this weekend
Post by: Craclyn on Thursday 12 March 15 17:47 GMT (UK)

What is the DBSIG? What sort of special interest groups does it deal with?

Title: Re: DBSIG: Database for Special Interest Groups off-line this weekend
Post by: Berlin-Bob on Thursday 12 March 15 19:09 GMT (UK)

Hi Craclyn,

have a look here:
Topic: DBSIG: Database for Special Interest Groups
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=625141.0

Since writing that, the DBSIG includes German Pork Butchers, Travelling People, and Boat People (canal & River boats). I plan to add a new category at the weekend, and if anybody else has any ideas, then let me know :)

See also some of the DBSIG topics, here in the Reference Library forum
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/reference-library/

regards,
Bob

Title: Re: DBSIG: Database for Special Interest Groups off-line this weekend
Post by: Craclyn on Thursday 12 March 15 19:17 GMT (UK)

Ah I see. I have previously read some of your German Pork butcher posts, but had not realised they were in a specific database.

Title: Re: DBSIG - Database for Special Interest Groups: Enhancements
Post by: Berlin-Bob on Saturday 14 March 15 16:17 GMT (UK)

The database DBSIG is back online  :)

As preparation for a "coming attraction" - British Home Children", the following items are new or have been improved ..

• The input forms for "Add" & "Edit", and "Advanced Search", and for the table view output have all been re-vamped and have now have a similar "look & feel
   
• Every name (surnames and forenames) can now also have three variations.
  For the 'German Pork Butchers' the third variation is the anglicised name.
  A surname search will automatically examine all four name fields.
   
• Dates ( births, deaths or other events) are now entered in three fields - year, month, day
  The 'year' field is searchable.
   
• Dates can now be marked as unknown, approx. or exact
   
• An additional address field has been added: the District.
  This can be an american or canadian county (i.e. within a State, irish homelands, city boroughs, etc.
   
• An emigration date has been added for the "German Pork Butchers"
   
• A 'primitive' paging mechanism has been implemented.  This is not very good and I am still working on improvements to it, but at least it's a start...
  Sorry, that was a bit t-o-o primitive - it was missing out on stuff !
  I've turned it off for now, but it's still on my ToDo list !
   

For those who hadn't noticed ... some other enhancements in the past have included

• Members can now add comments to other submitters' entries. 
   
• Members can request permission to edit. Only the submitter can process this request.
   

There are still some errors and "clumsinesses" to be ironed out (that I know of), and I hope you will point out any I've missed.

Enjoy :)
Bob

Title: Re: DBSIG - Database for Special Interest Groups: Enhancements
Post by: Berlin-Bob on Saturday 14 March 15 17:05 GMT (UK)

Ooops !  back offline - there is an error which didn't happen on my test-system  :'(

Title: Re: DBSIG - Database for Special Interest Groups: Enhancements
Post by: Berlin-Bob on Sunday 15 March 15 08:50 GMT (UK)

fingers crossed - seems to be OK now - !!

Title: Re: DBSIG - Database for Special Interest Groups: Enhancements
Post by: Berlin-Bob on Friday 20 March 15 16:20 GMT (UK)

After receiving some feedback I've added a few more fields ...

• All date fields now have a drop-down selection for the month. You can also enter Q1, Q2, Q3 or Q4 if you know the quarter (through GRO records) but not the exact date.
   
• All date fields have a 'notes' field for additional data (source, cause, etc).
   
• There are now fields for entering up to two marriages. You can enter the spouse in the 'Notes' field.
   
• There is an extra item for the "German Pork Butchers. You can now enter the date of Naturalisation.
   

There will be more later, but that should keep you busy for a while. :)

If you also have any ideas for improving the database, please let me know. These ideas / wishes were passed on to me by PM, but I would find it better, if you let us know here on this topic. If there is enough feedback, I will get a better idea of what's necessary, useful, or just playing.

Enjoy :)
Bob

Title: Re: DBSIG - Database for Special Interest Groups: Enhancements
Post by: Berlin-Bob on Friday 20 March 15 17:56 GMT (UK)

Please be prepared for a few "hiccups" now and then.

I'm monitoring the database and I've just noticed (and corrected) an error .
This meant the DBSIG was off-line for 15 mins. or so.

regards,
Bob

Title: Re: DBSIG - Database for Special Interest Groups: Enhancements
Post by: alanmack on Friday 20 March 15 19:25 GMT (UK)

Bob,

      I notice that the British Home Children database is "up". Is it open for business yet?  I thought I might try it out with my two if it is ready.

Title: Re: DBSIG - Database for Special Interest Groups: Enhancements
Post by: Berlin-Bob on Friday 20 March 15 20:06 GMT (UK)

Hi Alan,

So I don't need to repeat myself, I'll answer your query here ....
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=716206.0  :)

regards,
Bob

Title: Re: DBSIG - Database for Special Interest Groups: Enhancements
Post by: alanmack on Saturday 21 March 15 10:27 GMT (UK)

Thanks Bob, duly noted. I look forward to a bit of study this afternoon. Maybe mine are already there (in the 20,000)!

Title: Re: DBSIG - Database for Special Interest Groups: Enhancements
Post by: Berlin-Bob on Friday 10 April 15 16:01 BST (UK)

I have now added a paging mechanism to the DBSIG.

With the "arrival" of over 21000 records for the British Home Children some of the searches were throwing up anything between 0 and 9000 hits !!!

1) The A-Z selection on the QuickSearch:

1st menu:
Surnames starting with:   A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z
If there are 100 or less 'hits' on any letter, all rows will be shown immediately.
If there are more than 100 'hits' on any letter, then a second menu will be offered :

2nd. menu:
Surnames starting with:   A »ABEN »ACRE »ADDE »ALBO »ALEX »ALLE »ALVA »ANDE »ANSL »ARMO »ASHB »ASQU »AUGH » AZZZ    
(and similar lines for each letter of the alphabet)
All occurences will now be shown.
If there are too many names (Rootschatters will be adding even more names !), then I may have to add a numerical paging link, too  - see 2) !)

2) for all other searches:

If there are 100 or less 'hits' on any item, all rows will be shown immediately.
If there are more than 100 'hits' on any item, then a second menu will be offered :
2nd. menu:
Page: [1] 2 3 4
Only 50 rows per page will be shown.

This still needs working on, as we can sometimes have several lines of page number links, if the search term is too general.

regards,
Bob

Title: Re: DBSIG - Database for Special Interest Groups: Enhancements
Post by: Berlin-Bob on Sunday 26 April 15 18:05 BST (UK)

I have now added a new formatting tag for the "Comments:" field.

Quote

[rc]RootsChatter[/rc]

( ) creates a link to this Rootschatters profile. Handy for sources, ie when a RootsChatter has supplied you with some extra information. e.g. "Source is [rc]Joe Soap[/rc]", "This information kindly provided by [rc]Joe Soap[/rc]"

http://surname.rootschat.com/lexicon/dbsig/dbsig-help.php?dbsig_num=1&show=er#format_tags

Enjoy,
Bob

Title: Re: DBSIG - Database for Special Interest Groups: Enhancements
Post by: Berlin-Bob on Sunday 24 May 15 16:46 BST (UK)

I have just updated the DBSIG. 

The main changes were simply to make the project more mobile friendly.
I'm not there yet, but it's getting better :)

I will carry on working on this, so don't be surprised if more layout changes happen now and again.

regards,
Bob