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Archiver > TMG > 2001-11 > 1005045605


From: "Caroline Gurney" <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Editing timelines
Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2001 11:20:05 -0000
References: <00d901c164e8$d0126020$8c621442@oemcomputer> <007801c164d9$b34244b0$a52f1f3f@custom> <4.2.2.20011105233057.018b6f68@pop3.norton.antivirus>


Lee Hoffman wrote:

> Your quote above is accurate but is incomplete. The full quote is :
> "Timeline files are in dBase format and may be edited with any
> dBase compatible program that can edit unlimited text files."

Lee,

Thank you. The quote I gave (minus the last 6 words above) is all that
appears in TMG Help under "Timelines" & in FTST Help under "Timeline
Manager". However, I see that the important extra 6 words do appear in the
section on Timelines on page 330 of the TMG Manual. It always pays to read
the small print <g>.

> While the rest of TMG is designed around FoxPro database technology, it
> was decided to allow users to create/maintain Timelines in
> dBase compatible programs because so many users have access to such
> programs. However, not all such programs recognize the
> unlimited text files (DBT) in such databases. I don't know if Works has
> this capability or not, but it doesn't sound like it does.

I am grateful for your explanation.

> As others have suggested, you may want to consider the create/edit
> capability available in TMG.

I personally find that capability rather fiddly for any serious editing
tasks. One annoyance for a UK user is the date being "the wrong way round"
from our perspective. I have to stop & think about the format of each date I
enter & that slows down data entry considerably (& still I make mistakes). I
also find it too easy to accidentally overwrite an existing timeline entry
when trying to add a new one. Had I been able to open the complete file in
Works, I could have temporarily rearranged the date columns to suit my
English eyes & edited/added to Events without fear of mishaps.

In this case, I actually want to take a large timeline & split it into
several small ones. I am planning to copy the timeline several times & then
edit each copy to create the new ones. Robin's suggestion of using the
browse DBF feature is probably my best bet.

Caroline Gurney
Portsmouth, UK
NEW E-Mail address:



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